What a nice surprise! I wasn’t expecting this magazine at all, but my in-laws were visiting Spain recently, saw it on a newsstand, and grabbed it for me. I’m so glad they did, too, as not only is it a great issue with a bunch of wearable separates (much better than dozens of holiday dresses), but it also sees the return of the designer names!
Granted, it’s been a while since I’ve had a Patrones magazine (18 months by the look of things??), and to be honest, I’d gone off them a little bit. But this one has me excited again that they might be turning things around and getting back to their heydey of a few years ago… But let’s not get ahead of ourselves – let’s take a peek inside, shall we?
There are a ton of button-down shirt patterns in this issue – some traditional, some more blouse-like for flowing fabrics, and some more unusual, like this one with the attractive yoke panelling, dolman sleeves, and unusual centre front invisible zipper. I’d need to do a muslin first, of course, but I’m keeping this one in mind for the unusual Liberty lawn I bought earlier this year, especially since this shirt needs less than the 1.5m I bought.
To run the risk of sounding entirely predictable – ooh! A short coat! Yes, I know I’m consumed with short coat/jacket patterns right now, but this one is a good example of a design I rarely see outside Patrones (and the seamlines are really similar to the grey tweed jacket I made a few years ago that I’ve worn to death!).
There’s a fantastic feature in this issue which contains a ton of designer dresses and jackets, but ones that would be not only quick to sew, but could easily work for office attire. First up is this Joseph sheath dress – quite plain in the front with only two horizontal seams, but the back features a flounce from shoulder to knee. Also shown here is a Zadig & Voltaire jacket, which has a pretty traditional tech drawing, but made more interesting for leaving some of the edges unfinished to fray.
There’s an Alexander McQueen dress (an incredibly basic knit sheath), Dries Van Noten jacket, plus dresses from Marni, Just Cavalli, Lanvin, and French Connection, but I just adored the back view of this Alberta Ferretti dress. The pattern pieces for this dress are crazy as the sleeve is partially incorporated into the back, and all that gathering distorts the back pieces, but wow. What a show-stopping back view!
The next feature creates patterns from high-end RTW garments which are shown alongside the designer catwalk photos they’re copying. So I guess we get a copy of a copy with our patterns? Regardless of the inspiration, again we get some very wearable separates with a lot of long sleeved blouses and shirts, office-appropriate trousers, and some nice skirts, too, like this one from Comptoir des Cotoniers with a single, central pleat.
The Plus feature is a bit dressier than the rest of the magazine, and includes patterns for several tops, a pair of trousers, dress, and bolero, but I liked the lace placement on this blouse and skirt best.
And finally, the kids section in this issue is for babies, and includes an adorable little hooded jacket (plus another one with knitting instructions), plus this tunic and pair of trousers. It’s not like the pockets will actually get used for one so small, but they’re a cute detail anyway, right?
If you like this issue, too, I see that the Dutch shop Sewingpatterns.eu (aka Naaipatronen.nl) has this one and many others available to buy. Oh, and I just realised that the Extra issue #41 contains reprints from two of my favourite issues ever, #272 and #285! (The “Extra” issues reprint old patterns, but the higher issue numbers are all new)
In other news, I’ve succumbed to the Funkifabrics 20% off sale this weekend! Is it sacrilege that I actually bought some solids to coordinate with my crazy prints??
The turquoise solid lycra should pair nicely with the leftover bits of triathlon fabric I have in my stash, too!