Pattern Review: Burda Neglige and Kimono Robe

Hello CSC!

For Party Time, I decided to have a fancy PJ party and made two Burda Magazine patterns: Burda Lace Neglige 01/2017 #125A and Burda Belted Kimono Robe 01/2012 #134AB.

For plus-sized intimates, there are not a lot of options, but magazines like Burda sometimes have themed months and January at Burda usually means either activewear or intimates. While their plus-sized patterns can often be pretty shapeless and uninteresting, there are occasionally some great collections and actually in the past year there have been more wins than duds for me. The January 2017 intimates collection is one of my favourites and I am slowly going to make my way through it. Burda plus sizes are 44 to 52. The sizing is a bit more generous than other companies and goes up to a 48 inch bust and 50 inch hip. That being said, I’m still a bit outside their range.

Measurements: 50.5-48-54/56
Body Shape: Gourd
Height: 5’3″
Bra size: 44HH

Based on my measurements, I graded size 52 up by 2 inches in both patterns using the slash and spread method effectively making a size 54. This worked really well, but made the darts on the nightgown a bit off. Instead of redrafting them on paper, I sewed up the back seam and side seams and pinned the pattern to get the darts in the right place. Curved bust darts (is there a different word for this type?) like this can be a bit difficult, especially with a large bust. The darts aren’t perfect and do angle in a bit at centre front. My advice, if you choose to sew this up, is to trim out the centre of the dart before sewing to give you 5/8 inch seam allowance (after pin-fitting them, though, you don’t want to trim and then not have them fit correctly) and then grade the seams to a 1/4 inch again after sewing. It will help you get a better handle on the fabric and make it a bit easier to sew. Curved bust darts like this aren’t used very often in patterns these days (they tend to be seen more in vintage patterns), but can really create a lovely fit and shouldn’t be feared. For the nightgown, I shortened it by about 12 inches in the front and 11 inches in the back for a slight high/low hem. For both patterns, I did french seams for a nice inside finish. I finished the bust dart seam allowances using my serger. The more difficult of the two patterns was definitely the lace nightgown. I’m not super proud of my sewing on that at all, but I really like the finished garment. Not perfect by any means, but lovely to wear.

Burda instructions are famously sparse and these are no exception. I would definitely list the patterns as intermediate based on the lack of good instructions. The construction of both is very basic, though, so they aren’t advanced patterns.

The fit is robe-like for the robe – loose fit and comfortable to wear. I immediately want to make a bunch more. But how many fancy robes does one person need? All of them, Andie, all of them.

The fit on the nightgown could be better. I actually need a small FBA as there is some pulling forward of the side seams. I could also remove an inch from the centre back and bring the shoulders in a bit since the neckline does sit wide. At the end of the day, though, these are PJs and don’t require a lot of overfitting since they will not be seen that often by more people than my husband. I’ve never felt more fancy and luxurious and that is definitely something to celebrate.

In terms of time, both patterns were made at the same time and in total took about 8 hours. I’m definitely going to make the robe again.

The fabric I used for the nightgown is stretch satin with a crepe back. I didn’t use lace at all. I had mint stretch lace that would have looked nice but didn’t want to be sewn on to the stretch satin at all so I left it off and I still like the nightgown. I used the stretch satin as a contrast for the robe along with flannel backed satin to make it extremely cozy as well as luxurious.

What’s in the glass, you ask? Root beer. Nothing like drinking soda out of fancy crystal wine glasses! Now that is a party!

Pattern Rating:

Burda Lace Neglige 01/2017 #125A

Size Range (1-5): 4
Instructions (1-5): 2
Construction Process (1-5): 4
Final Fit (1-5): 4
Overall Rating: 3.5/5

Overall, I like the pattern and can see me making it again with a few fit tweaks.

Burda Belted Kimono Robe 01/2012 #134AB

Size Range (1-5): 4
Instructions (1-5): 2
Construction Process (1-5): 5
Final Fit (1-5): 5
Overall Rating: 4/5

I just love this robe so much and basically want to live in it. I may find excuses to actually live in it as much as possible. Hahah. It’s so nice to have luxurious pjs to lounge around and eat bonbons in.