Burda Style - Predictable but disappointing

When I woke up this morning I checked my emails like I always do and went on to read the weekly newsletter from Burda Style. You see, like 150,000 other people around the world I am a member. Like the majority of those people, I signed up because the patterns were mostly free and just like them I raved about this great free website to anyone that would listen.

I remember when I first signed up I thought to myself, I bet their business model is to get as many members as possible and then somehow start charging them (because I am a cynic you see). Well sure enough as of this morning, most of the free patterns are gone. I think thats the bit that annoys me (and many members the most). They haven't said, as of today we will be charging for new patterns, they have stuck price tags on patterns that yesterday were free.

Now if I want to use a pattern I have to pay about $7 Australian dollars on average. A Burda Mode magazine is $16 Aus dollars and I am pretty sure they have more than one pattern in them.

Burda Style's justification is that by charging for the patterns, they can keep the rest of the site free. They won't have to charge a membership fee and people will still have access to all the knowledge on the site. I'm not sure that anyone has told them, but in this internet age, knowledge is generally free. I have never read anything on their site that someone else hasn't blogged about, better, or more thoroughly elsewhere.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not so cheap that I mind paying for patterns. I do buy them. I understand the time it takes to professionally draft and fit a pattern. I understand they have to pay their staff. But I just can't help thinking that if they had taken the time to do proper advertising on their site to start with, instead of 10c per click Google ads, then their business would have been viable a long time ago.

My guess is that the Open Source bit will be the next thing to go. I think its fantastic that the patterns are copyright free at the moment, but I can't see that lasting long, if someone can pay for a pattern and then have every right to give it to as many people as possible for free. Maybe I misunderstand the terms though. I guess I will be digging through all the patterns I have got saved on my computer.

I haven't seen any other bloggers respond to this yet. Maybe no one used the site, or maybe time zones just haven't aligned yet. The people I really feel sorry for are all the students that used the site and truly can't afford to buy patterns.

I'm sure some people will disagree with my point of view and fully support Burda Style charging for previously free patterns. I appreciate comments either way. But as Sitemeter tells me that 95% of my blog visitors come to look at pictures of Appa, I am beginning to wonder if anyone other than my lovely sister actually reads my blog. That and I am not the most consistent poster, I don't exactly inspire reader loaylty!! :o)

The Strawberry Coat Revisited

So the first item I am going to finish for the UFO contest on Pattern Review is Ava's Strawberry Coat. This was meant to be finished for Winter last year (Its summer here now) but it didn't quite happen. Why? Well because like all my unfinished items, something difficult happened and rather than resolve the problem, I moved onto something else. Big flaw I have (but it would seem I'm not alone).

The problems with the coat were:

• I cut the pieces and then thought I had cut the wrong piece and re-cut, but it was actually the right piece and now it isn't going to be double breasted anymore.
• Setting in the sleeves was just too darn hard
• The sleeve wouldn't fit round the sewing machine, which meant it had to be a sewn a different way to how I would normally do it.

When I retrieved it from the pile I found all the cut pieces and the main part of the coat sewn together with one sleeve set in with pins.

I basted the sleeve in, took out the pins and sewed it on the machine. I then set the other sleeve with pins (my skill set having improved considerably since last time I tried), basted and sewed it in by machine. That actually didn't take very long at all.

I lost Ava after that, she wandered off to another part of the house and I needed to do some adjustments. I put the coat aside and worked on ripping the seams out of a re-fashioning project instead. Hopefully I'll catch her when she comes home tonight and get started on the lining.

No great photos as Ava was being coy!


So I have two blogging resolutions as well.
1. Stop starting sentences with so (atrocious grammar)
2. Stop overusing brackets to explain myself

January Plans and Resolutions

I am enjoying being on Holiday at me Sister's house right now. Very relaxing hanging out and shopping. Had a great time spending up big at Myer the other day. I used to travel a lot for work and so I had a lot of Frequent Flyer points. Having no inclination to travel anywhere, I decided to trade them in for gift vouchers. Much better value in my opinion!

I did get some Barbie clothes finished, but I just wasn't happy enough with the quality to give them to Ava for Christmas (silly, I know). She got a few Barbie's for Christmas and has become obsessed with them. I guess I will have to get stuck back into the sewing when I get home.

