I’ve got a big stack of magazines from Argentina to scan and show you, but I wanted to get this one up first while it’s still current in case any one wants to order it for themselves (yeah, it’s quite good!). If you recall from last year when I bought my first issue, La Maison Victor is a Belgian sewing and knitting pattern magazine that publishes bi-monthly (up from quarterly!) in French, Dutch and German and features fully illustrated instructions for each step, too.
I was really impressed with my first issue so I was keen to try and buy another while we were in France for a wedding a few weeks ago – I was pleased to see that it was fairly easy to find. If you’ve got friends or relatives travelling back to the UK through Eurotunnel (where you drive onto the train which takes you under the English Channel), the WH Smith at the Eurotunel Calais Terminal has stocked it every time I’ve looked, and so is a good bet for directing others to buy for you.
La Maison Victor offer patterns for children as well as adults, and they seem to have a good balance of patterns for both boys and girls. Here we see a boys cardigan with buttons and a nice shawl collar, made from sweatshirting instead of the usual sweater knit. This issue also includes a button-down long sleeved shirt for boys as well as a girl’s sweatshirt that could easily work for either gender.
How much do I freaking love this Top “Dusty” with its asymmetric shoulder pleating! This design is SO me that I’ve already traced and cut out fabric for it… but because I don’t fancy the sleeveless bit or the facings, I’ve just traced out the Front and frankenpatterned my basic teeshirt block to it so I can give it long sleeves and a neckband. Also because someone on instagram made it and said the neckline and armholes are really low, and by making it match my teeshirt block, I’m avoiding any potentials there while still keeping the shoulder pleating.
The dresses for this issue are fairly boring, if you ask me, but then again, I’m bored by 90% of the dress patterns I see available anyway, so maybe I’m not the best judge of what women actually want to sew… Classic, or boring? It’s a fine line I suppose.
Now here’s an example of an image that is genuinely cute in Europe, but kind of unsettling in America… But looking beyond the fairground guns, the dress on the left with the topstitched pockets is really nice, but the knitting pattern for the sweater on the right feels really Eighties to me.
This wrap coat would be easy to sew if you choose your fabrics carefully to avoid the dreaded “bathrobe” look, but I also wanted to share this photo as an example of the fantastic art direction La Maison Victor have – all the photos are far more Instagram or Fashion magazine than sewing magazine, and they have enough detail shots of each garment that if something’s covered up in one photo, it doesn’t really matter. Also, regarding fabric, La Maison Victor sell fabric bundles on their site (as well as pdf patterns from earlier issues) to try and alleviate those issues, especially for beginners.
There’s only one men’s pattern per issue but this time around it’s a parka with a massive front map pocket and a little triangle of fabric at the half zip to give more room, but not allow rain in. What a wonderful detail!
And not content with keeping the men dry, we women also get a parka! And frankly, I think I love the women’s design even more than the men’s, with the angular seaming hiding those pockets, plus a zip front, rather than over-the-head too. I even have just the perfect waterproof, breathable fabric from Sew Kinetic before they closed down. Now the question will be whether I can run in it!
I don’t see a way to see all the designs from each issue on their site (if you’re reading, La Maison Victor, PLEASE add this!), so if you’d like to see what’s inside before you buy, here are all the tech drawings at a glance:
Overall, I think it’s a great issue, mostly because there are two patterns I absolutely want to sew for myself. There seem to be more kids patterns in this issue than the one I bought last winter, which I hope is just a one-off and not a trend. Since my niece and nephew are into the smaller end of adult sizes now, kids patterns are pretty much useless to me and I’d rather have a whole magazine just with adult patterns. But the way La Maison Victor are growing, maybe they’ll split off the kids patterns into a separate magazine in the future, a’la KnipMode and Knippie magazines.
If you’re interested, you can buy individual issues directly from the publisher here.