I've moved sites!

I haven't disappeared, and I haven't stopped blogging!  I did take a bit of a break, and, for a variety of reasons, I have decided to change where I'm blogging.  You can now follow me at:

http://doctortdesigns.com/

I plan on redirecting this website, but haven't had the time to devote to all the technical stuff as of yet.  In the meantime, I've already started posting to the new site.  If you want to, feel free to follow me there, and hopefully I can get all the other technical things handled soon!

New Patterns: McCall's, Simplicity, My Image

New patterns abound!  The fall patterns are starting to show up at McCall's, Simplicity, as well as the latest My Image magazine.  Overall I have to say I'm most excited about the Simplicity releases, so let's start there:

Gotta love all the seam lines on this new Amazing Fit pattern!

Magazine Review: July Burda

The craziness of the competitive skating season is here, which means I've been doing a lot of sewing, but not a lot of posting.  There have been several pattern releases, including the July Burda, which, I have to say, is probably my favorite issue of the year so far.  And that's saying something about the excitement of the recent magazines considering that July is usually one of my least favorite issues of the year.  But, happily, there are a fair number of exciting designs this month!

Cosplay by McCall's and Yaya Han Patterns

I'm sure this is old news at this point, but McCall's has a new website dedicated specifically to Cosplay.  It looks like a good place to find some of their older costume patterns, and a few new website exclusives!

Newsflash: June Burda Preview Posted

The full preview of the June Burda is up on the Russian website.  As far as magazines from this year go, I have to say that this month is possibly one of the better ones,  Which isn't saying much - it's been a pretty weak year.  But there are definitely a few more designs that I'm digging from this issue than I have from issues in the past few months.  Let's take a  look:

Newsflash: July Burda Early Preview Posted

I know - I haven't even posted the full June review yet.  It's been sitting in my Drafts folder for a while, because I've hit crunch time - I'm busy with work, sewing, and skating right now.  But it's half finished, and will be published soon, with any luck.  In the meantime, here is a quick post about next month's issue - you can see preview images on the German and Russian websites.  Overall I have to say July is not overly exciting to me - looks a bit like an extension of the June issue - but there are a few patterns I'm a bit partial towards already.  

This maxi dress looks stylish and cool for summer.

Book Review: The Sparrow

Ok, so I've gotten rather far behind in my book reviews, and I figure it's about time to get caught up.  Since it has been several months, this review won't be quite as fresh as they normally are, but an old review is better than no review.  So, the first book that my book club (Sword & Laser) chose for this year was The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell.

The Sparrow can pretty much be summed up as "Jesuits in SPAAAACE!"

(space-space-space-space)

(We get an echo in here now.  What?)

Anyway, the premise of this story is that the human race detects a signal from a distant planet that clearly shows signs of intelligent life, and, being humans, decide they have to go stick their noses into the affairs of others.  Specifically, the Jesuits decide to make it their next great missionary project, and agree to foot the bill.  The story is set in the-not-so-distant-future of 2019-2060 (space flight, relativity, etc. accounts for the time lapse), when non-governmental space flight is possible, though still uncommon.  A bit more inventive is the type of spacecraft they use - a hollowed out asteroid.  The events in the book are not told chronologically - the story jumps between the present (2060) and the past (2019) to build up suspense as to what happened on the alien planet.  Although this is clearly a work of science fiction, the story is much more focused on the relationships of the characters rather than the technicalities of space travel.  This is most clearly evident when, upon arrival to an alien planet, it becomes incredibly apparent that none of our astronauts had ever read the works of H. G. Wells.  It's not much of a spoiler to say that things to do not end well, and the journey leaves the survivor(s) in pretty bad shape, both physically and emotionally.

The major element of this story is the characters and their relationships.  Much of the first half of the book consists of bringing the crew together and setting the stage for the sort of interpersonal drama that can only happen when you are trapped for several months inside of an asteroid traveling at light speed.  The crew consists of several Jesuit priests - Emilio Sandoz (a younger, attractive Puerto Rican who has an incredible talent and long training in learning new languages), his mentor D. W. Yarborough (compete with Texas twang), and two redshirts other priests.  It also has several non-Jesuit specialists - Anne and George (an older married couple, George was head of the program that located the original signal), Jimmy (George's employee, who actually found the signal originally), and Sofia Mendes, the requisite MPDG (an AI specialist).  One thing I appreciated about this story was that the relationships between the characters felt rather believable, and, well, adult.  I'm a big fan of many of the YA series available, but, I have to admit it was sort of refreshing to read a story where the world didn't have to be saved by a fifteen year old.  Granted, with this many characters the standard love triangle was bound to take shape, but at least it wasn't the central theme of the story.  On the other hand, while I found the relationships to be believable, the characters themselves seemed a bit over-powered.  They were all super intelligent, highly skilled, and extremely pretty.  Or they at least had enough of a personality to compensate if they fell short on that last bit.  Now, granted, if you were going to send a mission to a new planet, you would want to hire the smartest and most-skilled people you could find.  But it seemed a bit odd that these hyper-intelligent, über-humans could foul things up so incredibly poorly when they reached the alien civilization.  All of their mishaps were just believable enough that you could perhaps understand how they made their mistakes, but, honestly, they were all built up a bit too much to completely believe in their epic fall.

