You will by now have read several posts from bloggers who have been sent a free copy of MyImage and BTrendy magazines… and I’m going to add one more! (Like the others, I was emailed by the two guys behind both Magazines, and asked if I wanted to try out an issue. No requirement to blog, although that is clearly the hope!)
I’m new to the world of sewing magazines, but I really enjoyed flipping through the nice photos and having so many patterns available. I kept thinking, “Oh, I could use that to imitate this other pattern, or copy that Pinterest inspiration photo.” I can really see the appeal of having a stash of pattern magazines to flip through instead of dropping $$ on a brand new indie pattern!
On the other hand, how many of these patterns will I make? That all depends on how well they fit my figure, and how easy they are to adapt. I’d rather save time and fabric than money! I decided to sew a simple mock-wrap dress to test things out.
Verdict: Lots to love! And also some fit alterations I’d have to do every time.
Specifically,
- They draft for 170cm, and I’m 157cm (aka. 5’2″). I found the armscye visibly much longer than any pattern I’ve used before, and folded out 6cm before sewing. I folded it out of the sleeve too, of course.
- I emailed to ask what cup size they draft for, and they answered with “As far I know none of the pattern companies in Europe draft for a certain cup size. Of course bigger sizes has more “cup space” in the pattern that smaller sizes. Never heard someone about this, it’s no issue in Europe.” Would you agree? Regardless, this pattern would need an FBA to fit like it does in the magazine, with a loose drape and a deep V showing a camisole underneath.
(Here’s my approximation of how it fits in the magazine on the left, and how it actually sits on me on the right!)
- The sleeve was SOOOO TIGHT! I traced the bodice that fits my measurements, and the corresponding sleeve, but it was unwearably tight. If you peer at the photo below, you can just see that I had to splice in at least 6cm of extra fabric at the elbow, tapering to less at the underarm. That’s not an issue I usually have with indies, so be warmed!
One other change – I decided not to use the gathered rectangle skirt they suggested, and used the Comino Cap skirt instead. I like a curved hem and not so much volume at the waist.
As an Editor of the Curvy Sewing Collective, I felt like I had to ask them about plus-size patterns, and here is what they said: “We have made patterns up to size 56, but the last few issues stop at size 52. As a fact 11 of the 16 patterns in My Image 13 go to size 50 and larger. Size 50 is 3XL/4XL in Europe, but I don’t exactly know which North American size compares to this. For now we focus on sizes 34-52. Not because we don’t want to make bigger sizes, but because this is a expertise and we want to do it right. Some companies are drafting their patterns from 34 to 60 and even larger. This is very easy to do, but won’t always give the best result.” That seems like a very reasonable approach… though I have to say, one of the patterns I traced didn’t go up to my size, so I had to creatively extend the pattern of nested sizes to make my own size!
All in all, I enjoyed the magazine, and I’m looking forward to trying the kids patterns when I sew for my nieces this Christmas. If you are curious about European pattern magazines, Mary did a brilliant two-part post about subscribing to Knipmode for a year, which is well worth reading. If you are interested in MyImage or B-Trendy, you can use the code “rainbow” to get 25% off on their magazines or pdf patterns until November 1st 2016!
Have you used pattern magazines much? What was your experience?
Crafting A Rainbow 
I think European companies do draft like that for the bust. This summer when I made my Inari from Named I had emailed them to find out what their bust was, as I’m skinny but ought to do a FBA. They replied that the cup size increases with the size of the pattern. It’s kind of interesting, isn’t it ?
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It IS interesting! I don’t quite understand it though – if the ratio of high bust to full bust stays the same, then the bust volume is increasing, but the cup size would stay the same (like 30B, 32B, 34B… etc). Yes, a 34B is bigger than a 30B, but that doesn’t help busty women of any size!
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Cute! It turned out really nice! I am in the process of making the Elsa sweater from the magazine… fingers crossed!
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BTW: I like it better the way it fits on you than how it’s “supposed to” fit!
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Thanks Meg! i enjoyed reading your review too… I still can’t decide if magazines appeal to me, or aren’t quite worth the expense!
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I saw that was a pdf freebie and it is really cute!
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I didn’t realise there were some free PDFs up until I was digging out the magazine to get the code they sent me… seems like the free patterns are ones they had to correct errors on, because there was a little printed notice tucked into the magazine envelope!
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Thank you for this interesting post Gillian. Just so you know the ONLY shipping method option available for CDN is “download” so they don’t ship the actual hard copy to Canada. I’m not so keen for a download to be honest so I took a pass.
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Is that the case now? I had gotten several of their paper magazines when they started a few years ago (here in Canada).
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I”m going to investigate!
