Best of the Summer from Butterick, Simplicity, and McCall's

After the horrors of tents on straps (thanks keely for the mental image!) and horrendous jumpers, here's something far more soothing.  The top five patterns (in my book) from Butterick, Simplicity, and McCall's.  Enjoy!

#5 - McCall's 5658

The more I look at this, the more I like it as a great summer party dress set. The inverse pleats at the waist give it shape while being very now, and the different necklines give you the option to make it perfect for a summer wedding (A) or a more formal affair (B).  And C is just right for a casual and cool day dress.  Also, with the sea of sacks this season, it's great to see something that shows a waist!

Plus I just love that shade of blue, especially with gold.  So that might affect my judgment.  Still, neat little dress, neat options, neat job McCall's!

#4 - McCall's 5651

It really doesn't get more basic than this - undies, bras, and slips in simple, easy-to-sew styles.  But what really makes it special is that attitude.  Look at that, it's a DIY Style pattern targeting those in their teens and 20s.  I love that and want to nurture and encourage it as much as I can.  Really, just looking at that pattern makes me think of my two sad slips and want to replace them with knit silk versions.  Maybe with some contrast lace and ... see what it's doing?  It's INSPIRING, just from the envelope.  Now that's something special.  And this is one pattern that won't be out of style in a year or two.  No, we've been quietly wearing all these for a while and they're here to stay.  

Besides, just a few weeks ago someone on PatternReview was complaining about the lack of slip patterns available.  Well, here you go, one new one to add to the drawer!  Thanks, McCall's, and great job showing how a pattern picture (even if it's just line drawings) can be truly inspiring!  And even more for helping the new generation catch the sewing bug.  Great job!

#3 - Butterick 5218

The Big Shirt is back and this is a neat variation on that simple theme.  I really like the placket, the front pleat, the different collars (specifically A), and the sleeves.  The only thing I'm not liking is the length of C but, fortunately, there's three other lengths to choose from.  This style looks great over skinny jeans on those fortunate rectangles who can wear both styles and tucked into a high waisted skirt for us hour glasses.  Made up in a rough cotton it's got the safari look that's in, while made up in something nicer, like silk or a nice cotton, it's perfect for the office and church.  

Similar to this, and a close runner up, is McCall's 
5664.  Again we see the elegant placket that I love.  Does it tell you anything about my button-hole sewing skills that I'd rather do a placket than a row of buttons?  I thought so.

The sleeves are different on this, and different in a good way.  I really like the shorter sleeves and the 3/4 bishop sleeves can be really great, especially as fall creeps up.  The reason I went with the Butterick over this one, though, is the twin problem of the volume and the under bust tie.  On the model it's not bad, though the bow's a little odd.  However I'm not certain how it'll look on others, especially me.  That tie keeps it from being tucked in as a random high-tie plus tuck equals two waist lines.  One is plenty for me, thank you.  And those two style details are so 2008 that they're going to date this pattern long before the Butterick goes out of style.  I might still get the McCall one because I think it has potential but if either become TNTs, I'm pretty certain it'll be the Butterick.  Still, can't go wrong with one more pattern in the drawer!

#2 - Simplicity 2899


Remember on the "Worst Of" list how McCall's completely bombed with their plus sized shirt? Remember me telling them to check out Simplicity's stuff to see how it SHOULD be done? Well, this what I was talking about.   This is a FANTASTIC jacket with more options than you could exaust in a wardrobe of jackets.  Those lines are incredibly flattering, giving waist definition and showing off the legs.  And it's only available in Women's sizes.  That's right, one of this year's hottest jacket patterns and women less than size 18W are missing out.  How's that for a change?  

I love that Simplicity has embraced their Women's line enough to give them great, modern styles made for THEM (not a 16-year-old size 6) rather than throwing them the normal assortment of sacks and sized-up misses stuff that never fits right.  Good for you Simplicity!  

#1 - Butterick 5206
What a fantastic basic wrap dress.  I love it.  Great V-neck (and work-safe with the addition of a camisole), great sleeve options, fantastic obi-belt for showing off the waist, and nice, flattering skirt.  What's not to love?

Sure, it's no show-stopper but that's what makes me think this'll be this year's best little knit dress.  You can make it up in different fabrics with different twists and each one will be fantastic.  I can imagine this in a solid black with a red belt and contrasts, a cute floral with solid contrasts for summer, and a rich olive with black accents for fall.  I need to get this pattern and then get back to sewing knits.  It's been too long and this is just the pattern I need to get started again!

Good job Butterick, you win Best Pattern for Summer 2008!  At least in this competition.  I guess it's even since you also lost ... but we're putting all memories of jumpsuits out of mind and focusing on this lovely dress.  Good job!

