Search Results for: la mia boutique oct 2010

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?

KnipMode November 2010

Like the October La Mia Boutique, this issue arrived while I was away on our honeymoon so I’m only just now digesting it (nearly in time for the next issue to arrive any day now).

From the rugged outdoor feature, I really loved this pair of jeans. Mid-leg seams are always so slimming, the ankle zips look great on a tapered leg, and I just love Knip’s trouser details. The only thing I’m not so sure about are those vertical front pockets…

The tech drawing makes this jacket look quite ordinary, but I love it in the pique they’ve used here – it looks simultaneously 60s and current! And the skirt pattern it’s paired with would be a great basic in any fabric.

March Mini Wardrobe

I’ve finished my post-coat winter sewing plans apart from the La Mia Boutique draped skirt which I’m feeling now is better suited for spring or summer, so I thought I’d dip my toes into the Pattern Review Mini Wardrobe contest that’s running throughout the month of March.

This is a pared-down version of their usual, sprawling wardrobe/SWAP contest, so this time around you need to create a five piece wardrobe in four weeks, using one item you already own (sewn or RTW) and be able to create at least six different outfits from this. I’m actually going one better and aiming to sew five pieces rather than four, but that may fall by the wayside depending on how the month goes.

Here’s what I’ve got in mind:

Double take!

Fashion has always been cyclical – we reinvent ideas from decades past and give them a new twist. But with everyone playing off similar influences, sometimes two designers independently come up with very similar ideas. So it’s really not a surprise that you can sometimes find very similar pattern designs across companies, too.

As I found out, once you start looking for “pattern twins”, suddenly you start seeing them everywhere!

Patrones vs Knip tops

It all started when reader Hilde pointed out in my Patrones 289 review that this Plus top looks an awful lot like an older KnipMode design, so I decided to investigate further by comparing the shapes of the pattern pieces side-by-side:

(This KnipMode top was previously neglected because it was in the same issue as the fabulous swimsuit pattern…)

While the tech drawings look different, when you look at the pattern pieces you can see that most of that is just down to artistic interpretation and the pieces are very similar indeed!

Knip vs Burda blouses

Then I noticed in my review of the March 2010 KnipMode that their ruffle-collared blouse was incredibly similar to one Burda released last year!