I don’t know why, but this issue was really late to arrive this month, only turning up on Friday, after (I swear) everyone else on earth already received theirs, and some had even started making things from it! I love my subscription, and it’s usually timely, but it makes me cranky when it’s a really good issue I’m waiting on!
I’m not sure why so many of the garments in the first feature were made with waffle piqué (maybe the Big Waffle Piqué Cartel got to Burda?), but I rather liked the design of this sweetheart-necked dress. I thought at first there might be kangaroo pockets in the skirt, but no – the model is just holding her hands at the pleats for the fun of it…
This banded dress is just ok IMHO – it reminds me too much of the overdone “Duro dress” of a few years ago, but I more wanted to point out the blatant advertorial for Frizz-ease in the corner. Look, I don’t mind if Burda start introducing ads into the magazine (frankly, I find it really weird that it doesn’t contain any), but make them ads. Don’t try to shoe-horn ads into your crappy, poorly-written copy and expect readers to be stupid enough to lap it up. Give Frizz-ease a full page ad and don’t insult your readers’ intelligence.
The maxi dress on the right isn’t really my thing, but I really like the paneled seams of the mini dress on the left. The dress has a few variations shown in this issue, including an above-the-knee length, and both strapless and spaghetti strap versions, but I liked this cap sleeve treatment best.
This crossover waistcoat is a really interesting take on a basic pattern! I wonder how wearable it’d be with the open bottom, though – it’s a fine line between breezy summer dressing and risk of over exposure sometimes.
This retro-style bikini pattern is really cute, but I find it strange they’ve made it for wovens rather than jersey/lycra fabrics. The miniskirt coverup is for knits, however, but it’s two separate pieces – a basic skirt and a layer which wraps over top. I think I personally would prefer a fully-wrappable skirt which would be easier to tie on over a wet swimsuit…
The vintage reprint pattern this month is for a blouse which both wraps around the waist to fasten at the back, and ties at the neckline to form a bow. Conceptually, it’s kinda hard to see how it’s made until you see the very helpful diagram included in the instructions, seen here in the lower left. Eureka! This is definitely my favourite pattern this issue, I think, and I’ve had success with the vintage reproduction patterns from past issues, too.
Now, this isn’t something I would wear myself, but I really like the design and structure of the top in particular! The skirt I find a little fussy, and the leather armbands just ridiculous, but I think the top paired with a high-waisted pencil skirt could look very stylish indeed.
Burda only show this pattern once in this issue, but I think this knotted teeshirt could easily become a wardrobe staple for an awful lot of people! In fact, looking at the pattern pieces, it’s actually pretty similar to the Pattern Magic Flip Turned top that I’ve made a bunch of times and still wear in its various forms pretty much all year round.
I’m glad fashion is getting away from the same boring, basic blazer or the even more tiresome (and aging!) Chanel-esque jackets and branching into some different jacket styles. Here we see a really fresh take on the jacket with extended fronts which twist and then wrap around the body. Burda have very cleverly used striped fabric to accentuate the twists here, too. Below is a bomber jacket with some unique sleeves – not quite dolman but not quite raglan, either. Burda have had quite a few bomber jacket patterns recently which I think I prefer more, but the shoulder shape plus the little pocket in the sleeve itself makes this one worthy of note, anyway.
And finally, despite this being made up in a very loud, sequinned jersey, this cowl dress with ragland seam gathers could be a really great basic, either in this dress form or in the shorter teeshirt variety. In fact, Dawn has already made this up and it looks great!
I’m in Brittany, land of seafood and salted caramel, for holiday this week. Please forgive me if I’m slower than usual to reply to questions – I’m likely in a food coma.