#springpatterns

BurdaStyle Magazine, February 2023

This issue has both sporty and businesslike patterns, and some of them appear in both guises.

On the cover you see Blouson Jacket 110, a sporty model which uses stretch cords and snaps. Dress 117, a sleeveless sheath is shown both in white, looking like a tennis dress, and in a green boucle as you see here. It has an interesting flange feature at the shoulder line, but the welts are merely decorative and it doesn’t have pockets under them.

There are multiple knit tops including Top 123 which has a gathered detail at the neckline which is a little hard to see in the sewn model because of the print, but which you can see well in the sketch. It has a tie at the waist as well. See the sketches for 108, 120 and 121, and 106 with cut-outs that they also offer as a long dress 105. For making a top in a woven, the Tunic 103 makes for an adaptable piece which would drape best in a rayon or silk with some weight to it.

There are two Masterpieces—which are Burdaspeak for advanced sewing—one is Blazer 104  which they show in both white as you see here and in the more traditional pinstripes for office wear. The other is the Short Coat 111 which is only in the sketch here which they made in coated cotton canvas so as to make it waterproof. Both are detailed and should be planned and made as garments that will stay in your wardrobe for a while.

Many of the patterns now come in a wider range of sizes from 34-42 or 36-48. This will keep women who wear smaller sizes from pining after plus-sized garments and vice versa. In total, there are 7 dresses, some with sleeve or other variations, 3 jackets, 1 coat, 7 tops with variations, 2 skirts with variations, 2 pairs of trousers, 1 pair of pleated shorts, and  2 menswear shirts. The full sewing lessons—the instructions for all the rest are written but not illustrated—are one of the men’s shirts and one of the short jackets.

In short, a lot of patterns for the price. You do have to trace out the pattern pieces from the overprinted pattern sheets, so it is a tradeoff of time and effort.