Burda Pattern #108 Culottes- Mag issue 12/2014

[the_professors_assistantKeymaster]

Hi Professor!
I am struggling with the construction of these culottes. The problem is that I don’t understand the directions. They just don’t make sense to me. I’m wondering whether you might have the same issue that you could see on your end so that you might be able to understand better to answer my question. Otherwise I would have to write all the instructions down. It’s in regards to sewing up the outside seams and the pockets. This is the European edition of the magazine that I have. I’m not sure how to get over this hump to complete the construction of these!! Thank you, Careen

[the_professors_assistantKeymaster]

I don’t have this issue. Is it possible that you could take a picture of the directions and upload it? You’ll see below the text box on this page a box for attachments and you choose the file of your image to upload it. I’ll do my best to help you through it.

[the_professors_assistantKeymaster]

Okay, I will do that. Thank you so much!!!

[the_professors_assistantKeymaster]

Hi Professor! Okay, so there should be the 3 pattern pieces, instructions, and a photo of the completed look included in this file. A big thanks to my awesome husband for creating this PDF file with all the details so that you could see things a bit more clearly. So I am stumped on the entire first bullet point paragraph. In regards to pocket placement, the topstitching on the front pieces, and the attaching of the outer side seams of the front and back pieces. The placement lines and the facing folds have got me all mixed up. If you are able to make out in the inset pic and photo, you can kind of see that the front piece actually wraps around a bit to the back. So the pieces don’t seem to be attached from the side raw edges but from somewhere else. I’m unsure exactly where they attach?Each time I attempt the construction of this following these instructions, the sides just aren’t matching up in a way that seems proper. I know I’m doing something wrong. Apparently Burda thinks this is an easy garment to make so it’s probably some silly thing I’m overlooking. You may not be able to help with this one, being that it may be too hard to explain in writing , but I really appreciate your willingness to give it a go! Thanks! – Careen

[the_professors_assistantKeymaster]

Looks like the PDF file type we created is not permitted. I will try to change the file to a jpeg and see if that works better.

[the_professors_assistantKeymaster]

okay, let me try this again. Hope it works!

[the_professors_assistantKeymaster]

oh man, I don’t blame you in getting frustrated. It’s been a long time time since I’ve read directions that made my brain hurt so much. I’ll work on this today and see if I can make any sense from this.

[the_professors_assistantKeymaster]

Okay, that’s actually really comforting news lol! If YOU are a confused by these directions, then I KNOW there’s got to be something to it that’s truly puzzling! You know, I’ve checked and rechecked the pattern lines on the pattern insert sheet just to make sure that I followed the right lines and added all the garment construction details that were printed on there and I’m pretty certain I didn’t leave out anything. It IS kind of hard to make out things though on those inserts where they have an entire magazine of patterns on about 4 pages. But I love the UK edition of Burda. They really have such nice pieces in there. Good Luck and thank you!

[the_professors_assistantKeymaster]

Ok, I’m back! omg, that was definitely a challenge and I really don’t get how those instructions were written with a beginner in mind. And why are all those steps crammed into one section? so many questions. Anyways, as you can see in my picture I used your images to create my own mini culotte, complete with pockets. They’ll work for a doll, I guess. I did mine in muslin which makes it easy to experiment with and I recommend you do the same before using really nice fabric so you can figure out the process. I’m going to go over each sentence and I can’t say this is exactly what they meant but it’s what I did after some trial and error. Hopefully, I explain it better than they did.

“press facing on side edges to inside” — Both front and back pattern pieces have “facing fold-line” Just fold this section to the wrong side and press. For the next section you’ll want to unfold this but basically you’re just doing it to create a crease.
“stitch pockets to seam marks” –Again, the facing section should be unfolded because you’re going to take a pocket piece and pin it to the raw edge of the facing section. The pieces should be place right side to right side. And you have two orange notches in your facing section and the pocket gets placed between these two notches, so that the notch on the pocket lines up with the bottom notch on the facing. Sew your seam attaching them. You’ll do this 4 times because you have 4 pocket pieces that go with 2 back pieces and 2 front pieces.
“on front, pockets go toward center front” –So after the pockets are stitch into place, if you look at the right side of your 2 front pieces, you should have a pocket that’s stitched right on the front. Now refold the facing, on that same crease, and bring the pocket over so that now it’s laying flat on the wrong side of the front piece and the curved part of the pocket is facing towards the center front. You only have to do this for the front pieces.
“Topstitch” –Now look again at the right side of the front pieces. (at this point you shouldn’t see the pockets because they’ve been folded over to the back) Stitch on the top stitch line above and below the orange notches, so not between.
“Pin front and back pieces to placement line” –Now pair off front and back pieces. So 1 front piece goes with 1 back piece and lay them right side up, when paired correctly, the crotch curves of the front and back will be on opposite sides. (Going back to the back pieces with 1 pocket piece attached. You can refold the facing on each back piece, but I wouldn’t fold the pocket over to the back like you did with the front. So if you’re looking at the right side of the back piece, the facing is folded over but the pocket sticks out on the side so you can see it.) On the back piece you have Placement line with a number 1. You also have a number 1 on the front and it’s the same line as the facing fold. So take the folded edge of the facing on the front piece and lay it on top of the placement line on the back piece. (It took me awhile to get this until I looked at the drawing of the finished culottes in the directions and realized that the front overlaps the back of the culottes.) Pin folded edge to placement line.
“Stitch where marked” –ok, it doesn’t get more specific on where to stitch so I just stitch again on the front top stitch line, again above and below notch. If you stitch between the notches, you’ll sew your pocket closed.
“Stitch pocket pieces” –Now that the front and back are stitch together, flip this giant piece over to look at the wrong side. Pull out the 2 pocket pieces, they should be lined up, and you’ll just stitch around the curved edges of the pocket to stitch them together and that way your change won’t fall out.

