Burda Plus - English ed

I just reviewed Burda Moden, and much of what I said there applies here too.

First off, I'm a plus size lady.

I sew, and I love Burda magazines. Till recently I had an annual subscription and I need to refresh my subscription again. I always but always subscribed to both the regular magazine (which has a plus size section!) and the Plus magazine (which NEVER duplicates what you see in the regular one).

If given a choice I think I'd take the Plus magazine if I couldn't afford both.

Here are some helpful tips on why you might like to subscribe EVEN IF YOU DON'T SEW, and how to do so if you are out of the States area.

For Canadians there is a Burda magazine reseller, and it will cost about 10$ Canadian per issue. Which is MUCH less than a normal pattern now. So it saves you on patterns.

Burda has ways to subscribe for each country, just go to their website and click till you get the reseller for your own area.

WHY BURDA IS THE BEST!

The fashions presented are 2 years ahead. I found that styles presented in Burda were a year ahead of hitting the stores in retail, and 2 to 3 years ahead of the other major pattern companies, and about 1 year ahead of Burda's pattern envelopes sold in the fabric stores.

EVEN IF ALL YOU DO IS LOOK AT UPCOMING STYLES and never sew a stitch you will find this magazine useful to keep ahead of trend curves.

This is what the European ladies are wearing.

All clothing is well put together, showing current trends (future trends for north america!) in Europe in shoes, purses, jewelry, colour choices and more. They use fashion forward textiles to make the garments and the photos are clear enough that you can get trim detail and figure out fabric from your local store.

If you do sew, this magazine will keep you from wasting money on outdated expensive paper patterns AND keep you in the front end of fashion.

After all if you go to the trouble of sewing, and fitting it's nice if you can wear something for a few extra years and look up to date while doing so.

As a Plus size lady, I found it a refreshing surprise to find patterns that actually looked stylish and ahead of the ready to wear regular market let alone the nightmare of retail plus size ready to wear.

Each magazine comes with ALL the patterns to make all the clothing featured. Look thru, see what you like and trace off your own pattern.

A note about sizes --Burda fits much closer than normal pattern companies which makes for a much nicer fit, but you may find yourself needing to go up a size or two.

Measure carefully, and try cutting one size up till you get used to the fit. Don't cut into expensive fabric till you are used to how they fit. Make a few cheaper garments first. The armholes and the crotch area fit differently than north american clothes.

Be aware that above a size 20/22 in north american sizes, won't fit into these plus sizes. Their idea of plus is 14-20/22. If you are bigger it's fairly easy to size the patterns up a bit, but you do need some experience in sewing and pattern alterations to do that well. (for learning how, check out Sandra Betzina's stuff on altering patterns)

Here are a couple of helpful hints to dealing with tracing off the patterns in the centerfold.

I used waxed paper in the usual kitchen type roll and traced with a sharpie marker pen.

WHY WAX PAPER? It's cheap, you can SEE THRU IT, and you can fuse it into bigger sheets as needed.

FUSING WAX PAPER: take a warm iron, and press thru a paper towel so you don't get wax paper on your iron. (when you finish, run your iron over a clean terry facecloth to absorb any wax that seeped out). When fusing, hold till the wax paper clings and it will look a bit "bubbly".

EDITED TO ADD: USE A HIGHLIGHTER PEN to mark the lines you are tracing off. It will help you "see" the correct pattern peice and the correct size in the spaghetti trail that is the master pattern in the centerfold.

TRACING: Burda patterns DON'T come with a seam allowance so I added that after tracing my patterns. Using a sharpie and a straight edge for long runs I traced off my desired size in the patterns which look like multicoloured spaghetti lines all over the newsprint center.

Then add seam allowances BEFORE cutting out your wax paper pattern!

About all those lines. Here is where my wax paper tip comes in handy. I've tried tracing paper, even interfacing but the multiple lines on a Burda magazine pattern are too much for those usual tracing papers or interfacing. You will need something much more see thru. Wax paper! cheap, almost transparent, sturdy and won't bleed sharpie marker ink.

Burda doesn't print one sided pattern masters so you HAVE to trace. You can't just sacrifice the rest of the patterns to cut yourself one only since the other peices will likely be printed on the back.

