By rights, I should totally be feeling the Fall styles right now seeing as how we’re currently in the most October-feeling August I can recall (which is fine since we had a glorious July!). But despite my finding a lot to talk about in this issue, there’s actually not much I can see myself making, at least not with my limited “Me Sewing” time these days…
Burda have produced so many ladies bomber jackets in the past few months, it’s only natural they’d produce one for men now, too. But seriously, Burda, there is nothing British about this look! This has retro Americana written all over it!!
Ah this V-neck teeshirt looks very wearable… but I’m having deja vu… oh yes, it’s because we had an almost identical tee in July’s issue! At least recycle a bit further back, c’mon!
And now into the Alpine feature… yawn. If you’ve subscribed to Burda as long as I have, you’re likely to be thoroughly sick of dirndls by now, too. I have enough dirndl patterns to create an entire dirndl wardrobe. I’m even traveling to Austria and Germany during Oktoberfest this year and I still don’t want to sew a dirndl.
So, err, look at this Alpine jacket instead. It’s not offensive.
This combo, on the other hand, is truly hideous.
In an attempt to show the rest of the world that dirndls really are a versatile garment, we have a “Pimp Up” spread (snigger) showing a few variations on the basic patterns. As much as I hate to admit it, I really like the “Cool” variation, with the lace illusion neckline. It’d be a great use for Minerva’s skull lace, for starters!
I’ve been looking for a similar boxy sweatshirt style to showcase the last remaining bits of my galaxy print ponte knit, but the neckline looks way too wide here (easy to fix), and the general proportions look out of wack (not so easy to fix). Interesting that the front panel is cut on the bias, though, so you can showcase a woven instead.
Neither of these are my usual style, and I’m seeing beyond the awful floral here, too, but I still really like both the blouse and the skirt on their own and paired together like this. The blouse is even more interesting to me once I saw the layout – it’s one pattern piece, with no shoulder seams and a raw-edged neckline! This skirt is apparently a knockoff of a Prada runway train skirt – not necessarily the most practical for London (dragging that train through damp streets, ewwww), though.
Love the style lines on this dress – near to being a basic princess-line dress, but the angular seaming and neck slit really gives it a modern edge. They missed a treat with the pockets though – instead of putting them in the side seams, I’d totally make use of that horizontal waist seam and stick them there instead.
I really like the tech drawing for this asymmetric pencil skirt with its half belt (much more than the pleated trousers in a similar vein elsewhere in this issue), but sadly I’m not that into it on the model. I really wish they’d shown more than one photo of it so I could better decide. Perhaps I’ll wait til the Russian ladies make it first and then decide (they’re so freakin’ quick!).
Love the scooped neckline seaming (and that it continues on the back!) but hate the skirt godet. Again, that’s easy enough to fix by just filling in the skirt and leaving it as an A-line.
And finally, from the Plus section, have a look at the tech drawing for this coat! How many pieces is that?!? Clearly it’s enough to warrant Burda including three extra drawings in the instructions to show how the pieces are split up and named… Respect to anyone who tackles this!
So what did you think of this issue? I know the Alpine look much be a big seller for Burda in Germany, but is anyone outside of the Alpine region that bothered? Do people actually wear dirndls outside of Germany in a regular fashion sense (ie: not as a costume to your town’s Oktoberfest party)?