
I was mainly excited about Oktoberfest cos it would give me the chance to dress up like a Bavarian for a few days. I only bought the fabric for my dirndl two days before I left for Munich.... What with having to pre-wash fabric and all the little details, I didn't even come close to finishing it before I left Budapest. I stayed with Ines who lives in a gorgeous town on the outskirts of Munich. There were horses and roosters! The countryside! It was so nice to be there and I spent some lovely hours out in the sunshine hand sewing to finish up everything.

I made the bodice out of embroidered taffeta using my bodice sloper then attached a pleated satin skirt to it.

For the short under blouse I modified
Burda pattern 7831. I made it a little bigger so I wouldn't have to use buttons, added elastic around the bottom of the back, made the neckline lower and got rid of the collar then added a ruffle.

I had to completely hand sew the apron cos I started that in Munich. Ines' neighbour brought over her old sewing machine which she hadn't used in ten years. I couldn't figure out how to thread it at all, even with the manual (really made me appreciate my ultra-basic machine).
I made a white cotton petticoat too to give the skirt some body. By that time I was pretty fed up with hand sewing so I just stapled the hem... Yes, I realise I will have to remove the staples before I wash it so it doesn't rust :) Stapling just makes things so much faster!