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WHAT? Really? That’s crap. Have the actual magazine in your hands is the fun part!
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That looks lovely!
>
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Thank you! I can’t figure out how to style it for winter, so I guess it’s going to get packed away till bare leg season again! 😉
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My understanding is that European pattern makers draft for a B cup (I’m UK and I see that quoted a fair bit).
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Good to know! Thanks!
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Bust sizes are a strange thing here. They don’t draft for cup sizes but it’s not as if the bust sizes increase with the garment size. Well, not the cup size anyway. I still need to do FBA’s, something they’ve never heard off around here. There’s not even a Dutch word for it. I understand that they say that nobody complains because we’re either blaming ourselves or we’re blaming the pattern, but sewing teacher never even talk about fit issues (one of the reasons sewing lessons here are crap). I’ve never worked with MyImage as I think Knipmode is the only quality sewing magazine here. B*trendy used to be called B*inspired by Poppy but the founders had a fall out recently so now they are split into Poppy and B*trendy. So it makes sense to look for a new audience, although they could have reached out to people who actually sew/blog about kids’ clothing.
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OOOH, you’ve got all the gossip! I’m thinking of ordering a couple single issues of Ottobre or Knipmode – any suggestions of which issues you’ve loved?
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I’m not a big fan of the Ottobre for Women, they are too dowdy. I absolutely love Ottobre for kids though, especially their last issue! I’ll go through my Knipmodes tomorrow to so which issues were definitely worth it 🙂 I’ll mail you the line drawings!
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What an interesting response to your question about cup sizes – I’m going to keep checking the comments you get back on this post because I’m so curious.
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What made me laugh most is that when Manju posted her review, she’d also asked them the same thing – so much for “We’ve never been asked before!” 😛 Consensus seems to be that bust volume will grow as the pattern increases, but it’s still the same cup size… so if you are proportionally bustier than they draft for, you’ll need an FBA.
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Hrm that seems like a response you only get to use once 😉
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Your dress is pretty though! I find that I’m always checking sleeve widths now, even with my favourite designers. Got me thinking my arms are exceptionally large for my size. Lol. Someone in the adult pdf group had mentioned that My Image does have free pdfs available and I had downloaded their Kim Trousers to try but didn’t get around to actually doing that.
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I’d be curious to know how their trousers work out! Long and slim, is my guess!
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Well, you ended up with a cute dress! I like the idea of pattern magazines, but I think I’ve only made one successful Burda pattern, though I have made multiples of it. I’m off to Europe for vacation soon, and I might snap some up as a souvenir, if nothing else!
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Ooh yes, pattern magazines would make a great souvenir! Where are you going?
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Really darling dress! The only magazine I have any experience with is Burda, and I do love that magazine, but mostly for inspiration as I dislike tracing patterns immensely:)
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Surprisingly, I found that tracing these wasn’t any slower than taping together a whole new pdf… but I did chose quite simple patterns to trace!
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Really really cute dress Gillian! Love the print. The whole tracing thing deters me…I’m lazy I know. I’m going to have a look at their pdf offerings though.
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The tracing wasn’t too bad! Adding seam allowances was more annoying to me… I’ve never really understood why they aren’t included!
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This is my pet hate too. On one level, they expect you to be some kind of pattern manipulation ninja who wants to manipulate everything without those pesky seam allowances holding you back. And on the other, some magazines churn out very similar iterations of the same dress block month after month thinking you won’t realise they’re virtually identical. I keep meaning to get one of those double tracing wheels to make life easier, but I haven’t quite managed it yet. (I love Ottobre magazine for kids’ clothes, but I’m less keen on the women’s version. I also subscribed to Burda Style for a while but never got round to making anything from it…)
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I got these two magazines too, and I’m still undecided as to whether or not I will sew up any of the patterns. I think the photos are really nice and I totally loved flipping through it. It’s nice to be able to do that in a sewing magazine versus a “fashion” magazine.
I think your dress looks great! Love those colours!
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I have many Burda issues and have traced and sewn both reg and plus. I also have Manequim which is a Brazilian sewing pattern magazine (which also drafts B cup with growing band size for those who are curious). I think tracing and double wheels, cut and sew, pdfs, etc. all take about the same amount of time for the same pieces. No matter which way I go, I still have to do my pattern modifications and fitting, as no company drafts my petite c-cup plus size correctly. I’m not going to be investing in a new magazine as I’m hitting that sewing stage where I just want to reuse patterns that are already fitted to me and adding modifications rather than starting from scratch every time. Does anyone else feel that way?
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I have made a few items from My Image in the past. I love their designs but their drafting can be a bit sketchy at times. In saying that with a few alterations here and there I have ended up with some really nice garments.
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