Overall I have to say I thought this book was ok.  The story does its best to tug at your heartstrings, repeatedly, and I have to admit that I was sort of over the tugging by the time I got to the end of the book.  Not that I'm so callus as to not have felt anything, but, well, when so many bad things happen it is a bit easy to get dulled to the pain of it all.  Suffice it to say, if you are looking for a pick-me-up sort of a book, this isn't it.  It also wasn't the sort of a book that I felt compelled to pick up while I was reading it - I sort of had to force myself to finish it in a timely manner for the book club.  The writing itself wasn't bad - it was actually quite good - I just wasn't motivated by the characters or their story.  Which is a bit funny, because several months later I can still remember many of the characters quite vividly.  I don't think my estimation of the book has grown over that time - no, I haven't come to the sudden realized that this is the best book ever - but I do remember much of the story in more detail than I had expected I would several months down the road.  So, there is that.  In summary I would have to say that if SyFy and Oxygen got together to make a TV-miniseries special, it would probably come out something like The Sparrow.  I can't really give a positive or negative recommendation - this book has things I enjoyed, and things I didn't.  It is the sort of book that I think a certain audience would really enjoy, I just don't think I'm part of that certain audience.

Newsflash: New Summer Butterick Patterns

The latest patterns from Butterick are here.  I think this collection can pretty much be summed up in two words: snooze fest.  Seriously.  It's like all the trends we've been seeing (jumpsuits, voluminous tops, culottes), only the most dull version we've had so far this season.  Overall, I'm not too impressed.  There are a few patterns that look like simple sews that would be easy to wear for summer, but overall, not too much to get excited about this time around.

B6206 - Simple maxi dress, looks like a good summer staple.

Newsflash(ish): Summer Simplicity and New Look Patterns

The latest offerings from Simplicity and New Look are here.  Overall I have to say that the designs are pretty similar to what we've seen from all the other pattern companies lately - voluminous tops, basic dresses, and lots of jumpsuits (or jumpsuit-looking-separates).  Nothing I'm super excited about (except maybe some of the costumes), but enough here that I might pick a few up at the next pattern sale...

S1114 - Jumpsuits everywhere!

Newsflash: June Burda Early Preview Posted

The first look at the June issue is up on the German website.  At first glance I am torn between being cautiously optimistic and not excited at all.  There are a few things that pique my interest, but, honestly, I think there are a lot of things that Burda has done better in past issues.  Definitely going to have to wait for a full preview to make an assessment of this one...

Jumpsuit - the hot pattern style of the season.
I'm actually sort of liking this one.

Burda Diana Modem and I Need to Learn Russian!

So, in my perusing of the Russian Burda Website I Happened across this Page Advertising the new Burda Diana Modem . I am not exactly sure what this magazine is - when did Burda get another offshoot? The translated description of the new magazine advertisement is:

Otprintovannye chic and plain Fabrics: cotton batiste, Jacquard, silk satin, twill stretch of High-tech materials: Textile leather, with silver svetshirt gloss and so on. - The first thing you Notice, But ITS worth not only Them. Simple Blouse- top with V-Neck A Short complemented by ZIP polo and General Drawstring Under the Gum on the bottom. Jacket with zipper Round Neck, "Stretched" in width, beveled Edge sleeves and hem and pockets Patch, A cut line, respectively the Lower Edge. A simple midi sundress with spaghetti straps on the Upper Edge Laid inverted pleats, and in the Side seams - pockets. Cropped pants with belt Wide-Shaped STRAP, providing elegant Landing on Figure A, complemented by Slightly sloping pockets in the frame and Short cuts Along the Side seams of trousers. Wide lace Dress with two seams and cut Short sleeves Single Combines perfectly body-Fitting Dress is put on the straps as cover. even beginners CAN sew Easy to Update your wardrobe with Fashionable novelties. The Magazine goes on sale May 7th.

Not that I need another sewing magazine subscription, but some of these designs do not seem too bad!

Newsflash: Summer McCall's Announced

The new McCall's summer patterns can be seen here.  I have to admit - I'm actually really excited about this collection.  Perhaps it is because I saw this collection at 3am after a week of low levels of sleep, but even though there are a lot of simple silhouettes in this collection I'm still wanting to dole out a lump of cash to add too many of these to my stash.  To be fair there are a lot of patterns in this collection that are sort of dull (and there are a lot of kids patterns, which I don't concern myself with overly much), but there are enough cool things to keep me interested too, which hasn't been the case for many pattern releases this year so far.

In any case, let's take a look:

M7167 - Jumpsuit with cup sizing.  I'm actually rather liking this one.

