La Mia Boutique August 2010

After quite a few great issues of La Mia Boutique, it pains me to admit that this issue seems to be a throwback of the weird, not wonderful, old days of LMB. In fact, there’s not really any “Must Sews” for me in here at all, though a few of the designs have interesting pattern shapes when you take a closer look.

cover:

First up, an oddly-shaped maxi dress for those of us with really uneven hips… Even that ruffle shape is strange.

Here’s a rather nice tunic top with a large patch pocket, paired with a knit cardigan.

Seriously, WTF is this? An enormous maxi jumpsuit with windows for your navel and a neckline down past your waist? Really, who would wear this besides this model getting paid to wear it?

La Mia Boutique Oct 2010

This is going to be old news to fellow subscribers since this issue arrived while I was on honeymoon a few weeks ago, but I hope it’s helpful for those of you who use these posts to determine whether to buy the issues on eBay or not!

This issue of La Mia Boutique was really focused on jackets and light coats, so the cover image was pretty representative!

I think this coat was my favourite of the whole issue – I absolutely love that collar! I think the button placement is really “off” on this, though (that bottom set just looks far too low down), but I never pay attention to button markings on patterns anyway, so that’d be trivial to change.

I don’t normally go for tunic length OR billowy shapes, but I really like that this is made in a linen-y fabric, and the back technical drawing absolutely intrigues me. This is where I really wish I could speak Italian to figure out what’s being done on that back yoke. Without a back view photo, it’s difficult to tell exactly what’s there – contrast fabric? Lace? Pleating? Embroidery?

La Mia Boutique Sept 2010

I’m still away on my honeymoon for a few more days, but in the meantime please enjoy my pre-prepared rundown of the latest La Mia Boutique magazine!

I love this casual, raglan sleeved minidress:

There are quite a few nice trench coats in this issue, but single-breasted ones like these are quite difficult to find:

While this reminds me of a knit tunic Burda did a few years ago, I like that this A line dress is for silks and lightweight crepes, and doesn’t require any zippers.

KnipMode September 2010

Still no August Burda or La Mia Boutique in my postbox (though I just found out my 6 month resubscription to Burda, made in a moment of weakness, won’t start until September now, argh.*), but KnipMode’s September issue arrived already, just like clockwork!

The first, colour-blocking feature has a bunch of great patterns in it, though I’m not quite sure about the styilng…

Case in point: fantastic coat! But purple Uggs? Really?

This knit dress appears no less than six times in this issue, but I thought you could see the lines best in this version. Though I think if I make this, I’d add a gathered waistband to the back, too, to make it all even.

KnipMode Summer 2010 Roundup

I’m taken a brief moment to poke my head up from under my enormous pile of BurdaStyle Book sewing, wedding gown dismantling and bodice muslining, running, gardening, wedding planning, and some seriously busy office day-jobbing to bring you an overview of the summer KnipMode magazines… I’ll show off what I’m actually sewing if and when I can, I promise!

June 2010

This dress and skirt are ok, nothing to really grab me, but they’re nice enough basics. I mostly just liked that the model has wrinkles!

Woop! Another origami dress!

KnipMode September 2011

The latest issue of KnipMode arrived last week, and included inside was a letter to the subscribers from the new editor. I could really only make out something about Marion magazine from my (admitted) inability to read Dutch, so I actually transcribed the whole letter through Google Translate to find out not much of anything beyond that she loved sewing from an early age, trained at fashion school, worked at Marion, and is excited to be joining the great team at KnipMode. Yawn. So no real news there at all…

I’m kinda nervous that she may try to make big changes and ruin a good thing, because 2010 was an awesome year for Knip, and these last two issues under her control have been largely mediocre.

But let’s take a look at my own favourites this month anyway…

The first pattern to greet me is for some great trousers with kneepad detail- hey! wait a minute – didn’t we just have these in the last issue??? I’ve put August’s on the right here for comparison:

This jacket with its cute peplum ruffles might be my favourite in this issue, but I don’t really wear blazer-type jackets all that often so I’m not terribly likely to make this if I’m being honest.