Thank you all so much for your enthusiasm and excitement over my Tessellate Tee pattern and Add On Pack! I’ve got so many different versions of this top to show you, both casual ones and workout ones, too. I’m really behind on photoshoots due to us sailing our boat to a new mooring (for the first time in 9 years!) and the associated stress making me vulnerable to some nasty bug that’s going round. But I’m hoping I’ll feel well enough to take some photos this weekend, and you’ll get to see some new backgrounds to the photos as well!

But in amongst all the moving melée (plus some added fun in sorting out a new gift subscription), the latest Burda magazine arrived so I thought I’d share my picks with you before it’s out of date!

It’s the first of the 2016 Burda magazines! Burda have been really hit and miss for me in 2015, but let’s take a peek inside and see what the future may hold…

It seems Burda has been holding out on us – the last few issues were pretty good but WOW there is a lot to love in this last issue of 2015!

I’m a big fan of cropped jackets, as you know, and I like this one has a full closure as well as full-length sleeves (though if forced to choose, I think I prefer the longer, biker version). But what is with the tight trousers without a waistband? How on earth would they stay up?? They just sound like a wardrobe malfunction waiting to happen to me.

Since this is the Christmas issue, we get patterns for the whole family as well as some smaller projects that could be gifted. The selection for boys is particularly strong this time around, with this great jacket/hoodie and a knitted woolly hat that I’d wear myself if it wasn’t too small!

The boys jacket here is just a variation on the one above, but I love the men’s bomber jacket (though James is less enthusiastic). Look at the shape of the raglan sleeve joined with the yoke on it!

I’m slowly working through my pile of magazines (another four more to go!) but I wanted to share my picks from the latest Burda magazine before it becomes outdated and off the newsstands. But the short version is that this is another pretty good issue, and a fantastic one if you’re in the Plus size range!

I really liked the choice of orange and camel in this feature, but for me the standout is this pullover, made in felted wool, which also has the colour illustrated instructions this month. It’s paired with an interesting skirt which was colourblocked in another example, really showing off the V panel. On the right we’ve got a cape, which is really similar to Seamwork’s Camden cape in the current November 2015 issue (except the length, obviously).

I’m not quite sure how I feel about the top on the left with its unsusual, gathered collar area, but the trousers look just a bit too 1970s to me. It’s easily overlooked, but the cardigan on the right has a really interesting construction that isn’t apparent from just the front tech drawing or the photos. Check out those pattern pieces!

Hot on the heels of last month’s (frankly, prettty poor) edition, we’ve got a new one to cleanse the palate! And even better – it’s really, really good! So let’s not delay any longer…

Burda have done a lot of wrap blouses over the years, but I really like the angular side panels on this one – in some of the variations they’ve used special pleated fabric on the sides, but personally I think the subtle fabric difference works better.

Hoo boy. Let’s start with the jacket – it’s a nice one with a cinched, gathered waist, nicely usable pockets, too. But the skirt – this one has been lighting up the internet already because of its extreme similarity to a pattern by the Spanish courtier and designer Paco, who is understandably incensed. He released this pattern several years ago and it’s been made and loved by several prominent sewing bloggers over the years. I suppose it’s possible that Burda saw this as a runway trend for FW15/16 and copied that, but I’ve not really seen this apron skirt elsewhere so it seems pretty shady…

And speak of the devil, here’s the longer version of the jacket above. I think Burda have done really well here in pairing it with a dress – it’d be a perfect transitional coat made up in a tweed or lighter coating (anything heavier would be unsuitable for those waist gathers).

The designer pattern this month is a gown by Marcel Ostertag, who was apparently a Central St Martin’s graduate who also appeared on a German fashion tv show. I personally really like the gown, especially with the different layers in the same colours of fabric with different textures. Though I’d leave off the weird waist tabs, which just seem to stick out on the model.

I actually received this issue before we left for Argentina, but in the mad rush to finish sewing my bikini and get all the other posts ready to go, I just couldn’t work up the enthusiasm to talk about this issue. And then I couldn’t really be bothered to complain yet again about the dirndlpalooza issue yet again, for another freaking year. Yes, I could almost just copy/paste the comments I get every year when I complain about the dirndls, but it’s just too exhausting to complain all the time. Let’s just say I’m sick of the dirndls taking up space in a global magazine every single year which could otherwise go to clothes the vast majority of their global audience might actually wear. If Burda sell so many dirndl issues (one of the arguments), then why haven’t they just produced a one-off 100% dirndl compilation of all their past patterns and sell that every September? I’d be thrilled!

