First of all, apologies for the delay in getting this (and about four other posts you haven’t seen yet) live. Immediately after we returned from our week’s holiday in France, I caught an awful cold/flu and was off work for a week and then re-entered the office to an unholy stress-storm. So all the wonderful planning and progress and goodies which I meant to share right after we came home are still only now dribbling out of my brain and into the site.

(whisper it) And I’m running a marathon this Sunday. THIS SUNDAY!*

Moving on…

While we were in France, I had a browse through the sewing magazines in a few supermarkets. The bigger ones tend to stock Burda (regular, Plus, and Easy), Fait Main, and Elena Couture. I wasn’t planning on buying either of the latter two, but I had a flick through this one and decided it was worth it for the workout gear (read on!), but the Elena got left on the shelf. And then, of course, I found the new Burda Classics at Calais, too. I also grabbed the latest Burda Easy (which you’ll see soon), as it too was surprisingly better than usual.

If you’re not familiar with Fait Main, it’s a translation of the Danish magazine Sy but printed in France by Hubert Burda Media. As far as I know, it’s not available in English, or any other languages, and is a monthly publication, featuring not just sewing patterns, but also knitting and embroidery patterns, too.

I bought this once before last Spring during our French road trip, but I think I prefer this issue!

First up is a cosy faux-wrap sweater and skirt – the sweater reminds me of the one I sewed for my UK Citizenship ceremony back in 2009, and like that one, this sweater also appears to wrap but is actually attached at the side seams, which I prefer.

The final magazine I bought on our French road trip is the plus-sized special edition of Fait Main magazine (remember I showed you a standard-size Fait Main magazine last week?). Like the regular Fait Main, this magazine is published in French. I’ve since learned that Fait Main is a translation of the Danish Sy magazine (thanks, Rose!), but I can’t seem to find any mention of this plus-sized edition on the Danish site to determine how frequently it’s published.

I wouldn’t normally buy a plus-sized magazine since I’m usually just one or two sizes too small for them, but the designs in this edition were just too good to leave lonely on the tabac shelf! As it turns out, I would be able to make a few of the designs in here, but it’d be greedy to keep it all to myself…

I really like this knit day dress, probably because it reminds me so much of my favourite frankenpattern dress I made so much two summers ago!

I love the rock and roll styling here – leather leggings, a loose tunic/dress, and a sequinned waistcoat/vest!

While we were in France, I came across this new-to-me sewing pattern magazine! Curiously, it’s a Hubert Burda Media publication, but it’s only published in French, and with a totally different tech drawing and instruction style from the other “Burda” magazines. Fait Main also contains four or five knitting patterns, a few sewing patterns for kids and plus sizes, and some sewing crafts at the back. The sizing is very similar to the rest of Burda’s sizes, with only few centimeters difference between a Burda 42 and a Fait Main 42, but close enough that I’d wear the same size in both!

I can’t find a definitive official page, but it seems to have been going since at least 2005 according to this archive list. Maybe a French reader can help shed some light?

This waterfall knit cardi is nothing new, but I quite like the ruffled blouse, and the tulip skirt is really cute!

Here’s another look at the cover dress with its fantastic draped collar. I think this would make a really nice, easy to wear summer day dress in a breezy cotton or underlined linen.