Bye Bye Big 4?

 The discussions I’ve seen about the recent sale of the legacy sewing pattern brands to a liquidator mostly seem to focus on them not keeping up with modern methods and preferences - meaning their late adoption of pdf files and lack of projector patterns. I do think it’s characteristic of our times that customers more than ever expect their individual preferences to be catered to, but I’m happy to go along doing things the way I’ve always done them, so what do I know?

My own preference has been for the pattern magazines. I really like getting Burda or Ottobre in the mail (snail mail!) and having a little fashion magazine with 20-30 patterns included. Browsing them is fun, and not much storage space is needed for the magazine format. After the magazines, my choice has been Style Arc, but that is because of their styles, not because I heart pdfs. And then there are a few other indies that I will try if I like the style  

So, along with the rest of the crowd,  I’ve been buying way fewer of the big 4 than I used to. Last year I think I bought 6 patterns, and whether they were Simplicity, Butterick, McCall’s, or Vogue, is anyone’s guess. Except for Vogue, the difference between the brands seemed negligible. 

When I heard the big 4 might be going away, I would have loved to have a last catalog browse for old time’s sake. But Jo Ann’s is already gone. So I headed to Half Price Books, where they usually have a bookcase of patterns to look at.

And look what I found for $15! It’s even in my size. I can’t wait to make it.

I hope that the pattern companies find a way to continue on and wish I had some advice that would save them. They’ve given me much, much enjoyment as well as a special bond with my grandmother. If they must die, I’m glad to have had one last thrill of anticipation and exciting possibilities looking at patterns.

But I really hope that they won’t be gone for good.

Four Simple Burda Tops

Long post ahead about things I'm very glad to have.

Here are four minimal (quick and easy to sew) tops made from the Burda Style magazine, all made over a long weekend. Tracing them back to back made it easy to compare patterns. I had thought that except for the tee shirt, they would all be basically variations of one basic pattern, but they were not. There were variations in shoulder slope, the depth of the armhole, and of course necklines from style to style. To me this shows that there is some thought - maybe even finesse - that goes into even these really basic shapes.

#113 from 02.2025  is a box top with darts, V neck, and deep sleeve bands.  It's also supposed to have center front and center back seams that I eliminated. The example in the magazine photo cut striped fabric on the bias so there is chevroning down the front and back. Darts in a box top seem like a good idea - they can help that box hang just a bit nicer. Sizing - I used Burda's size charts to pick the base size using my full bust measurement, then traced the shoulder and neckline one size smaller and afterward added about 3/8" at the hem for a total of an extra 1-1/2 inches of hip ease.

The fabric is an all-cotton double gauze.

The photo on the mannequin shows the original width of the sleeve bands. These would be fine if you were making the top in more of a blouse weight fabric, like a rayon challis or some silky type. With the dropped shoulder, it all adds up to a 3/4 length sleeve. The double gauze had too much body for such a wide band, so it was shortened to the elbow length you see in the modeled photo.

with shortened sleeve bands

If you trace #113, you actually have an option of sleeve lengths because you can simply leave the sleeve bands off and have a shorter sleeve. This is what Burda did for the related style, #114. That one is cut on grain, has a round neck with a quarter zip, and the shorter sleeves. The main pattern pieces are the same. So you can mix and match your options to make several different-looking tops from this pattern.

Next up, something even simpler. This one is 5.2024 #120. They don't come much more minimal than this dolman sleeve box top with a boat neck. Front, back, turn under the neckline, sleeves, and hems and you're done. I made a neckline facing and stitched it down because I'm not a fan of a turn-and-stitch finish there.

This was made up in a cotton/linen knit with no spandex. It has drape similar to a cotton interlock but hardly any stretch. A loose style that just hangs from the shoulders seemed to be the best choice. 

Tracing and sizes: again, I traced a size smaller than my bust size for the shoulders and then at the sleeve edge just continued on for two sizes (this lengthened the sleeve a mere quarter of an inch or so) and continued tracing the underarm and body using the larger size. Also added length to the body. I'm very pleased with the way this fits nice and securely on my shoulders. It's very comfy to wear and I like the way it looks, too.

The previous style in this magazine, #119, uses the same pattern pieces but with longer sleeves, longer body, and a V neck. So again, if you trace off all the options you can make a few tops that are not exactly the same.

This brings us to the third top. I sewed a white basic tee shirt. Who does that?? I did and I'm glad. This was a very nice fine cotton interlock. Beefier than the tees in the tees in the shop, it has a quality feel. I solemnly swear not to eat anything with tomato sauce when wearing this tee.

It's #127 from the 2.2024 issue, a very basic short sleeve tee with a round neck, loose fitting, with very subtle shaping in the side seams. Sleeves were lengthened to the elbow. When I use this pattern again, I'll narrow the shoulder seams a bit. 

Lastly, a shirt that is not plain white. It has a gray stripe! So here's a different loose knit top with a boat neck that is meant to suggest a breton-type stripe tee. This one uses the pattern 122 from the 9.2024 issue, which is supposed to be for woven fabric, but it's companion style, number 121, uses the same pattern pieces and is for knits. It's the same except the sleeves are cut wide all the way down and it has a turtle neck.

This stripe is a modal/lycra knit.

Although these tops were not challenging sewing, or exciting because of the print or color, they were not boring to make. Partly that was because the sewing went so quickly. The thing that really motivated me, however, is all the thinking I've been doing lately about a neutral wardrobe. It is fun to sew with pretty colors and fun prints, but I'm realizing that most of those kind of clothes don't get worn a lot. Those of us who sew do it for differing reasons. For some it's all about creativity, for others it's more like puzzle-solving. While I enjoy the activity of sewing, the real reason I sew is to make my own clothes. A collection of clothes made just the way I want them and that make me happy when I wear them is my reason. And that seems to mean a lot of white tops. 😉

Itch To Stitch Vikos x 2

 

This is a pattern that I think will be very versatile because it can be reworked many ways. As it is, it has a bit of a folklorish vibe to me because of the neckline and wide topstitched facing. It reminds me of a smock or some of the old patterns from Folkwear, except that Vikos is not a hugely voluminous cut. It can be either a top or a dress, and comes with a short sleeve or a 3/4 sleeve that can be finished with a vented cuff or rolled up with a tab.

I did some flat pattern measuring before making up what ended up being a wearable muslin. The sizing chart put me in the same size as my previous Itch To Stitch top and that consistency gave me confidence. Before cutting the muslin, I widened the sleeve 1/2", lowered the bust dart, shortened the top by 1-1/4" (it's fairly long), and graded out two sizes at the hip. I made all these changes as I traced the pattern, hoping that I could keep the tracing nice and neat and maybe not need to re-do it.

the muslin

The muslin was made from a drapey rayon/linen blend left over from a pair of Style Arc Bob pants. I do make quite a few pants but don't put them on the blog often because it is such an ordeal to get decent photos of them. Back to Vikos - I think the very short sleeve included with the pattern is cute, but wanted more coverage. The sleeves on the muslin are cut elbow length because that's all the fabric I had. I was pleased with the fit except that it seemed like there should be a little more uptake on the dart. That was the only fitting change made after the muslin.

the fixed boo-boo

When the top was laundered to get it ready for its glamour shot, the fabric frayed right at the base of the notch. It's pretty narrow there where you need to clip and I thought I went right down the center. I hope I saved it by tucking the ends in, applying a drop of Fray Block, and clamping it in a hemostat to dry. When you look closely you can see the fix, but it's not glaring enough to bother me. I hope this will hold up through the next wash. I also learned from this test garment to use interfacing with more body to keep the corners of the neckline from flopping open.

the cuff

The second version was made from Brussels Washer, another rayon/linen blend that is slightly heavier than the test version. For this one I was able to make the cute vented cuff. This is just the sort of detail I like.  On me, the 3/4 sleeve is a bit long and I'll shorten it next time. And on this one I went ahead and applied some Fray Block to the tip of the neckline slit before washing.

Here's the lovely bathroom mirror photo of me wearing it. Both my versions were made from drapey fabrics which allow the neckline to splay open a bit (even with stiffer interfacing) causing the armscye to droop down the arm a little. Maybe a slight narrowing of the shoulder is in order. I can see making this again, turning the facing to the outside and maybe embellishing it with some pintucks or contrast topstitching. I might also make a tracing with a plain scoop neckline and use this pattern as a basic woven top. Really, you could transfer all kinds of necklines onto it. It would work well with a little popover-type placket, too. Vikos may well reappear on the blog in other iterations.

Burda 08.2024 #117 Blouson Jacket

 

Disappointing.

I'm pretty sure that Burda made an error on this one. It's the first I remember encountering in many, many years of happy sewing from Burda magazines. More on the problem further on down in this post.

The current wider and barrel leg pants look best to me with shorter tops and jackets. A black lightweight denim jacket made sense for my wardrobe, especially with air conditioning season coming up, and a bomber-type would be a little change from the usual denim jacket style. Burda has had many adaptable patterns in the past six months or so, but none of them were styles that suited me straight from the pattern. I wanted raglan shoulders, so the model from last year's August issue was the one I decided on.

The line drawing shows the raglan sleeves and typical varsity jacket style collar, zipper, darts, and plain hems on the body and sleeves. The pattern also calls for lining and provides separate pattern pieces for it. 

I decided to convert the darts to princess seams and have elasticized bands on the body and hem, and clean finish for the insides rather than lining. None of those changes should have caused the problem I ran into.

Did I make a muslin? No, I did not. I could have saved myself a lot of work and disappointment if I had, but Burda is so, so reliable when it comes to drafting that I just jumped in. When I tried the jacket on, after the body was assembled and the collar was on, it was evident that something wasn't right. It just didn't sit or hang properly in back. 

To fix, I released the collar from the body in the back and let the back pieces drop and relax into position. Then I cut a piece to insert into the void, finishing the seams on the inside and topstitching to make it look at least somewhat intentional. If I had long hair the fix wouldn't be visible, but it would still bother me. 😄  Then I had to go back and re-draft and re-cut the facings, too, so that they would fit.

Here's the thing. The patch is exactly the width of the facing piece that would be used with the lining. That made me think that maybe I had traced the wrong cutting line (in the old days, Burda would sometimes use the same pattern piece with different cutting lines for linings), and that's when I discovered that there actually were separate pattern pieces for the lining. I double checked that I had traced accurately. There's still a possibility that there was some user error on my part, but I really do believe that there was a glitch on Burda's end.

I was really looking forward to having this jacket. The denim is extra, extra nice (I ordered another 6 yards because the weight and drape were just right!) and I do need a shorter black jacket. 

I'll wear this and give it a chance. There have been times when I felt really let down after a project and it still ended up being a favorite. Maybe all will be forgiven with this one, too, after a few weeks and a few wearings. The tracing, however, is already in the trash and this pattern will never be sewn again!

Itch to Stitch Seychelles Top

 This is my first experience with Itch to Stitch and it won't be the last. They recently came out with a new dress pattern (with a new release discount) that I liked, but wasn't sure about purchasing because I have a big stack of Burda magazines where I could probably find something to recreate it with and ItS was an unknown. Then I remembered that I already had their Seychelles top to make up and evaluate.

Seychelles is somewhat like a woven T top, with an interesting shoulder detail. I'm always on the lookout for things like that because they balance out my figure. The armscyes of Seychelles are cut in somewhat, and the sleeve cap is pleated. Other than that, it has a straightforward darted bodice and faced V neck. The pattern has separate front pieces for each cup size.

Step 1 was figuring out what size to use. The instructions walk you through this, and they had me in a 10 with the C front. I'm normally a 14-16-or even 18 in top sizes and a size 10 seemed crazy to me. The instructions also say to make a muslin (always good advice) so you can be sure I did, expecting them to be proved wrong.

It seems that size 10 was correct!😲 There did need to be a couple of adjustments, but they were easy. I needed to lower the bust dart 1-3/8", widen the sleeve, and widen the hip. The sleeve and hip changes were accomplished just by blending out to one of the larger sizes. I should also mention that the top is meant to be fairly long and I shortened it quite a bit.

 The dart was relocated like this (note: this diagram is from a different pattern):

draw a line through the dart point, parallel to the grainline

Draw a box around the dart, cut it out, and slide it straight down the amount needed

true up your cutting lines (green) 

This is the way my pattern piece looked after the alteration. You can see that I also needed to add extra at the hip.

This method preserves the original angle of the dart. 

The top is really straightforward sewing. The only fiddly part is making the pleats on the sleeves, but look how cute they are. The instructions cover everything, with links to online help.

The fabric is from Miss Matatabi and is the weight of a lawn.

I'm delighted with the way this top fits and feels. So yes, I did go back and buy the dress pattern I wanted, on the last day of the sale!

New Look 6449 tank

This is a great wardrobe builder pattern if it fits you. It includes a knit shift dress (sleeves or sleeveless) and a woven shirt dress with optional tabs for rolling up the cuff. Both easy to shorten for a knit top and shirt. 

I didn't have any experience with New Look, but liked the look of the knit dress. It has good shoulder coverage and almost a wide shallow neckline. 

The pattern pieces for the front and the back are the same for both the sleeved and sleeveless versions. This wasn't a total surprise, since it seems like most? all? of the big 4 patterns now create their sleeveless versions by simply leaving the sleeves off. That's really an argument for searching out vintage versions of classics like a plain knit top. In my recollection (I've been sewing over 50 years) you would get different pattern pieces for sleeveless versions.

And that's why I used some leftover knit to make up a test garment and make alterations. There was enough gaping in the armhole that it would have been unwearable. Applying the sleeve band helped a little, but not enough.

Here's the alteration: 

Slash from the front notch to the vicinity of the bust point (I drew the red circles so I could avoid getting a flower on my apex) and from that point to the hem. The test garment showed that I needed to pinch out 3/4 inch at the armhole, and doing that opened up the hem line quite a bit. I did need a little extra at the hip, but not the total amount, so I made another slash from the underarm to the first slash and pivoted the hem in about half of the distance. 

The altered pattern. Hard to see the changes...

for clarity: the red lines show closing a wedge at the armhole and spreading at the hem. The second slash in green let me pivot the hemline back in to reduce some of the spread.

Here is the finished top on. I really do like the neckline. It's nice and wide, almost like a boat neck, but it doesn't show my bra straps. I also like the shoulder coverage. 

It takes only a yard of fabric, so I can indulge in all kinds of cute knits. This one is an Art Gallery cotton lycra. It is a very nice weight and feels good to wear. Some knits can be sewn with a regular foot and microtex needle, but for this I needed the walking foot and stretch needle.

I love having TNTs of basics, and this is a good one to have. Ready for spring!

BurdaPlus 1.2023 #402 Dress

Here is a loose shirtdress from Burda. There are two views of this same basic pattern included in the magazine. One, the dress version, has a collar and stand. The shorter tunic version, has a neck facing turned to the outside. Both have long sleeves with cuffs and placket, and a tab to keep them in place when rolled up. Darted bodice, gathered skirt.

This dress was made because I didn't have enough of the brussels washer fabric to make the pants that were planned. There very nearly wasn't enough to make the dress, either, but I think the elbow length sleeves that I had to compromise on are a better choice for my climate.

The big news with this dress is that I tried a new-to-me alteration and it worked! I had made this pattern up before using just the bodice pieces as a shirt for a wearable muslin. Unfortunately, the shirt rode to the back and needed frequent pulling on the front to keep it sitting where it should. In the past, I've tried to solve that problem with all kinds of variations of forward shoulder adjustments that were never fully successful. 

Doing some research, I came across some old topics on Pattern Review that dealt with the issue. Some of the members said that their solution was to add to the back neckline.My test shirt shoulder seams for this pattern sat in the correct place when I first put the shirt on, or after I gave it a good yank to get it back into position. This made me think that the neck alteration would be a good one to try.

So here's what I did: slash from the curve in the back neckline to the curve of the armscye, and spread at the neckline. I spread 3/8 inch. This change means that the neckline facing/collar stand also need to be adjusted to match.

Yes, it worked! This dress sits nicely on my shoulders and doesn't want to move at all. It's a good day when you learn something so useful!

Other changes - I badly miscalculated on the fabric (for about a third time, ugh) and only had enough left to cut one of the front button bands. However, in the stash I had some rayon denim that, although it was not an exact match, toned in very well with the main fabric. In fact, I think having just that little bit of contrast makes the dress more interesting than it would have been. I made the facing and the button bands out of the contrast fabric. 

If I had realized I was going to be using contrast fabric for the trim when I was doing the breast pockets, I would have made top bands on the pockets out of the contrast. They were already completed, though, and the additional cuteness wasn't enough to make me want to unpick and re-do them.

Burda's instructions actually have you sew the shoulder seams, then sew on the facing (wrong sides together) and then turn the facing to the right side of the garment. Doing it that way would allow the exposed shoulder seam allowance to poke out at the neckline. Instead, I sewed the shoulder seams right sides together (towards the neckline) until the point where the edge of the facing would fall, clipped the seam allowance at that point, and then flipped the seam around to sew the rest of the way wrong sides together. That way, the shoulder seam allowances are enclosed under the facing and the inside looks like this.

I neatened up the serger threads later...

I shortened the sleeves to elbow length and finished them off with a stitched down cuff. Buttons were from a grab bag from Califabrics.

The dress has a cute shirt tail hem.

That's it for this dress. I have a number of dresses now that have gathered skirts on them. They sure are easy to fit, but for now I will try to diversify a bit and find some shift dresses or different types of skirts.

Spring is almost here! Happy spring to everyone.