Summer Patterns

irst McCall released their summer line. And I yawned. Then Simplicity and I wasn't sure what to say. Now Butterick has shown their line and once again I'm underwhelmed by far. It'd be one thing if, like the Vogue line, they were all so crazy, so out there that I could find some enjoyment commenting on them. Or if they were horrendously terrible. After all, I'm not above laughing at travesties, provided no blood is involved. Or, best, if each pattern were inspiring, beautiful, and new jewels for the pattern boxes.

Unfortunately the 3 lines managed to miss all possible targets. There were one or two crazy items, but no theme like Vogue had. Just the odd crazy, like Uncle Ben at a funeral. Yeah, there were a few bad calls - but very little that was so mind-shatteringly wretched that I HAD to drop everything and comment. And there were the occasional nice items, but again, nothing worth writing about. However once the total count has reached three lines and 99 total patterns I figure I have to say SOMETHING. So I present the best and worst from the three lines.

The Worst

#5 - McCall's 5652

 Let's start at the top, shall we?  Spaghetti straps forbearing any bra wearage?  Check.  Tiny little bodice designed to best minimize and pull down the most endowed woman?  Check.  Gathered empire waist to completely obsure any hint of a figure?  Check.

So in basic we've got a 4-year-old's dress in misses' sizing.  Gack.  And the fabrics and colors picked for the sample couldn't be worse.  Seriously, who decided this was a good idea?  Maybe done in lace and frills with a cute undershirt covering up all that skin for a western take on sweet lolita ... no, not even that would work.   Maybe just adverting the eyes until McCall quietly discontinues this odd pattern.

#4 - McCall's 5666

This shirt really rather deserves the triple six in the pattern number.  Really, what team of evil comes up with something like this?  It's like some twisted designer, saturated with images of anorexic teens, decided that any woman with a healthy or slightly more than healthy BMI must be horrendously ashamed of herself and unwilling to go out the door in anything less than a full on duvet cover.  Really.  And then, when someone complained about the lack of shaping, the designer said "FINE!" and cinched it in at one of the worst possible places.  Look at that poor model.  She's either drugged into staying there as the camera snaps or dreaming up various ways to torture the designer.  Preferably the latter.  Good grief, pay a ten minute visit to Simplicity and LOOK at their Woman's stuff!  There's a number of designs that help women rock their bodies of all sizes.  This - this is not rock.  This is karaoke.  Karaoke at a country western bar in Portland at 3 am during a beer shortage.  Except worse.

#3 - Butterick 5227

This is one of GFY's scroll down disasters.  That is, it starts out innocently enough.  Yes, that white top's too wide and unfitted and the fabric looks like it came from a long picked over dollar bin but it could be nice.  And the brown version is rather cute on top with that scoop neck and nice little cap sleeves.  And then you scroll down.  No waist definition, flare at hips and then - wow.  Extra volume right at the thighs.  Every woman's worst nightmare and you went there, Butterick, you went there.  Really, a little shorter and it might work.  Longer (as shown in the yellow dress) and it's quite nice.  But right there?  Oh no.  Oh no no no no no.  And it's just made all the worse by the fabric and fitting.  I get it, this is a fast and easy (and super-tacky) pattern.  But if it doesn't look good in a fast and easy fabric then why by all that's good are you selling it???  Ick.

#2 - McCall's 5656

I actually debated on this one.  After all, the two line drawings aren't bad at all.  A lot more volume than any woman I've met likes in her jumper but beyond that they're inoffensive.  But that white one.  Oh my.  We see here that someone clearly failed their proportions class.  Badly.  Those sleeves are just too big, those shoulders too small, the neckline too oddly smallish big, and the dress too wide for any of it to work.  It really makes you wonder - why did no one step back and LOOK at the dress and say, "hey, the sleeves are really messing it all up - how long would it take to rip 'em out and make this baby sleeveless?"  It's not like they don't have other garments to shoot.  Then just sketch sleeves on the yellow drawing and, while it's probably still not great, there's at least a chance someone will buy the pattern.  Maybe. 

#5 - 5229

I'll admit, Butterick's Fast and Easy line has never been exactly cutting edge.  Actually it's almost exactly what my favorite thrift store back in Virginia regularly has in their pattern rack.  For 10c a piece.  Half off on some days.

But for all my low expectations ... this one still stunned me.  Stop for a moment and look, really look, at E and D.  That's right.  You're not hallucinating.  Those are, in face, drop-waist, wide necked, dowdy-sleeved jumpsuits.  

If this isn't a sign of the end times I don't know what is.

I'm looking and a sadistic side of me is trying to imagine how they could look worse.  Maybe if you turned them into high waders, those pants that make a model look stubby - oh wait, D is already doing just that.  I know, pockets at the thighs so that the woman looks even wider ... oh, they beat me to it.  Ok, I'm stumped.  Apparently these can't get any worse.  And my eyes are watering.  This is, without a doubt, the WORST pattern released this year.  Yay butterick, you lose!

