19 Oct 2012

Retro inspired printed Burda patterns



I wonder if anyone knows and tried these printed Burda patterns?
They look really pretty, with old fashioned artwork and the prices are (at least, here in Europe) half of the big 4 pattern prices. Overall, a nice selection of mostly 50's and 60's garments.
Strange enough I can't find any review online. My biggest problem with Burda patterns is that the garments like jackets are very loosely fitted or have a lot of ease. I always make size smaller than my measurements indicate. The back of the envelopes state 'fitted' for the 50's patterns and 'semi-fitted'  for the 60's patterns. Promising! The Vintage Vogue patterns look for me the best, I love that there is some variation in the designs they choose to re-issue. The Retro Buttericks are mostly dresses and Simplicity has only a few Retro patterns.

I've bought the two patterns above. The packaging is not much, the patterns and instructions are sealed in cheap plastic. That means once you open it you have to store your pattern in an envelope because you can't put them back without tearing the plastic apart...
Surprise, surprise, there are no seam-allowances included. To tackle this problem I've got a 'parallel' tracing wheel with chalk which you can adjust to add seam allowances while tracing:



Basically you trace along the pattern lines with the wheel (at the right) while mark your fabric with the chalk (left) along the line with a seam-allowance included. No need to measure and mark seam-allowances after tracing anymore! Really a time-saver. Why didn't I know that?...
But back to the patterns:
- The instruction booklet consist more text than diagrams than I'm used to with the big 4.
- I like the fact that the pattern pieces are printed in a different color, this makes easier to trace the outer lines.
- But nothing is perfect, so the printing is a darker shade of the same color which makes it impossible to write the instructions over while tracing.



While looking at the pattern pieces I wondered if there are any 'vintage'  features like shoulder darts and darts around the elbow on the sleeves... As far as I can see there aren't any. Both of the jackets have seams through the shoulders, so that's not clear and there aren't any visible darts on the two-piece sleeves.
No time yet to start on one of these patterns, I think I'm going to try the knit dress from the september Burda first. I need a quick and easy project right now, since we are still busy finishing stuff for our new home.

   

   

   

   

   

    



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