Many thanks for your get well soon messages – I think it definitely worked, because no sooner did I post that than I started to feel a little better! I’m still not back to 100% right now, but I felt well enough to try a very easy and short run this morning, so thank you!
To show my thanks, I’m going to share my picks from the latest Burda magazine, which arrived this week. Usually the August issue is the start of the Fall fashions, but this seems more like a transitional issue – lots of summer wear but some great long-sleeved pieces, too.
First up from the “macaron pastels” feature is omg I must make this pieced sheath dress! Burda clearly love it, too, since they made it three times in this issue. My only letdown is that the back is very boring indeed, so if when I make this, I’ll be slicing up the back and adding similar diagonal seams like I did with my swirled sheath dress (still one of my favourites ever, I might add!).
The dress on the left really reminded me of the RTW dress I wore to a wedding recently – though you didn’t see the back, it too had a lower back cutout! I also rather like the pleated teeshirt on the right. It also comes in a solid-sleeve version and the pleating detail reminds me a lot of the pleats on the neckline of my favourite Manequim silk blouse pattern.
Now, I really hated the shiny, glittery, tacky disco fabrics they used in this feature with the “DJane” (a term which I’ve never, ever heard before. Nor had any of my music-industry friends – though urban dictionary has some feelings on it!). But, if you look beyond the gold lamé here this surplice-neck top has a lot of great design lines, and I love the idea of a pleated band, too.
This sheath dress pattern didn’t really grab me right away, but pair it with this amazing digital-print jersey and well, it’s certainly growing on me! On closer inspection, I rather like the square neckline, but I’m not sure how that dropped-waist hem would look on someone with hips. Of course the first thing I did when I saw this dress was to see if Alfatex stocked it, but disappointingly, they list this photo, but have a jersey next to it which looks nothing like the original. They used to stock the exact fabrics used in the magazine, but it appears now they’re just selling their “best match” or something. Boo.
Yay! It’s my favourite diagonally-seamed sheath dress, made even cooler here by some colourblocking. Ooh, a great dress and the opprtunity to use up fabric scraps? Don’t mind if I do! Oh, and I failed to mention earlier, but it’s also got the illustrated instructions for this issue, too…
There wasn’t much in the menswear styled feature to set me alight (though I love my seamed sheath dress made up in suiting fabric, I didn’t think you needed to see it a third time), but I really liked this teeshirt with the asymmetric, pleated shoulder. It looks a lot like StyleArc’s Emily pattern this month, so I’m assuming they’re drawing on the same designer inspiration. This also comes in a long-sleeved version, but bizarrely for jersey patterns, both long and short feature two-part sleeves – a feature normally reserved for jackets and coats.
And finally, I found most of the Plus patterns to be just… odd this month, but I like this asymmetric blouse with its shoulder pleats and cowl neck, and dolman sleeve on one side only. The jersey trousers also look like they’d be a great wardrobe basic made up in ponte knit, especially since they’ve got pockets.
So who else enjoyed this issue? Anyone care to race me to trace out the sheath dress (though modifying the back is likely to slow me down!)?