To make up for my lack of blogging, I'll be covering two weeks' worth of releases in this week's post:
- Colette's Seamwork Magazine
- HotPatterns
- Itch to Stitch
- Sew Independent Pattern Bundle
- StyleArc
Colette Seamwork: August 2015 Issue
August's issue theme is "vintage", and the issue's new patterns are a two-piece vintage-inspired swimsuit and a summer dress or beach coverup.
Reno swim top and Dakota swim bottoms
I guess these are okay. I appreciate the fact that the top looks like it might have some more support than other swimwear patterns, but on the other hand, I think it's probably pretty telling that the model used for these shots is fairly small-busted. I mean, it looks like you could add an underwire into that top pretty easily, on the other hand, halternecks suck when you're large busted.
The bottoms are fine--they're your pretty standard retro swim bottoms, as far as sewing patterns go.
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| Colette Seamwork: Reno top and Dakota bottoms |
I like this as a swim coverup or as a wear-around-the-house dress on a hot day (and trust me, with the summer we've been having, I have a definite need for those). The prints that they used in all of the samples sort of obscure the design lines on this one, so you have to look at the line drawing. It's got princess seams and doesn't rely entirely on ties for shaping, the way a lot of coverups do. I wouldn't feel weird wearing this if I had to pop into a convenience store to pick something up on the way home from the pool.
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| Seamwork - Mojave dress |
Years ago, I made and loved HotPatterns Riveria Cardigan-Jacket--a knit jacket pattern that was pretty groundbreaking in its day. Its trendy cropped/shrunken design felt pretty dated to me after a couple of years, though, and I've been holding out hope since then that Trudy would release a similar pattern in a more updated style.
Enter the Chimera Cardigan-Jacket, which is a boyfriend-style jacket designed for stable knits like ponte. Given my general excitement at the boyfriend-style jacket and cardigan looks that appear to be roaring back into style for fall, I was super stoked to see this pattern released. Yeah, I hit "order" on this one as soon as I saw it. Expect to see several of these along with several Muse Jenna and Sophie cardigans this fall. I'm envisioning my first version of this jacket in a black ponte with black faux-leather trim.
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| HotPatterns - Chimera Jacket-Cardigan |
The Itch to Stitch Carey top is a loose-fitting doman sleeve top designed for knits or wovens. It has a ruching/drawstring detail on the sleeve.
Pullover woven tops like these, made up in a drapey or sheer fabric, have been all over RTW for the past few years, and most of the sample versions by the pattern testers look pretty cute on the testers. The drawstring is also a nice touch. This top reminds me of the sort of Big 4 pattern that I'll sometimes make up when I don't want to deal with fitting and just want an instant gratification project. If it were to turn up in a bundle that I purchased, I might consider making it, but I have enough patterns along this line that I'm not particularly tempted to purchase this one.
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| Itch to Stitch: Carey top |
Sew Independent Pattern Bundle
So, this entry isn't so much a specific new pattern release, but it is a pattern-related announcement. Remember those Perfect Pattern Parcels that grouped together a bundle of indie patterns for a discount price that were all over the SBC last year? That particular bundle series appears to have died, with the website not having been updated since 2014. Now, we appear to have a new indie bundle, being lead by Mari from Seamster patterns.
To me, this bundle is quite a bit more tempting than any of the Perfect Pattern Parcels were, although that could be because I only own the Muse Melissa dress out of this bunch and have been teetering on the fence of a few of the others. In this bunch, you've got two fairly-established-as-popular patterns in the True Bias Sutton Blouse and the Sew Over It trousers, and then after that, a mix of older and newer patterns.
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| Sew Independent Bundle |
This bundle includes the following patterns (clockwise from top left):
- Sew Over It: Ultimate Trousers
- Sew House Seven: Mississipi Ave Dress & Top
- Lolita Patterns: Sugar Plum Dress
- True Bias: Sutton Blouse
- Jennifer Lauren Vintage: Cressida Skirt
- Waffle Patterns: Blouson
- Dixie DIY: Bonnel Dress
- Muse Patterns: Melissa Dress & Blouse
- Seamster Patterns: Sorrel Dress & Top (New)
- Blueprints for Sewing: Saltbox Top (New)
StyleArc went very casual with its August 2015 batch of new releases. On one hand, these are largely "fine", on the other, none of them particularly excite me--or for the ones that might, I already own a similar pattern.
Courtney top
The Courtney is the same sort of boxy pullover top that it feels like we've seen a ton of from StyleArc in recent months. It's fine--the seaming at least adds some interest--but I feel like we've seen some version of this top six times in the last six months.
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| StyleArc - Courtney top |
And on a side note, if you're going to name a pattern the "Courtney", shouldn't it be a babydoll dress of some sort?
Joni Knit Track Pant
The Joni is a perfectly functional-looking knit trackpant. It does have the current style of the knit cuffs and the wrap-around side seam that I've been seeing lately. But it's a trackpant. I don't really have anything else to say about it.
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| StyleArc - Joni Knit Trackpant |
Sabel Boyfriend Cardi
We've been seeing a lot of boyfriend cardigans popping up in recent pattern releases. I suspect that this style will be big in the fall, and I, personally, look at it as a welcome change from the waterfall-style cardigan that's been so ubiquitous for the past 5+ years. I'd possibly be tempted by this one if I didn't already own the SBCC version of a boyfriend cardi.
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| StyleArc - Sabel Boyfriend Cardi |
The freebie this month is the Mary Shift Dress--a raglan-sleeved woven shift dress. I'll admit that from the line drawing, I'd assumed that this was a shift dress for stable knits until I read the recommended fabrics--which makes sense, given that StyleArc has correctly drafted a shoulder dart into its raglan sleeve for this. This dress could be a cute basic, but there isn't enough shaping in it for me to be tempted.
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| StyleArc - Mary shift dress |
Final Thoughts
So, I already ordered the HotPatterns jacket, and I keep going back and forth on the pattern bundle. Ironically, I'd probably be more tempted to pull the trigger on that one if I didn't already own the Muse Melissa dress, even though that's the only pattern out of this group that I already own.I also like the StyleArc boyfriend cardigan, but between the SBCC Cabernet and new HotPatterns jacket, I think I'm covered for boyfriend-style toppers. I actually like the Colette Mojave a lot as a coverup, too, although I've got so many plans for other projects that a swim coverup is way down on my priority list.
How about you? What do you think about the new bundle? Were you previously a fan of the Perfect Pattern Parcel bundles, and how do you think this one compares?