Newsflash: May Burda Preview Posted

The latest issue of Burda is available for preview here.  Normally May is the fun summer dress issue.  While there are certainly a lot of dresses this year, I can't say I'm as excited about this month as I have been in previous years.  Although I will say there are a few more designs I'm interested in than I've seen in previous issues from this year.  So, maybe this is the start of a Burda upswing?  Or at least a bit less of the overwhelming meh-ness we've had so far this year.

Newsflash: Summer Vogue Patterns

The string of new pattern releases continues - the new summer Vogue patterns can be seen here. Overall I have to say I'm not really loving this year's patterns - everything has gone to much simpler and more voluminous styles; not really my favorite flavor of ice cream.  Usually the designer Vogue patterns have some interesting details that I gravitate towards, but I'm not really finding much that I love this time around.  The one pattern I'm really liking from this release is a Rebecca Taylor design:

V1446 - Rebecca Taylor.  Love the neckline, the pockets, the silhouette.

Newsflash: Assorted Pattern News

This past week saw several new pattern announcements, including the May Burda Early Preview, spring Kwik Sew patterns, and spring Marfy releases.

May Burda Early Preview

The May Burda is typically the spring-summer transition dress issue, and as such is typically one of my favorite issues of the year.  This year's magazine looks to be a bit fixated on ruffles - not my favorite adornment - and I'm having mixed feelings over the early preview images.  However, the more complete preview on P-an-da is giving me a bit more confidence in this issue, so I'm a bit more excited for May than I originally thought I would be.

Burda is convincing me to join team ruffle with all the pretty!

Newsflash: Burda Easy Spring/Summer 2015

The full preview of the Spring/Summer 2015 Burda Easy magazine is up on the Russian website.  Although I don't think this is a must-buy issue, there are a couple of patterns that might be fun to sew.

Newsflash: April Burda Preview Posted

The full preview of the April 2015 BurdaStyle Magazine is now up on the Russian website.  Although I wasn't overly excited by the early preview, I have to grudgingly admit there may be a few designs that are sort of interesting this time around.  Not a lot, but enough that I'm at least thinking about adding a few of these designs to my ever-growing and never-shrinking "plan to make" list.  In any case, let's take a look at this month's offerings:

Captain America: Winter PJs

This project was finished a while ago, but I haven't had much time to do a write-up post.  And since it was commissioned as a gift I wanted to make sure there was plenty of time between the delivery and posting to avoid spoilers.  I haven't really heard how well the gift went over... It's been a crazy few months so far this year.  I think these PJs turned out pretty cute in any case - especially considering I made them as a garment copy, without a pattern or instructions, and sort of made things up as I went along.

Cap PJs!  The fabric is from Michael Levine in LA,
and the patch was bought on Etsy.

I made special effort to match the plaid on the side seams.

And plaid matching on the bum.  I've been watching the
third season of The Great British Sewing Bee, and, while
there are many, many other issues they could pick on,
I think even Patrick would be pleased with my plaid matching here.

I even added pockets, because pockets are awesome.

A button fly, which, I will point out, I've never made before,
and I made up my procedure as I went along.  So I was
pretty happy when it turned out somewhat functional.

And that's about it as far as this project goes.  It was a bit slapdash, but, I think it turned out ok in the end.

On a slightly related, but somewhat meandering tangent - I feel as though I've been neglecting the blog a bit.  I'm behind on writing up my book reviews, and I am itching to actually post more sewing related posts to my sewing blog (I know, what a concept).  But most (all) of my sewing right now is commission work, and I don't typically post that here.  I just finished a skating costume that required the application of over 5,000 individual rhinestones.  It took forever, but I was quite pleased with the result (and so was my client), so I suppose all is well in the end?  In any case, I've been sewing, but this is the only project that I've felt comfortable posting about in quite a while.  That combined with work, skating, and the online #WhoClass I'm taking, not to mention general life stuff of eating and sleeping, has made me a bit less active on the blog.  With the skating season ramping up, things are likely to only get more hectic over the next few months, so I don't expect to be posting as much as I would like.  I'm back at the point where I am just trying to get through August.

Newsflash: Burda Easy Spring/Summer Early Preview Posted

The first look at the Spring/Summer 2015 Burda Easy magazine has been posted on both the German and Russian websites.  So far this is impressing me about as much as the rest of the Burda issues thus far this year - which is to say, not much.  Of course, I'm waiting to see the the full preview with line drawings and all, but, so far I'm not overly excited by this issue.  I guess after the fabulousness that was the Fall/Winter edition from last year I was hoping for a bit more.  Anyway, here's the first look:

Possibly cute cardigan?  I hope we get that pattern.  Skirt is ok, but plain.

Newsflash: April Burda Early Preview and Burda Plus Spring/Summer Full Preview Posted

The Russian Burda website is on top of it - the April preview is posted here, and the full preview of the Spring/Summer Burda Plus is here.  I have to say, the early preview for April wasn't too inspiring.  I went to P-an-da in the hope that there might be more to get excited about, but, sadly, there doesn't seem to be too much going on in the April issue.

Starting April off right - what is with that collar?