La Mia Boutique #4 9/10 Review

Sometimes a picture isn't  worth a 1000 words. Particularly in some of the pattern magazines. Burda is certainly guilty of looking more like a fashion magazine than a pattern publication.  If there hadn't been a good technical drawing I'd never have known what this actually looked like! The picture is certainly telling me that this is more appropriate for Alex than for my curvy body. But I liked the lines of the technical drawing and I knew with some added length it could work for me.  I made a muslin for this with some really ugly rayon lycra knit. (yes, I actually bought it)  It was a softer, lighter fabric than the cotton lycra I ultimately used. Never having used La Mia Boutique I decided that making a muslin was a smart move.   I am enamored of animal prints, not a surprise huh?  I was seeing a lot python prints in ready to wear. and I scoured the internet for one in a knit.  This one came came from Fabric.com not one of my favorite sellers, but this is a nice quality with good weight.  The biggest issue I had with it, and I have found this to be common in cotton lycra knits, is rolling at the cut edges.  This can make it a pain to sew; lots of pins at the edges is the only way to sew it easily. 

Were the instructions good? I have no idea since I don't speak Italian. I never bother translating because I find the translation nearly as incomprehensible as the Italian.  It's really good way to become less dependent on written instructions. Even when they are in English, as with Burda Style they aren't very good.  I write a construction order to make sure that I do things in the most economical and intelligent way.  Of course this doesn't always work, but it gets me thinking on how I want to proceed.  This was really a very simple first pattern to make with La Mia Boutiqu

Does it look like the original?   As you can see in the photos, it's not really easy to tell what it looks like.  But, I like how it came out and that's all that matters. Actually, looking at the photos I would make it a little shorter and peg the bottom in a bit more. I still may do that.  I wore this bare legged and with gray wedge sandals which I think that it looked better styled that way.

Changes I made  Obviously I lengthened it.  I made a vertical fba, using my upper bust measurement for the neck and shoulders and the amount of negative ease I wanted at the bust.  This depends on how much stretch there is.  I also don't want to make the midriff area tight, so I adjust the bust accordingly and ease into increased width at waist and hips. I always add an in case seam allowance on the side seams so that I can adjust the fit. It allows for difference in stretch  among knits. The pattern magazines don't have a stretch guide like the big 4 do.   There were no markings for how much to gather the side. I made an educated guess. I used narrow elastic for the gathering because when I tried to use basting stitches, the curling was just too difficult to control even with wider seam allowances.

Would I make it again? Probably not since I've got a lot of dress patterns I want to make and I don't wear dresses all that often. 

This was made back in September to wear to a luncheon honoring my MIL.  She's 93 years old and the Asheville, NC. YWCA honored her, along with two other women as a Woman of Influence at their annual luncheon.  That she certainly is.  Her list of accomplishments is way to long to list here.  

 

La Mia Boutique is available from Around the World Fashion Magazines   in both single issues and by subscription.  I was in the store in September and they had a lot of older issues and I think they had this one if you are interested.  Give them a call and ask.