phew! we got through it! Next is matching the inner leg seams of front and back together, the number 2 lines. 🙂 Anyways, even if my descriptions seem overwhelming, just do what I did and make a mini muslin and then just try and take 1 sentence at a time. It’s always overwhelming if you try and understand everything at once and sometimes easier if the pieces are physically in front of you. If you get through it, please send me a picture of your finished culottes. And if you talk to Burda, tell them they can write a check in care of Professor Pincushion 😉

[the_professors_assistantKeymaster]

Amazing!! You absolutely rock Tova!! Thank you! And yes, Burda totally should compensate you because you just took what looked like to me a cryptic jumble of sewing terms posed as an instructional and broke it down in a way that I could actually comprehend!! YOUR instructions make a whole lot more sense to me. Thanks for taking the time to make a mini muslin to really figure this out for me! I will do the same, as you’re suggesting. I’m going to print this out and follow your steps. And I will definitely post the completed culottes when finished. And this is why I always turn to Professor Pincushion when I have a question or get stuck because I know I will actually get a timely response with an answer I can understand and actually follow.You really go above and beyond to help out your sewing friends and followers in need! Now I can actually finish that UFO with the nice fabric I spent a pretty penny on and am so grateful to you for that. Seriously…what would I do without YOU and the internet!! I’m signing up for the Premium Membership!

[the_professors_assistantKeymaster]

And while on the subject of these culottes, may I segue onto another question regarding fabric? So I uploaded some images of a fabric that I originally planned on using for these culottes (and which I’ve never sewn with before). I’m not sure what this material would be called really. The photos are a terrible resolution but if you can make it out, I would describe it as a crinkly pattern velvet feeling silky slippery fabric. It was originally very pretty until I started working with it. You really can’t see the true beauty of this fabric as when I purchased it, because I ironed it all out. = ( I feel like I ruined and removed the exact thing that made this fabric special. But my question really is, “How do you work with fabric types like these that are very crinkly and the wrinkle is part of the fabric’s integrity when you have to cut patterns out and everything needs to be even? Without ironing I feel like the pieces just wouldn’t be cut out accurately or on the straight grain or match up properly, but now all the personality is gone and I’m not sure what the process would be to bring it back to it’s old shape (if that’s even possible). The crinkles seemed to follow some sort of pattern. I tried wetting a scrap of the fabric and then crumpling it up to see if I could return it to it’s original cool look, to no avail.

[the_professors_assistantKeymaster]

Oh no, that’s so sad! 🙁 I’m sure you’re not the first person to have done this. Well, now you know not to iron it. As far as cutting out patterns, I would lay it all out on a big table or surface area, so that none of it is hanging off the table. If it’s hanging off, it’ll probably stretch it and then you might not get an accurate cut. I wouldn’t try to stretch it out as you try and pin your patterns to it, the crinkles should just be lying naturally. The best way to get accurate fabric pieces is to probably use a rotary cutter so that you’re not pulling on it in anyway. If you want to press seams open, just press them over with your fingers instead of a iron. I once worked with silky gold fabric that was pre-pleated and I just handled it very delicately. You’re not going to get any crisp edges or seams, but that fabric is more ideal for flowy styles anyways. good luck!

[the_professors_assistantKeymaster]

Ha! I didn’t add the photos…so here is what I’m talking about. Do you know what this fabric is called?

[the_professors_assistantKeymaster]

do an image search on google and type “crushed viscose velvet”. does that look the same?

[the_professors_assistantKeymaster]

Yep! That’s the one!

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