Newsflash - New Russian Burda Website is Up!

The much anticipated and somewhat feared transition to the new Russian Burda website is complete.  You can check it out here:

www.burdastyle.ru

It seems to have a lot of the features of the newer German and American websites, EXCEPT it also has a page for the journals!  It has all of the magazines from this year and last year, but it looks like they are going to try and add all the journals dating back to 2006 at least (right now they have only a few magazines from the earlier years, but hopefully they will add more soon?).

If you look at a specific magazine and scroll down, you can see model pictures of all of the garments, listed numerically.  If you click on a specific garment you can see garment photos and line drawings too.  Sweet!

So, overall, I approve!

Also, I found this handy calendar of the Burda release dates for the rest of this year.

Ok Russian Burda - you win!  You are still my favorite.  I know you must be all exhausted what with changing websites and everything, but can we have the full preview for July now?  Please?

More Burda July Preview Pictures

The German Burda website has put up their own preview of the July Burda.  I am not too impressed.  If you are looking for shorts or loose button-down shirt you might be in luck.  Otherwise... meh.  I still hold out hope for the full preview, but I am not holding out too much hope at this point.

Color blocking is still a thing.

This skirt - do I like it, or is it too "school girl uniform"?

Floaty dress on the beach gets me every time...

There seem to be lots of light jackets/oversized shirts/shorts in this issue.

Still my favorite.

If One Can't Sew...

If a sewing-obsessed person can't sew up the patterns they are dreaming of, they apparently buy fabric to make up for it.  A lot of fabric.  A lot a lot of fabric.  Too much fabric.  So, um, yeah, I bought a lot of fabric from Fabric Mart...  But to be fair, they were having a crazy sale with designer fabric starting at $1.99 per yard!  And silks at $5.99!  Fabrics I had resisted for at least a month at full price, but I couldn't seem to resist the bargains...  Of course, in most cases you get what you pay for, and a lot of the $1.99 fabric isn't quite what I was expecting.  But I suppose that is just as well, I now have a lot of fabric for toiles and pjs.

Fabric Mart, Part I:

Stretch velvet - navy fuzz over a burgundy background 

Marc Jacobs silk/wool plaid (only $2.99/yard!), blue/white cotton knit print,
pale blue sandwash silk (heavenly soft!), and navy poly/rayon/lycra for pants.

I picked up a lot of this poly pebble crepe since it was cheap,
but the nasty texture has relegated this to the muslin box.

Free mystery bundle - pink cotton knit, black lining fabric, and blue woven

Oh, and then I went to Joann's for some patterns and I found some fabric as well (and, at 60% off I couldn't pass it up):

New Vogue patterns and my lovely rayon print!

And then I found some fabric on fabric.com for my latest Burda obsession:

Left: dark linen, middle: light blue linen, right: cotton twill print.
I am going to use the dark blue for pants, and the other fabrics for my Burda jacket.

And then, of course, silly Fabric Mart had to offer even MORE great bargain fabrics, so, Fabric Mart Part II:

My $1.99 fabrics - amazingly soft white poly gaberdine (I should have bought more!),
teal ITY-ish knit, and ombre blue Marc Jacobs cotton.

My splurges - 100% silk!  The two prints were clearance for $6 and $7 per yard, and the navy in the back was $10/yard.  I have been looking for navy silk charmeuse for less than $20/yard for a while now - this stuff is just perfect for the project I have in mind.

And, of course, I am still working on skating costumes, so I won't be sewing any of this anytime soon.  Sigh.  I am looking forward to July.

Newsflash - Burda July Early Preview AND New Butterick Patterns Announced!

Double header today - both the July Early Preview AND the Summer Butterick Patterns have been announced.

As for the Burda announcement, well, I wasn't too excited by the assortment of large, shapeless sacks I saw in many of the photos:

Sack dress strikes again!

Those shorts are not attractive.

But then I saw this dress:

Cute!

And so I hope this issue might have some redeeming qualities.  Also, if you are one of the Burda Plus sized ladies you are all good:

Cute top!

Cute dress!

So, we shall see how it all shakes out, but I am hoping there will more good stuff when the full preview comes out.

Now, as for the Butterick patterns - I am just going to say it up front - this is a great release from Butterick.  There are a lot of really awesome things I know I am going to buy.  Here are my favorites:

B5783 - A twist top/belt dress.

