Burda Style March 2013

This month's issue of Burda Style comes with quite a lot of garments that would be nice for summer. Last month I found there were some pretty nice patterns, let's see what the March issue brings us.

It seems they are having a drapey neckline garment in every issue nowadays.

 

 

The drapey cowl top is an easy pattern. Pretty nifty how they styled the tops so differently and show how you can change a look by simply using a different fabric. That is definitely a theme through this issue. Yes of course everyone knows how important the role of fabric is, but in some cases it's like this month the fabric seems more important than the pattern in some cases, read on and you'll see what I mean. 

On to the skirts. Here we have this month's pencil skirt. It's over the knee, has no waistband and a side zipper for a change.

A cute ruffled mini skirt! Oh how I wish I could wear that skirt with socks like the model does. Even though I like to have warm feet. But wait...

A maxi skirt would solve that problem for me. It reminded me of the tiered maxi skirt from the May 2012 issue (check out the instructions on how to create this free pattern), but that one is with an elastic waistband and it looks like this one has a zipper and is a bit more flattering at the waistband.

There are a couple of pant patterns this month, but unfortunately they weren't really my thing.

These pants are quite different from what you usually see. Different placement (and flaps!) of the front pockets, no waistband and there's some interesting stitching going on at the knees. It reminds me a bit of my dad's motorcycle pants. I do like it a lot how Burda experimented making them a little edgy. There is a thin line between edgy and over the edge, which is of course also a matter of taste.

 

How about this dress? With the cute sleeve caps?

That's what I mean. The back would be a bit over the top for me. But I don't like my back to be bare. And maybe I'm just a little conservative, it reminds me of an apron with ruffled sleeve caps. Is that why she's sitting in the kitchen? 

As I mentioned earlier Burda is having a bit of a theme with fabric.

 

Not the exact same pattern, but the same back. Way cuter and not much like an apron anymore. We saw wedding stuff in the plus size section last month, and this month we are having a couple of summer dresses each with their own wedding style version in a slightly different pattern.

Not saying anything about the bride... But we'll see her again later. If it were just the drawing, I would not be attracted to this dress. If there's no darts, dresses like these will look like a potato sack unless you're Twiggy. That's what that bandeau top is for naturally, to give it some shape. I'm curious how it would look just under the bust, like an empire waist belt. The level of difficulty is two stars, so suitable for beginners. If you want something more fitting and complicated, you have to pay for it with four stars, like the next pattern.

Nice! With a beautiful wide princessy skirt and a gathered bodice.

And the lovely wedding dress pattern version.

Here comes the bride again! The dress (and certainly pairing the dress with a cowl top) with the flutter sleeves oozes a bit of the 70's. It seems comfortable and fitting, let's hope there's not too much to see when she lifts her arms. This is one of the dresses I would like to make.

Now for something completely different: a parcape.

 

Ok I made that up. But it is a parka x cape hybrid. It looks a bit sporty, what's usually not associated with the elegance of a cape silhouette. It would have been nice if they made a version with buttons, so you can see how much it changes the appearance of this cape, the same way they showed how big a difference fabric can make.

Look at those cool seams! Is this a fitted jacket? On the drawing it looks quite straight as if the seams are there just for show. On the pictures it looks better and more fitted. Let's hope they did not put a clothes peg in the back for show. It is in the same style as the red pants above.

This month's plus size section has a lot of shapeless forms, which don't appeal much to me. It depends on your body type what suits you of course. There's two I liked, one is this jacket.

 

And the other one is this skirt (and the shoes!).

The last thing I'll mention was something that immediately drew my attention. Unfortunately it has 5 stars, so I'm not even going to try to attempt this. But I'll certainly keep it in mind for when I'm more experienced.

Well that's all for this post. When I checked out this Burda issue for the first time, there were a couple of things I liked. But the longer I keep looking at it, the more I like it. After the February issue that I liked a lot, I didn't expect the March issue to be so nice. And the patterns I'm showing are not all, there are even more in the magazine of course.

All pictures are from the Russian Burda site.