I have a couple of big sewing goals for January. I want to enter the refashioning contest on Pattern Review. I also want to enter the UFO contest. No time like the present to get the pile down. Mainly because I really have nowhere to keep it all! I'm not exactly sure what is in the pile, but I know than qualifying items include:

• Two dresses for Ava
• A dress for me (might need to loose a few Christmas kilos for that one!)
• A winter coat for Ava (which I am hoping she will still fit)
• Can't think of any more, but they are definitely there!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Barbie Pants

I made the first Barbie outfit yesterday, a pair of pants. I used offcuts of a fabric that I had cut for a dress, but not sewn yet. Its nice to learn a fabric's bad points before you sew a proper outfit.

For instance, this fabric burns really easily, which is why one leg is now shorter than the other. Good thing they only took 30mins to make.

Now I know that Barbie is quite old now, but elasticized pants? Surely not! So today I am making her a pair from Simplicity 4702 with a proper waist band and even tiny little patch pockets.

The mailman came

Is it shameful to admit that I ran out to the letterbox as soon as I the postman's motorbike this morning? Well I did and I am so glad, all my patterns arrived!



Two new patterns from Simplicity. The second one is a reissue of an old pattern. I was just finishing up the bodice sloper for Barbie when they came, but it will be nice to do some straight forward patterns.

This pattern I got off Ebay. I couldn't resist. I have no immediate plans to sew it. But hopefully one day will.

Okay, I'm off to get busy on the Barbie clothes. Not long until Christmas now!

UFO's, Barbie and a growing obsession

My darling sister has been pressuring me to write a blog post. Trouble is she wants me to post because she wants to see what I have sewn. Well, I'm too ashamed to take a picture of my pile of Unfinished Objects, suffice to say its nearing the 10 item mark and there is no good reason why any of them aren't completed! :o(

So onto item two, Barbie. I love Barbie, I pressure Ava to love Barbie and finally she is coming around. So now I want to make Barbie clothes. But nice ones, not the dartless tent dresses we made when we were ten. Ohhh, I thought, what a great way to practice drafting, I'll make my own patterns! Well at some point I realised that I may get the slopers done by Christmas, but certainly not a whole wardrobe, so I ordered two Simplicity patterns. While waiting for said patterns, I did manage to get Barbie's skirt sloper done. Drafting instructions are from vintagesewing.info

I did start by using the instructions from Helen Armstrong's book, but I soon discovered 4 darts at the front and 4 at the back was just too fiddly for Barbie. These instructions from the 40's suit Barbie's tiny waisted figure a lot better too.

The uneven hip seams are due to my questionable sewing rather than the pattern. My machine just didn't want to behave this morning, might be time for a service. This skirt has just two darts at the back which give it a lovely shape.

And there is a picture of the pattern with enormous seam allowance (just to be safe). I have tried and tried, but I cannot draft on paper, I must use a computer! The best bit is when I want to test a pattern. I just tack some polytrace onto a sheet of A4 paper and print straight onto it. Its great for making sure what I am sewing is exactly what the pattern says.

Lastly, my growing obsession, patterns. I realise I might never sew the patterns I am accumulating, but I love them all the same. We went down to the local Op Shop yesterday and these ones are my favourites out of the ones I came home with.








I think they are all from the 70's, except the last one, which is from 1951. Now I know the 70's aren't very exciting for most people, but I was born in 1984, so I consider them quite cool. Plus at 10c each, sometimes I wonder why I don't just bring the entire basket home from the shop!

In the mail I am waiting for a pattern off ebay and my Barbie patterns. But the mailman doesn't love me today...

Patterns - Old and New

I have been busy accumulating patterns this week. I am getting ready for a big Spring/Summer of sewing. In another 8 weeks or so I will be at my goal weight (I hope) and an entirely new wardrobe will be in order! We'll start with the new patterns






The first dress will be made with this fabric (mail order from spotlight)


And here are some patterns I picked up op-shopping.


I am making the cape and pleated skirt for Ava as we speak. I will put up some photos when I am finished. Resisting the urge to maker a matching vest!