And this post is getting long ... ok, then, top five tomorrow!

New Buttericks!

I love it when new patterns come out. It's like Christmas with new toys. With the new Buttericks out I just have to drool and dream over some and wonder "what the heck" over others. It's wonderful. :)

My top 5 "what were they thinking"

#5 - B5155



Not doing it for me. Not doing it at all. That curve right over the bust? No. No, no, no. There are five people in the world who can pull off that look and, let's face it, neither you nor I am one of them. If you've got any bust at all that line makes them look bulbourous and droopy at the same time and leaves that as the only hint of your figure. Not good. If you're flat then it looks like a late 80s little girl's dress. Just say no!

#2 - 5161



What's sad is that this pattern will probably find it's way home with me at some point. I have a fundamental issue with fabric crowns - If I'm wearing a crown then it's metal - unless this is a community theater play with no budget at which point I might fudge a little. But I am not in any community plays and so have no need for a faux crown. But even so it attracts even as it repels. I think it's the pic of king-boy trying to look all stern with giant plastic jewels hot glued around his crown.

#3 - 5154



Poor Connie, I'm picking on her patterns terribly. And really this pattern is fine, I can see some good possibilities with some color blocking, lace ... lots of ways to really own it. What I can't see is why that model seems to be pregnant with some alien spawn that grows from the hip. It's really not a good look at all. I so want to take an eraser and just smooth it out a bit ... but I can't. Even if I loved this pattern (which, honestly, I don't) I'd have trouble making it from fear that the hip-bulge came with it.

#2 - 5151



This one's purely personal - diagonals that hit right across the hips and thighs with no waist definition are my kriptonite. There may be nothing else in the world that makes my hourglass/pear figure look worse that these lines. Look, even the model looks a little out of proportion! The thing is I know there's some women out there who pull of this style with panache - I'm just not one of them. So this isn't a misstep on Butterick's part so much as it's just me recoiling in horror from my own traumatic experiences with this style.

#1 - 5143



Nice in concept but the made up garment looks like a home-made jacket gone terribly wrong. The fabric is so not right, dragging down the sides to make for a horribly uneven and dumpy hem and those gathered pockets just make it worse. Then the over all silhouette of a narrow neck with that mandarin collar billowing out to practically a pup tent? Bad, bad, bad. Made up in the right fabric and adjusted to the right hem length it could, conceivably, be very nice. But as they show it? Ick.

Now for the fun part, those patterns that will be speaking their way home with me sometime soon:

#5 - 5130



While empire waists are far from my best line, I've been in love with their knit versions since they first came out. With a little care and the right accessories I've gotten them to work. This one's a jem. I love that cute short sleeve summer version that would be such a cute swimsuit cover-up made from terry (you know, if I ever went swimming) or a fun evening dress in a funky print. Then the longer sleeve one that's just so chic. I love the double gathering going on up at the neckline- very nice and rather high end. I'll have to try this at some point, first for a night gown and then as whatever it next asks to be!

#4 - 5144



I can't imagine wearing something this voluminous but that doesn't keep me from loving it. This is one of those patterns I'd own just to own, like a nice picture. It doesn't have to be anything but what it is to make me happy. Just looking at it is like opening the possibilities of an overblown musical or heart wrenching drama, where the streets are always shiny from rain and beautiful banquets are an everyday event.

#3 -



This is a total jewel of a wardrobe - look, it's got four basics in it, right for the offering; two little black dress patterns, one straight, one a-line, and two skirts, also straight and a-line. This means that once you've gotten the straight skirt or dress fitted then you can just transfer the adjustments over to the flared counterpart and sew up without worry. I love it. But one thing I don't get - what's up with the shell tops they keep including? It's nearly impossible to get any shirt with a zipper up the back either on or, when it's on, to look good. Maybe I'm not shopping in the right stores but a woven shell like that just screams out "home-made" and not in the good way. There's got to be a button-up shirt or some other style that would work far better. But that's my only problem. Love the jacket, though it's probably a little too boxy for me. Still, very, very cute.

#2 - 5143



I am in love with this coat. I swear, someday I'll actually make a coat (probably when I'm living somewhere with the need for one) and when I do this pattern will easily be in the finalists as I pick which of my dozen coats to make up. I want to sew up that pink version in a nubby dark sage/black fabric with large black buttons. Or maybe a teal blue wool. Or a lush black. So many ideas ...

#1 - 5236



That dress is pure, undiluted glamor captured in tissue. It requires confident shoulders, bright red lipstick (but not the wrong bright red), and a lush fur stole. I have neither the figure for this nor any occasions - but I WILL have the pattern. It will probably spend it's time in my pattern drawers alternately ignoring the other patterns as being beneath it and giving lessons on how to saunter just right into the room. I love it.