Burda 02/1955: making sense of pattern sheet without instructions. Dedication, but boring

It took me a full day...

To find 8 dresses on the pattern sheet and 5 maybe's. I will show you how I did it. It is boring, but it will show you my dedication to make this generation challenge work.

Okay, so I have only one double sided pattern sheet out of the two provided with this magazine. I also don't have the instruction booklet that shows the linedrawings, the fabric layout, the numbers of patternpieces per dress and so on.

So I got: pattern side 1 with a 106 different pattern pieces and pattern side 2 with 146 different pieces. So, which piece to what dress.

Organizing the pieces per garment

The different line types used, seem to indicate different garments. So for example: on sheet 2 piece 1 to 11 have the same line type. I grouped the numbers with the same line type.

Next I wrote behind that how many pieces per group/garment.

Listing garments from magazine

The magazine states for most garments on what pattern sheet they are and in what color. Interestingly they mention red and blue although it looks more like red and green. So I wrote down the numbers of the garments per pattern sheet per color.

The theory is that if the magazine states that there are 13 garments on pattern sheet 2 in red, I should have 13 groups of numbers (13 different line types) on the sheet. I have 12!!!!

Coffee break...

So do not be deterred, have a coffee and on we go.

Sketching the pieces

I had picked 4 dresses I really liked from the magazine that said they were on sheet 1 or 2. The first dress I want to make looks really easy and made from a few parts. So back to the list that says how many pieces per garment. I started from the lowest amount and I sketched the pattern pieces from the sheets.

I tried to find all the darts and pleats that would make it easier to identify the dress. The following features made it easier to find the garments.

• darts or pleats.
• cut-on/kimono style sleeves or separate sleeves or sleeveless.
  
• pencil skirt or bell skirt.
• collar type or shape.

Some sketched garments could not be matched to a number, sadly. After sketching 14 garments, I located 8 of them.

Counting buttons

I had found a couple of patterns this way, but still not my dress to make. I then found the pattern sheets located and counted the number of buttons. I made a list of the pattern pieces with the number of buttonholes given (or at least the ones I could find). A couple of pattern pieces stood out, like the ones with a high number of button holes or with a diagonal line of buttonholes. I found 5 more (likely) garments this way including the dress I wanted to make.

Asking Burda

Not all the instructions given in the magazine are correct. Some are indicated to be in one color, but are in another. Some are even on the wrong sheet.

I e-mailed Burda to ask if they perhaps have some more instructions or information. For now, I will concentrate on my first dress to make. Dress 8303.

The nine buttons really tell what dress this is. Otherwise it would 'just' be one of the many cut-on sleeve dresses in this issue. I'm excited for this adventure.

All links to generation challenge here: