About Town, again

When I made my first About Town (Pattern Emporium), I was so happy I wanted to make another right away. The fit was really nice for me, and it's the kind of pattern you can make again and again with all kinds of variations. The first one can be seen here and was made in an oxford cloth that wasn't exactly crisp, but had some body.

This one is made from a double cloth that is soft and cuddly, almost like a double gauze. It has fine indigo and eggshell stripes on one side, and solid indigo on the other. This time I used the facing option rather than the center seam.

Some other design changes: 

• omitted the cuffs, 
• cut the collar narrower just a bit - I think by 3/8" 
• added a back yoke, burrito-style, with the stripes going horizontally
• added a narrow band to the single pocket, also using the horizontal stripes 

showing the underside of the fabric

It seemed a bit of a shame not to utilize the double sided nature of this fabric more, but I didn't want a choppy look. I did take care with the facing so that the inside is all solid. It peeks out a bit around the neck opening. I also used the solid for the undercollar. I forgot to mention in the previous post that there is a separate pattern piece for the undercollar, which is a nice touch and really helps the undercollar to remain hidden when you turn it.

contrast band on pocket

back yoke

pledge of allegiance pose

The lined jacket I mentioned before is underway, a trench-like pattern from Ottobre. Transitional weather is here and this jacket will be perfect for layering, so I'm hoping to finish soon.

Burda Magazine Options

 The regular monthly Burda Style magazine has become a little too expensive for me, and I decided to let it go when my subscription expired. I think that I will still get December’s issue, but that is the last one. It was a sad decision, because the magazine is fun to get, and because I probably sew more Burda than any other pattern company (we’ll see when it’s time for the year-end tally).

But there’s hope! Data Media Publications/Roltek sent me a list of all the German language magazines they carry, and both Burda Style Easy and Best of Burda Curvy are inexpensive enough to be contenders. (Updated this post - you can also contact Data Media Publications and request a 3 month trial subscription to the flagship magazine, another option.)

Some notes: both of these publications are in German only, but that might not be such a big deal as Burda has much better step by step illustrations than they used to, in addition to video tutorials on Youtube. They use European sizing. The patterns are printed on large newsprint sheets stapled into the center of the magazine and are nested so that you can blend from one size to another when tracing them off. Patterns do not include seam allowances.

 I did a little research to see which magazine might be best for me. The sizing difference isn't an issue because I generally use sizes 44-48 and am confident about scaling patterns up and down. Let the comparison begin. 

BURDA STYLE EASY

First impressions, looking at some YouTube flip throughs and internet images, is that this magazine is aimed at youthful beginners. I have nothing against simple patterns and routinely strip my Burda makes of frippery, so the “easy” aspect is definitely not a negative. However, the models look more like girls than women, and I saw a lot of halter tops and slip dresses - unstructured stuff that I would never make. Here are a couple of overviews. (The Easy magazines don’t seem to have all the line drawings shown together, but do have the “styles at a glance” spread.)

The Easy magazine is issued every other month, so 6 per year. Sizing seems to range from 34 (bust 31-1/2") to 44 (bust 39-1/4").  I didn't do extensive research, but it doesn't look like larger sizes are ever included.

There are 5 basic patterns in this issue, each with three variations.  Potentially the elastic-waist pants (without the ruffle) and the boxy white T, but there's nothing that moves beyond a "maybe".

Again, 5 basic patterns with variations. I'd use the sweatshirt, the coat/jacket (the ones in tan), and the shirt. I can't tell much about the dress without a line drawing.

BEST OF BURDA CURVY

Burda Curvy magazines are issued only twice a year. They also usually feature patterns without all the exaggerated details and random hardware that often appears in the flagship magazine. Sizing ranges from 44 (bust 39-1/4") to 52 (bust 45-3/4"), and sometimes up to 60 (52" bust).

From this issue, I'd make the shirt, the sleeveless top, the elastic waist pants, sleeveless dress, and folkloric-looking raglan sleeve top.

And from this one, the sweatshirt, drawstring pants, quilted vest, and tunic/dress at lower right.

Scoring: looking at just these two issues from each magazine, looks like I'd be likely to use 3 from the Easy mag and 9 from Plus.  OK, Plus wins and I will place my subscription order forthwith.

 If you've read this far, you must be somewhat interested in pattern magazines. I've toyed with the idea of doing a little how-to series for people who aren't sure how to use them. If you'd be interested in reading something like that, please drop a comment saying so.

About Town - Pattern Emporium

It's not often that a new pattern release gets made at Casa Unzipped, but I happened to watch the Pattern Emporium video for their new About Town and was sold. The video cleverly shows how versatile the pattern is by styling it with a selection of other patterns in their line, and it went with so many other types of garments that I could see it fitting into my wardrobe really well. It was on introductory sale at the time and that didn't hurt, either.

Now that I'm aware of Pattern Emporium and have looked at some of their other videos, I see that showing their new releases paired up in different ways is typical for them. That just seems so smart, a great way to sell patterns. It worked on me, anyway, and I'm glad it did because I'm really happy with my results.

About Town is a boxy popover top with sleeve and length variations. It has a collar and the option of a two-piece front, with a seam down the middle, or front facing with no seam. It has a deep hem, and the short or long sleeves have a clean-finished cuff with optional decorative tab and button. It can also be made dress length. It seems to have been thoughtfully designed to give satisfying results.

The instructions are written for ultra-beginners. Every little step is photographed and described. This was frustrating for me because when I did want to check their recommended method for certain steps, I had to hunt through pages and pages to find the information I wanted. Their instructions for the collar are stellar; following them worked beautifully.

There are also extensive extensive instructions on picking your size. Working through them was tedious, but again, I'm happy with the fit. There are different fronts depending on your bust measurement (darted and undarted) and different heights. Although I could have gone with the undarted front, I chose to have the dart because I knew I'd look sloppy without it. 

Alterations for me - lowered the dart about 3/4" and lengthened the body about an inch (using the tall cutting lines would have been too long). I cut a 14 at the shoulder and blended all the way out to a 22 at the hemline. The sleeves needed to be widened 3/4" at the bicep.

I used the split-front option and two breast pockets because I wanted to do aaall the edgestitching and topstitching on my cotton chambray. I used a matching thread and right now the topstitching doesn't show much, but I think as the piece gets repeated washings the space between the two lines of stitching will bubble up slightly so there will be a little dimensionality going on.

cuff outside

cuff inside

It's a sharp-looking little top and I immediately made some pleated pants in lightweight black twill to go with it (pattern from Burda mag). The shortest length looks great with pants and skirts that have a little volume - that was one of my takeaways from the video.

It's easy and quick to make, so I'm working on another one right now as a palette cleanser after the laborious fit-as-you-go process I took with the pants. I really needed something easy and satisfying before starting the lined jacket that is next up. The only change to this next top is raising the neck opening a little.

It's great to have found a new pattern company and have more options. My Burda subscription came up for renewal and even though I really enjoy getting the magazine and Burda drafting, it's expensive, and I let it go. For the price of the annual subscription I can easily buy more single patterns as I can sew in a year, and there are always Burda envelope patterns. 

It's time to end these reflections and go feed the dogs! (or so they tell me)