It is an excellent time to be a pattern magazine subscriber, and I think this week’s posts on the June Burda, April Manequim, and now this May issue are a great illustration on the variety and fashion forward elements that just aren’t being seen in the Big Four right now.
The other two issues this week have been fantastic, but this May issue may just top them all… I don’t think I’ve ever scanned so many pages from one magazine before!
First up are the Plus offerings for this issue – three different dresses all with illusion-type colourblocking made popular by Stella McCartney recently.
As you may have guessed from the cover, there are maternity patterns included this month for the first time that I’ve ever seen! The cover blouse is the nicest IMHO, but there’s also patterns for a skirt, trousers, and a caftan-like dress, too.
The designer style patterns this month use Jason Wu as their inspiration and we get a really intricate jacket with wide lapels but loads of the sleeve details are just swallowed by the floral print. There’s also a cutaway shoulder blouse with a wide hem in multiple sizes, and also a dress with some stunning lace appliques. It might be difficult to source a similar lace, but the dress pattern is offered in a whopping 6 sizes, so it’s a great pattern to have as a jersey base for comparing against & modifying to become other styles not in your size.
I stopped buying Patrones magazine a while back as I only ever really liked the winter issues anyway, and I was getting a bit bored of their styles. But to me, Patrones really made the best coat patterns ever. Let me tell you, this coat feature here is enough to make me burn all my back issues of Patrones and sew all of these instead.
Take this pink coat for starters – immaculate clean lines – the princess seam goes straight into that angle to form the pocket. The raglan seams draw the eye to the face, and there’s no collar in the way to distract from the simplicity. YES.
This pattern appears to have everything I’d ever want from a motorcycle jacket, and sewn in coating rather than leather. Again, the attention to detail here is great – I only wish I could see more clearly what’s going on with that right side (as worn) pocket…
Again with the crazy amount of details and fabric mixing – is it a trench coat? Is it a biker jacket? It’s apparently made with faux leather, coating, and a polyester (presumably the fabric with the holes) and you know how much I love to mix different textures in the same colour!
And lastly in the coat feature, I adore this colourblock coat with the stripe running through just above the waist. Very striking but very classic at the same time.
Now some of my long-time readers may recall that in the very first issue of Manequim I ever had there was a feature on chic uses for sweatshirt and I squealed with delight. OMG IT’S ANOTHER CHIC SWEATSHIRTING FEATURE. And this time it’s even better. I had to restrain myself to even leave one pattern out of my picks.
This dress! You could totally leave the lower sleeves off and it’d work well with cap sleeves, too!
This one has similar seaming by the shoulders but they’ve used leather and cutout fabrics to make it even more interesting (if not warm!).
I didn’t think it was actually possible, but these sweatpants actually look nice. Not only would I make these, I’d be caught dead in them, too!
This dress, for me, is the pinnacle of this feature and entire issue. The seaming, the colourblocking, the crazy hem, I adore this entire package! I would get down on one knee to this dress. You will be mine.
And last but not least in the sweatshirting feature is this basic tee, offered again in a whopping six sizes. James actually has a shirt almost exactly like this that he wears all the time – a boxy tee made from alternating sides of grey marl sweatshirts, left to curl at the edges. I could make this and we’d match! ha!
I nearly needed a cool drink and a lie down after that feature, but then I turned the page and saw this mini dress made from map fabric, which reminded me of the map skirt Sinbad & Sailor made!
And in case you were disappointed the paneled dresses at the beginning were all for Plus sizes, Manequim went and threw in an illusion knit dress just for you (or, err, me) in size 44!
So, was I right, or was I right – is this issue not amazing?!
(And yes, I see there’s some up on eBay right now…)