Wow, everyone in Brazil must’ve been partying their bums off at carnival because my February issue was really late – I’d normally be expecting to see March any day now! But I’m just glad it arrived at all, because it’s a really good one, and features one must sew for me in particular!
First up are the Plus offerings for this issue. They may not seem like much, but all three look to be very wearable and versatile, and those bermuda shorts are offered in multiple sizes, too.
The designer style section this month is Victoria Beckham, and, all Spice Girl and WAG celebrity-BS aside, I actually really love a lot of her designs and find they intersect with my own personal style an awful lot. Here we get patterns for a really nicely shaped sheath dress, narrow trousers, and – the one that made me bolt upright when I turned the page – a draped, crossover blouse.
OH. MY. GOD. I adore… freaking adore… this blouse! That I can’t quite immediately work out the construction of that drape from the pattern pieces makes me want to make it even more. And, umm, it’s also in my new size, too. LOVE!
While I regain my composure, have a look at this coral sheath dress. There’s a lot going on – the banded, cap sleeves, the exposed darts, and the added hip peplums, but it’s one I personally find really appealing.
This dress isn’t explicitly an homage to YSL’s famous Mondrian dress, but it’s all I could think of when I saw it. Maybe it’s partly down to their colour choice, but I’d personally colourblock it in more “Me” hues of turquoise, mustard, and purple!
There’s a full denim section near the back, and I’m usually disappointed when pattern magazines feature denim without offering tons of different jeans patterns, but this time I actually preferred all the non-jeans denim uses, like this dress. I think this is an adorable dress, and one that I could see in any number of fabrics. It also really reminds me of that Turkish designer dress that was in BurdaStyle a while back…
The fewer words said about those awful flared jeans, the better, but look at the denim top! It’s a perfect shell or woven tee pattern, and I’ve had a photo of a boucle tee with this exact shape stuck to my sewing room wall for ages now. That this pattern is offered in multiple sizes makes it even better!
This jean skirt reminded me of two things – 1, that I don’t currently own any denim skirts that fit me and I should really remedy that before summer, and 2, that this looks SO similar to the Colette Patterns Beignet skirt that I made years ago and wore to death. Note to self: combine these two!
Speaking of Colette Patterns – if you missed it, I wrote a guest post for their Coletterie blog about sewing for exercise, and Part One went live yesterday! So hello to my new readers if you came over because of it, and if you haven’t read it yet, go have a look.
And another point of note – my red Brasilia dress and my silver Jamie jeans are both entered in the Pattern Review “New to Me Pattern Company” contest and voting is open right now! Please consider voting for mine if you’re a PR member.