But dirndl complaints aside, let’s take a peek inside this issue before October actually lands in my mailbox!

Two interesting patterns here: on the left, I really like the exaggerated cowl neck tunic (ut I’d definitely substitute in regular knit sleeves instead!) and, on the right, a great short skirt, similar to Maison Fleur’s Fit and Flare Skirt.

Oh. My. Gorgeous! This is such an elegant sheath dress! The subtle seamlines and shaping are just so masterfully done, and they’ve chosen a great fabric to showcase it, too. You may have missed it, but I also love how they shifted the sleeve seam to be at the front instead of the usual place at the inner arm.

I’m not a fan of the dress but the peacoat and biker trousers are great (also a longer version of that coat is available). Which reminds me that I still have some wonderful navy wool coating and silk lining ready for a jacket, since none of the 3(!) muslins I made for it last winter passed my stringent tests…

Finally, after months of lacklustre issues, Burda have produced one that I’m actually excited to show you! August is traditionally the start of the Fall fashions, but there’s plenty of transitional designs included in here too, and so many I want to wear right away…

Just to start things off on a damp squib – I see what they’re trying to do here and I know I’m normally a sucker for anything asymmetric, but I’m just not convinced by this shapeless dress with a weird pleated section tacked on at the hem.

It’s not really my style, but this riding jacket is beautiful. The details, the proportions, the finish – just lovely.

The outfit on the left, however, I’d wear exactly as it is, in a heartbeat! Both tops shown are the same raglan-sleeved top made from lightweight wovens, and the midi skirt with the hi-lo (or “mullet”!) hem is cut on the bias. I’m not a wide-legged trouser fan, but they’re an interesting design with the deep pleats.

I’m not normally a fan of “summer” sewing since the styles printed by the likes of Manequim, Patrones, and Burda for the summer months tend to all be focused on super hot, beach weather that’s just completely impractical for English summers. Case in point: today in London it’s sunny and warm, high of 23C (73F) and for the most part, that’s a pretty average summer day. In other words, it feels like Spring or Fall do in most places, and I love it. You all can keep your disgustingly hot and humid summers, and I’m happy to take a few useless sewing magazine issues each year as a trade-off!

But surprisingly, this July issue of Burda actually isn’t half bad! There are, of course, a few wholly impractical, wispy beach styles, but there are also designs I could wear…

Speaking of designs which work for English summers, this one’s got ours written all over it! The details of this boxy, yoked shirt are just fabulous – I can’t recall ever seeing rounded placket before, for starters…

Ugh, the fabric choice here just makes this look like a cheap and awful nurse’s costume! And those insipid sleeve flounces, gag.

In my eyes, the best pattern of this entire issue comes from designer Antonio Marras – it’s a great silhouette, and the neckline and hem length are bang on trend. But even better are those angled seams, which are only really revealed in the tech drawing!

I’m not usually drawn to maxi-dress styles, but this halter dress (for Tall sizes) with its fantastic, sweeping full skirt really catches my attention in a way that a shorter hemline version just wouldn’t. In fact, it reminds me most of ballroom dance gowns!

Yawwwwwwwwwn. Another lacklustre issue – what is up with the design team at Burda HQ recently? I know they’re capable of amazing, fashion-forward and flattering designs, because they break out of these ruts every now and then and just wow us with a consistent 6 months or so of designs.

I mean, this time last year I was praising them for a consistently amazing few months of issues, the pinnacle of which was the amazing Japanese-design feature. Maybe I should just go back to my spring 2014 issues instead until the tide rolls back into a more favourable patch…

I really want to like this blouse with its asymmetric collar, but it just feels like they’ve tried to add too many incongruous details into one garment. Skewed collar! Neck ties! Boxy shape! Asymmetric taped sleeve! Any one or two of these together would be fine, but all of them and it just feels unfocused and busy.

I’m officially on Team Jumpsuit and I like the look of this one on the model, but this is a Tall size pattern, with extra elongated body lengths, so I think this on top of jumpsuits being elongated anyway means that it’d be a tricky one for me to fit. And I’m not convinced I need more than one summery jumpsuit in my wardrobe right now!

This sheath dress is just fantastic – it’s simple, but it’s shown several times in the magazine, both partially colourblocked (as it is here), but also all in one fabric, and again with three separate coloured fabrics. The seams all flow together nicely at the sides, and there’s an option for shoulder ties, too. This could be a great basic pattern for adding further design elements (cough Pattern Magic cough), too.