B5794 - Love the top and the flutter sleeves!

B5797 - I have a thing for corset patterns, don't ask me why.

*Gasp* *Swoon* - B5779 Wedding Gown

B5779 Gown Front

Now, part of my brain says ooooooh, preeeeetty! and the other part of my brain says NO!  No Twilight knockoff dresses!!!  NO NO NO!

I cannot condone anything related to this series.

But, you guys, the pretty is winning!  Help!  Convince me not to buy this pattern!

Other patterns I am going to buy but don't need at all:

B5795 - Bathing suit only comes in sizes 18W and up.
But, now that I am sewing skating costumes for others it might be
good to have a leotard pattern in larger sizes as well as the small ones I have now.

B5796 - Maternity clothes.

I really really don't need a maternity pattern at all.
But they are so freaking rare and these are actually cute designs I feel I must get it.
You know, just in cases.

Also, I won't be getting these patterns, but I thought they were worth a mention:

B5780 - Interesting seamlines, but since Butterick made it in black,
it is hard to tell how they actually look on a real person.

B5784 - I like it, but not enough to buy it.

B5769 - A See & Sew pattern.  Actually the dress and jacket are pretty cute.

B5788 - Really skinny jeans if you have the legs for it.  I do not have the legs for it.
Might also be a good pattern for running/exercise pants

B5771 - I have enough patterns for pants like this from Burda,
but for some reason I think these are sort of cute.

Ok, so what do you all think?  What are your favorites?  Did I miss anything cool?  Do we keep our hopes up for the July Burda?  And, most importantly, should I buy that wedding dress pattern?

New Burda France Website!

The old French Burda website is soon to be no more, and they have moved to a new web address:

www.burda.fr

I can't say I am a fan of the new website - it looks like they have very limited previews (only a few pictures and the table of contents).  I am hoping that this isn't an indication of what is to come with the looming change to the Russian website.  Should be interesting to see how the schism of the websites shakes out.

It seems the German website and Portugese website have similar set-ups, whereas the Italian website looks to be left in the old style.  The new French website will be about as useless as the English one in terms of seeing what is up with the magazine, and I fear for what might happen to my beloved Russian Burda come June 1.  At least we should still be able to access the archive websites here, here, and here.

What do you think of all these changes?  Anyone else annoyed that the awesome burdafashion websites are fading away in favor of newer, less user-friendly ones?  Anyone know of any other Burda websites?  With all the coming changes I want to have as many sources  for my Burda addiction as possible.  What about archive sites for other sewing magazines like Patrones or Knipmode?

Totally Stoned

This past week has been crazy!  Presentation at school/work/real life thing that I do (I don't know how to describe grad school... it is not a job but it isn't really school... oh well, whatever) occupied a lot of time.  And then preparing for upcoming skating competitions (we are heading into the major part of the season now) is also taking up a lot of time.  And sewing skating outfits is taking up the rest of the time.  Well, sewing and stoning.  I am *finally* getting to the beading part for many of the costumes, but that can take as long or longer than the actual sewing!  Last weekend I was either at practice or gluing rhinestones in front of the TV.  So, although I haven't been showing a lot of sewing progress, this past week I:

*Half-finished sewing the costume for my client
*Finished stoning a shirt for my mom's friend
*Finalized the jacket pattern for my dance partner (took 2 muslins)
*Half sewed the jacket for my dance partner
*Measured a bunch of people for club uniforms
*Half-finished stoning my solo dance dress
*Got a massive headache from the glue fumes
*Cooked bacon in the oven for the first time - my new favorite cooking method!
*Watched a lot of documentaries where I learned about the Russian nobility and wooly mammoths
*Watched Pride & Prejudice (Keira Knightly version) and Sense & Sensibility (Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet version)
*Sewed another man's practice shirt for skating
*Ordered fabric for a Burda pattern I don't even have yet!

Yeah... ooopsie on the last one.  Silly fabric.com - I went there to look at their sale on laminated cotton, and ended up buying linen?  Yeah, and it wasn't even on sale, but it was perfect so I got some.  At least I hope it will be perfect.  I won't know until it shows up, but in my brain it is going to be good.  At this point I am really thinking that the jacket I love so much from the June Burda might end up being the first thing I make once I am done with sewing skating costumes.  Which looks like I won't be until the end of June.  Sigh.  I like making skating costume.  I just never had to make quite so many at once before.  And I never had to sew any for other people before either.  Which is also ok, because I like money, and I like coming up with designs for costumes, but I don't like that it takes so long to finish because I only see them once or twice a week...

