Burda Easy Fashion E993 - 2A

 

Description:

With Lust and Humor

Dress 2A

Sizes 34-44

You will feel feather light and sexy in this transparent Chiffon Boho-dress. The printed fabric flatters the silhouette.

Review: 

I definitely don’t think I could pull off this dress.  Where you would actually wear such a thing?  It’s not really work appropriate and not dressy enough for a nice dinner.  Maybe the movies or the mall?   But it does look very Nicole-Richie Bohemian-chic.  Check out similar styles below.  I particularly like how they pair this style with boots and faux fur.  But the beret seams kind of out of place, don’t you think?

 

Live.Laugh.Love by sourcat featuring Tory Burch

Burda Easy Fashion E993 - 5A

Description:

Ethnic style delux

Vest 5 A

Sizes 34-44

The Long corner on the front of the vest gives it a cool seventies touch. The tapered cut makes a great figure and refines the outfit.

Review:

I guess I’m just not a “vest person.”  I don’t think I’d ever wear one, but some celebrities are rocking this style.  The collar definitely makes an otherwise yawn-worthy vest into something a little more interesting.  But be careful with fabric choice!  This piece of clothing can go from chic to home-ec by just the wrong type of fabric. It needs something rich, like the velvet shown here or satin perhaps.  You might be able to get away with a dark wash denim, but a cotton print or any sort of holiday “theme” is a definite call for disaster.

Burda Easy Fashion Magazine

While I enjoyed the Burda Style (formerly Burda World of Fashion Magazine) see review, I decided that I just couldn’t justify the $80 subscription.  Yes, it had copious amounts of patterns in it, many of which I would consider making.  But I know me, I would be one of those people who would always intend on making things, but months months would probably go by before I actually got around to doing it.  Therefore, I would be paying $80/year for a very limited number of actual garments to show for it.  It would be much more economical to simply wait for a sale on a pattern from the Big 4 that way.

I knew that Burda came out with a special Plus sized magazine twice a year, but since I’m not plus sized that didn’t help me much.  But I did like the concept.. twice a year fall and spring.. perfect!  I briefly considered just purchasing the August and February magazines.  Off of e-bay with shipping it would total me $30/year, much more reasonable.

Then I discovered that Burda used to offer an Easy Fashion magazine in English, which was targeted at a younger crowd (all patterns are for sizes 34-44).  Sadly, they don’t offer the English version any more, but at only $15/year for two magazines I thought, why not?  It was suppose to have copious amounts of pictures explaining the various steps, so maybe I won’t need to know German so much.  I got my first copy in the mail a couple of weeks ago

Like Burda Style, the magazine is stapled up the middle, but the patterns in the middle are a little different.  The patterns aren’t printed on top of one another, so you technically don’t have to trace them out.  I thought the paper was also a little different.  Where the Burda Style paper is very much like newsprint, this one is more like tissue paper, with one side feeling smooth.

Also, instead of the instructions being print on newsprint in the sort of instructions/patterns “packet” that Burda Style uses, the instructions are printed in the magazine after all of the photos, and in color.  I prefer it this way over the way Burda Style does it.

The photo instructions seem fairly easy to follow.. if you already know how to basically construct that type of garment.  I’m new to sewing, so I’ve been busy translating.  It’s surprisingly easy to do the translations.  Well, most of the translations.  I’m going to have to ask for help on some of them, because they just don’t make sense to me.

The patterns, in general are more trendy than those found in the Burda Style magazine.  I personally like this.  If I’m buying a pattern magazine, I don’t want it to show me how to make the same basic shirt over and over again, I want what’s hip now.  That being said, some of the patterns are “trendy” only because of the fabric they used or some extra piece.  So there are definitely patterns that can be easily extended beyond one season.

So since Burda has decided to merge with the more open source-ish (and based in the US) burdastyle, I decided now was a good time to start an Easy Fashion fan club or something like that.  I haven’t quite decided on the format, but I’ll be posting the instructions for Easy Fashion pieces in English on my blog, and reviewing the various styles.

Food of the day

Stir Fry

We’ve been trying to clean up our diet recently, and I think stir fry is a great way to do it.  It’s all about veggies.. and the sauce.  The sauce I think is the key ingredient for stir fry.

The sauce we use is loosely based on this recipe and is as follows

1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce

1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated

1 tbsp fresh garlic, grated

2 tbsp honey

1 tsp corn starch

Whisk the sauce together and add about 2/3 of the way through cooking

Word of the day

Rest

The word of the day is “rest.”  I vow to get more sleep so I can have more energy.

I actually really enjoy going to sleep with soft music in the background, especially Sound Sleep.  There are no drum beats to keep you awake, it gradually gets louder from the beginning, so you don’t wake someone else, and I’ve found that it helps me block out street noises better than a fan.

Burda 08-2009-117 Muslin

I made a muslin to check for fit, and I’m glad I did!  It gapped funny in the back and in the front, and it was way too tight on the hips.

See?

So I took in the center front seam a little bit and now it looks like this

Now I’m just unsure about the shoulders.  It looks funny to me, but I don’t know if it’s just the fabric or what.  I think I might try sloping the shoulders more and see if that helps.

Fabric from Fabric.com

I recently ordered some fabric, and I gotta say I like it.  I shopped the sale and clearance bins to pick up these 5 fabrics for less than $30, including shipping.  From left to right: wool blend suiting jasper dark brown, stretch twill soft brown, truffle double knit camel, georgette magenta, crepe georgette lavender.

The crepe georgette lavender is already earmarked to become the burda 08-2009-117 shirt

It should look similar to the photo, except a lavender shade.  It is the same 100% polyester crepe georgette type they use in the photo

The truffle double knit camel will probably be made into a cardigan.  I like Esther from burdastyle.com, but I don’t like how slouchy it is.

For the wool blend suiting, I think I’ll probably make Vogue V1051

So that just leaves the stretch twill and the magenta georgette.  I’m not sure what I’ll do with those yet.  Any ideas?