Another Burda 6401

If I ever wanted to dress as a pair of 1970’s curtains, now is my time!

This fabric immediately grabbed my eye when having a rummage through the bargain bins at Neil’s Fabrics in Milton Keynes. It’s a beautiful lightweight cotton and I loved the bright colours and vintage vibes.

I didn’t have a plan regarding which dress I would make with it at the time, but as I often wear my original version of Burda 6401 which I made about 5 years ago, I thought that another dress made with this pattern was long overdue. Also, and I hate to admit this, my original version was feeling a little bit tight so I wanted to size up and get a more relaxed fitting dress this time.

Getting the fit right on a Burda pattern can be a bit tricky, but as I wanted a looser feel I wasn’t too worried. I chose to make a straight size 14 (my measurements are 36-31-42). You might want to make a toile if you are going for a more fitted style – I know had to fiddle around with the sizing of my original dress quite a bit before I got it right.

I really wanted to play around with the fact that it was so vintage looking, so I made a few alterations to the pattern to enhance this!…

The first being patch pockets. Big ones.

You do not want to know how long I spent on these pockets. Originally I wanted patch pockets which were rectangular but rounded off on the bottom corners (not sure what these are called). I didn’t have a pattern for this type so I drew out my own. After many hours of gathering and pressing and adding a cute trim to the top edge I pinned them to my dress. I can only say at this point that they were perfect…Until I tried to get my hands into them and found they were too narrow. After a little tantrum I used a large rectangular patch pocket template from another pattern which of course was what I should have done in the first place. I was lucky as I had just enough trim left over to edge the top of the pockets.

As the pocket is placed onto a gathered skirt and the fabric is quite lightweight, the pocket gapes open a little. I don’t actually mind this too much, but (after a brilliant suggestion from my husband) I popped a large button on each pocket to hold them closed if I want to, and I am obsessed again with how retro this looks!!!

Another alteration that I made to the dress was to omit the long zip at the back of the dress and instead add a keyhole opening with a button fastener. In my case the dress is easy to pop on an off without the zipper and I also have been waiting for a project that I could use this sweet pearl type button. Check your fit though before you do this as I definitely needed the zip in my previous version.

In addition to the tops of the pockets I used some cream trim on the sleeve hems. Cute.

The jewellery that I chose to pair with this outfit is the acrylic tortoiseshell button necklace with a gold plated chain available from my shop here.

Finally, (just because I had enough fabric left), I made a ruffle to add to the bottom of the skirt. Why not?

The result is my fave Summer dress of 2023.

Pictures of my fave dress were taken at my fave N.T property (Caughton Court) by my fave husband. Also whilst we were there we met the very lovely Trisha (a fellow sewist) and her husband. Hello Trisha if you’re reading this – it was lovely chatting to you x

So I think that’s about it. Hope you love this trip back to the seventies with me, take care and I’ll be back soon, peace out,

Kathy x

@sew_dainty