If you’re reading this and sweating, then you may wish to imagine yourself instead in chilly Rio de Janeiro for the latest instalment of Manequim magazine. Brrrr along with me now…
First up is a rather useful two-page spread on how to customise your accessories with fur. I quite like the idea of adding fur to existing gloves, though the way they’ve added it to a dress here seems strange. Surely it’s better to create a detachable fur collar, a’la this coat tutorial?
I really like the dress on the left, with its cool peplum side panels and the wide, cross back straps:
Wowza, this leather dress is hot! I think Manequim have designed this really well – it’s difficult to get the balance right with leather. Reveal too much skin or make it too tight, and you’ve gone from sexy to “woman of the night”, but they’ve done well here to keep the neckline high and the sheath shape classic.
If I didn’t already sew a faux fur coat that I love I’d be jumping up and down over this pattern, because it’s in my size, it’s a perfect, cropped cut, and it even has pockets in those princess seams!
From the same coat feature, I already really like this jacket, which mixes wool coating with leather and really takes advantage of the textural differences within the the same colour.
This month, the designer section features patterns in the style of Michael Kors, and of course I love this knit cowl top! To be honest, the skirt and trousers aren’t half bad, either.
The next feature was a bit strange – it featured famous couples and copycat patterns for some of the outfits featured in the paparazzi photos. So the very first one was Wills and Kate, with a pattern for a dress with an asymmetric peplum that’s in the same vein as Kate’s dress suit.
Later in this same feature there’s some Brazilian celebrities, where we’re given patterns for both her fantastic dress and his tuxedo shirt. The other standout men’s pattern was a basic, casual zippered jacket in the style of Tom Cruise (I just didn’t want to have to look at Tom Cruise’s face again).
I’m hoping to get a photoshoot of my chrysanthemum print silk blouse tonight (in amongst packing for a camping trip this weekend!) so fingers crossed you’ll get to see that soon, as it’s been done and hanging in my sewing room for nearly a whole week now!