Patrones is a Spanish sewing magazine similar to Burda World Of Fashion or KnipMode in that every issue comes with a ton of patterns included which you can sew up for yourself. Patrones is a bit different in that they include a lot of patterns direct from the big name fashion houses, though, so in the current edition (#264), you’ll get designs from Jil Sander, John Paul Gaultier, Gucci, and a whopping 90 others. There are twelve issues each year, with each one dedicated to a different topic (vacation wardrobe, basic wardrobe, special occasion, etc) or size (children, youth, plus size, or regular).
Sounds great, huh? The only problem is that buying an issue of Patrones outside Spain is damn near impossible. You can’t order individual issues or subscriptions from the publisher (do they not want to sell magazines or something?), the last two remaining non-Spanish distributors have stopped carrying it (drying up the former German sources), and the only two remaining sources for a subscription start at $459 for US delivery or 130 euros for European delivery!!
Barring a subscription, your only real choices for getting your hands on an issue are to
a) take a cheap flight to Spain (a definite possibility from London) or
b) scour German eBay (which seems to have more copies floating around than the other localised eBays).
I did the latter, and such was my determination to actually get my hands on one of these elusive beasts that I ended up paying 33 euros (inc shipping) for the newest issue. Which is pretty eye wateringly expensive if you think of it as a single magazine, but it does contain 93 designer patterns and frankly, I don’t plan on buying another any time soon after the effort it took to get this one!
Luckily, my other recent purchase was a lot easier to track down – I’m now the proud owner of Sewing Lingerie That Fits, by Karen Morris which is out of print, but priced by one Marketplace seller at a mere £11 (40 less than all the rest). This is going to make for fine train & ferry reading when we go to Dublin in a few weeks (anyone have any fabric or haberdashery store recommendations??).
And I’m pleased to report that I finished my Pendleton wool jacket last night! Lots of basting and hand stitching on the hem and sleeve hems, but it’s done, and I’m incredibly chuffed with the end result. Thanks for all your suggestions on the non-button fastenings – I’ll report back at the weekend with some photos from my boyfriend’s new DSLR!