Why do I buy patterns and pattern mags when I can draft my own? Search me. Some kind of hoarding compulsion, like saving coffee jars for the jam I won’t be making. How about you – buy only what you’ll use, or support an acquisition habit?
The October issue caught me in a bored moment in the papeterie. Much of it seems to have an oversize thing going on, harking back to the early 90s – like this raglan sleeve coat with a wide shawl collar, and its near identical sis with the tie belt.
Coat Rehash
Oversize Coat
Wide trousers with side pockets and pleats are getting a re-run too, but why the tab at the outside seam at the ankle? A pressing complication. They’ve teamed them with another useful hardy perennial, the cowl top, and a wotsit for pulling over your head and wearing round the shoulders. I’d want to make this hemmed, lined or doubled or something. The raw edge looks cheap.
Oxford Bags Again!
This cosy, baggy top will probably suit many of us. Teamed with another useful regular, the straight skirt with front pleats and side pockets. Nicely styled!
Cosy Top, Useful Skirt
What can be said about this? If it’s cold enough for a coat, I like sleeves. Clumsy is the adjective springing to mind. Burda dub it a Master Piece. What do you think?
No! Please, No.
Where are the hallmark Burda misses? Top billing this satin top, with the inexplicable side flaps tacked to the hem and the bulbous neckline pleats. Guaranteed to add kilos. And yes, she is wearing it with the Oxford Bags and brogues. We all have those days.
Bulge in Satin
Runner up in the WTF stakes its got to be this skirt.
Panting Dog Skirt
If I’m going to the expense of extra fabric for a pencil skirt and committing to the work of setting a perfect concave to convex seam I don’t want the result to conjour up images of kangaroo pouch or lolling dog tongue. The stylist apparently shared my reservations. If you peer closely at the photo tongues have become saddle bags. In some alternative universe where I found myself with a dog’s leg of special fabric and a left over strip, and was too idle to think of a better solution, the side position would win.
Can’t see what I’m on about? The waitress ensemble makes it all too clear.
Waitress Outfit, First Trimestre
Why not waste some decent leather on it? You can always turn it into a bag later. Front pouch is half way bag already. Make a slit near the waistband and you’ve got both.
Bag-Skirt
Moving to pastures sweeter, there’s a simple, easy to wear button through dress made successfully in viscose, with a less successful version in satin pretending to be a different design (why do they do this?). Burda, we look at the line drawings.
Button-through Dress
Another ‘like’ is a kimono cut top, worn with an obi style belt, which unfortunately gets rehashed as a dress with the side panels in impossible to source pleated fabric.
Kimono Top and Obi
Burda’s pleated fabric is so lightweight that it is semi transparent. Good luck finding some fine enough not to bunch twixt boobage and waist and solid enough to preserve decency outside a photo shoot.
Pleaty Odball
Still with the pleats, better placed in this dress. I feel sure some creative stitcher will turn out a decent version.
Pleated Dress
A long evening dress also goes in my like pile, but are the aerofoils above the waist a feature too many?
Evening Dress
Less is more, less is more. The basically nice wrap dress is detail rich (too rich?) in the sleeve with a triangle inset at the sleeve head and another at the wrist. Please consider the wrong side of the fabric in the waterfall wrap Burda.
Wrap Dress
Hot favourite for me is a design with bands from the side seam to raised neckline, available in a short and long sleeved version. probably not for the uber-busty, but could work on many figures.
Two Tone Jersey Dress
What do you think? Does any style stand out for you, and which are the bum notes?
Also rans – the cowl neck top as a dress, the suit jacket seen with the horrid skirt above and coat from the same basic design with bunchy gathers and oversize pocket flaps at the waist, the shawl collar coat chopped to become a quilted jacket and some boring blouson variations.
The larger sizes have a couple of formal jackets and trousers which are good to have, and some indifferent tops and dresses, not bad, just nothing to write home about. There are also four children’s patterns in size range 60 to 68 cm chest.
Is it worth the money? The cover claims 51 styles – but several of these are second or third variations. Assuming you don’t need hand holding to lengthen a blouse to a dress or vice versa, or cut a long sleeve shorter or put a different pocket on, you can count on about half that number. That’s still a lot for 6.50 euros.
Old Burda mags used to have far more patterns crammed onto pattern sheets, value – but hard to see. My favourite way of tracing off the patterns while not messing up the original sheets is using sheets of carbon paper hinged together, face down on my pattern paper, with the pattern sheet on top, following the lines with a propelling pencil without lead. If it’s a pattern where I want to add seam allowances, this can be done at the same time using a flexible curve. It’s more tedious than a user ready paper pattern, but so much better than printing out a thousand A4 sheets and taping them together.
Like this:
Like Loading...