REMEMBER TO ADD YOUR SEAM ALLOWANCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Once I cut out my pattern (and write all the notes about what size, layout, darts etc on the pattern) I put my pattern pieces in a Manila envelope.

Pattern envelopes for home made patterns work best with some labelling. I put the magazine (fall and winter 05) and the page # (34) and the model I'm copying along with the size, the yardage I require and any sewing notions or extras (zippers, interfacing, 17 buttons, yada yada)

Maybe due to being a bit obsessive about such things I sketch a line drawing on the envelope with a note saying, skirt, pants, jacket or whatever the garment is. My drawing isn't perfect but I try to include a front and back view with major seams and darts drawn in. It's useful.

I keep them in a normal household file folder, since the manila envelopes fit perfectly.

File under Jacket, Dress, Skirt etc. or by year.

There, I hope that helps. This is WELL worth getting even if you never sew a single stitch from the magazine.

I ordered back issues of this magazine from an Ebay dealer in the UK after the Spring 2006 issue came out and I am sold not just on Burda Plus but on Berlin fashion designers as wellthe women, anyway, make lovely, flowing but not "girly" clothes that are very wearable Think Eileen Fisher or Flax but with darker, richer colors, fibers and textures, slightly more "fit" and more interesting shapes in a wider variety -not just the same few repeated again and again. Clothes for the decades, not the season -and the patterns are HERE! at least some of them, from designers like Evelyn Brandt, Doris Strietch (and another Berliner (female) whose name escapes me at the moment, but whose clothes I deeply admire.)

The fit is better than most American pattern companies especially pants. If you make one garment from each issue the subscription has more than paid for itself. Good info on sizing patterns up or down in the back issues I recently received keeping the proportions if using a "petite" or a "tall" pattern if you are neither. Pattern directions themselves can be less than enlightening, though perhaps "non-fluent" would be the best description of their translation. And the breathless tone (LOTS of exclamation points!!!!) of the editorial content seems a bit much for such "smart" clothes, but we're not buying this for the elegancce of the writing!

Another reviewer complained of delivery delay. This is only published in January and July. If you missed subscribing in time for the last issue and the print run is gone, you have to wait until the next one pubs. And the print runs DO sell out. As I can attest.

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Contrary to the previous review, the majority of the patterns in the Fall/Winter 2005 issue were normal sizes (5'6"). This particular issue contains 10 jackets (two of which were for petites), four skirts (one of them petite), three pants (one petite), and four shells (two petites). There were no dresses and no blouses with sleeves. The interesting fabric choices and the superb fashion photography were also excellent. This particular issue also had an article on how to change a petite pattern to a regular pattern and vice versa. The pattern pieces have unique sophisticated shapes, very interesting for the intermediate to advanced sewer. One thing I did find lacking was there was no casual sportswear. The magazine seems geared toward business suits and formal occasions.

Read Best Reviews of Burda Plus - English ed Here

I love the fashions but some are for 5'3 and some for 5'6. At 5'10 I have to make serious adjustments for height. If you can barely cut out a multi-sized pattern then this magazine is definitely above your skill level. If you can trace and adjust patterns and work without detailed instructions then you will enjoy the fresh styles and many collections presented for such a low price. Even if you only use one pattern from every issue it is worth the money.

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I have been getting this magazine since 2000, and I am still using the patterns out of the first issue. The clothing made from a Burda magazine pattern fits like nothing else. When I wear them I get stopped by women asking me where they can buy those wonderful clothes, even skinny women want these clothes. No frumpy fat women clothes here.

Each magazine seems to have a theme, office clothes, sportswear, dress up. You will have to collect a few issues before all your pattern needs are filled. And do hold on to those old issues. I have one magazine I put away as just not what I wanted. Four years later and it has the perfect blouse. And yes they are always ahead of the curve. Something unique you see in Burda won't show up in the stores for 18 months.

And the fit!!! No pattern other pattern fits like Burda. They require some advanced skills. Tracing can get very tiring. But if you want to be the best dressed and not look like you shop at the mall then this pattern mag is for you.