Anyway, I figured I would at least let you guys see some pictures of the shirt which I did finish (I did NOT make the shirt but I did decorate it):

Sparkles

Sparkles

And more sparkles.

Ok, back to the glue!

[Side note:  Does anyone else HATE the new "Labels" sidebar on Blogger when you are writing posts - where they cut the words in half?  It takes me forever to find things because none of the words look like words!  if the first letter and last letter aren't connected by a string of letters in the middle it takes ten time longer to find anything!  I wish they would just have a list with one tag per line - scrolling might take a while, but much easier to find what you want!  Ok, rant over now.]

Dance Skating - The Harris Tango

The Harris Tango is yet another skating dance that has multiple variations.  In roller skating there are three variations - the International version, the American version, and the version used in the Junior Dance division.  The Junior dance version is actually most similar to the way this dance is skated in ice (where it is apparently called either just the "Tango" or the "Silver Tango").  All versions are skated at 100bpm, but the steps to the American version of this dance look very different to the international variations.  Many of the steps to the American dance are skated on flats (no curves or edges created with the skate) in order to mimic the look of a couple dancing a tango in the ballroom.  This is more difficult than it looks!

Pattern Sales - Vogue and McCall's

Joann's will be having a pattern sale for Mother's Day weekend: Friday May 11 - Sunday May 13.  A good chance to find those new Vogue patterns for $3.99!  And McCall's will be on sale for $1.99 as well.

Newsflash - Full Burda June 2012 Preview Posted

So the June issue preview is up - you can check out the line drawings and the garment photos on the German Burda website.  And the Russian website, despite the coming changes, has a preview of the model photos up as well!  Overall this issue is pretty ok for me - a lot of easy summer clothes, but not too much that just jumps out and grabs me.  Though, to be fair, for some reason of the "summer" issues (May-July) I always seem to like things in May and July better than June, and only really find things I like in June issues after staring at it for a bit.  It seems to be the case this year as well - there isn't a lot of bad stuff, just also not a ton of fabulousness.  A good "summer basics" issue, I guess.  With, of course, the obligatory summer sack dresses:

Boring.

Cute fabric makes up for lack of details, I guess.

I predict this will be very popular.

Although I guess there were actually quite a few things I did respond to in this issue:

Plus size dress - but I think it is actually pretty classy!

A nice wrap option, also for the plus sizes

I don't think I would make/wear this, but lace gets me every time.

Another one I wouldn't make, but sort of like.

It was difficult to see in the garment photo, but the pocket seaming here is pretty interesting...

Not sure how I fee about this jacket - I think it needs more shape...

But I do like the line drawing...

The halter maxi...

Here is the line drawing...

Though I am much more tempted to make it up short!

I like the back on this one - ok, this is going into the "need to make" list.

I already have a LBD, but this could be a great pattern for another one!

My favorite!  This is totally getting made at some point - I love the buttons!

Love the collar too...

And, of course, the designer dress - I loves it!

 Of course, it wouldn't be Burda without at least a few kooky things:

Maybe it is the fabric, but this just looks so sad and drab.  Like prison wear or something.

Somehow I can't imagine anyone wanting to add all that poof to their midsection.

Hippie clothes!

So, finally, it comes time for the Best/Worst of the month.  I had a bit of a difficult choice on the "Best" pattern, but after wavering, I have decided Best of BS June 2012 goes to:

The cool jacket!

I was debating between this and the designer dress, but I feel like the dress pattern I have seen similar things before, but I thought the jackets had some more innovative design features (collar and button placement).  Feel free to disagree with me in the comments...

And, clearly, the June 2012 BWTF Award is presented to:

Hippie fringe vest!

From the proportions to the fabric, the whole thing just looks sort of cheap, which, if you are using real leather, it shouldn't.

So, there you have it.  Does this issue have you dreaming of easy summer days sipping lemonade on the veranda, or are you going to dig through your stash to find patterns for this summer instead?  See anything from this issue that you simply have to make?