Tuesday, June 15, 2010

I Scored La Mia Boutique

My moratorium on buying foreign pattern magazines is over with my scoring the June issue of La Mia Boutique.  I didn't know what was in it, but I decided to take a chance because the price wasn't bad and because it was coming from Around the World, Inc.  the international magazine store at 28 W 40th Street in NYC.  I wouldn't be waiting 3 months for delivery, or paying more than I paid for the magazine and shipping for shipping alone.  Apparently they now have a website, but they  haven't listed  all the pattern magazines that they carry on it.  I found out about all this on a thread over on Pattern Review. They did respond to a query by adding it to the site.  Wonder what other pattern magazines they have and haven't listed.
I knew from the cover that there would probably not be much I'd want to sew in it, but there are several, including some plus sizes that will work for me.  Some of it was just too frilly and exposed for me, but if you are young and fit, you may like a lot of this.  What I don't get, is why they all seem to love the American west as a design influence.  You've seen it in Burda and Patrones too.
Anyway, here's what interests me. Obviously not this cover, but this is how the text got lined up.


You'll notice the obvious cowboy reference?  

I like this dress.  It's in a very Missoni like knit that would be great to find but of course that's not happening. 
Love this top.  Think of all those scraps I can use up!  I'll leave off the scribbly stuff. Too crafty by far.
she looks larger than the regular sized models, but take a look at this one.  Does she even look close to plus size?
On the whole there are several things I will add to my sewing queue so the purchase was not a total loss.  I am having trouble with blogger and  can't figure out how to get the type and pictures to look good together.  I haven't figured out how to make columns with pictures inset next to type.  It's frustrating especially when you just want to write a quick post.  
This issue had the white, girly, ruffly first half and to me, the more wearable things in the second half.  All of the plus sizes were quite nice.  The only objection I have is that there is nary a dart in sight even in the plus sizes, that and the waist size is absurdly smaller than the bust and hips.  Way smaller than even Patrones which is smaller than Burda.   One other thing I really like is that the fabric choices are clearly given below the text for each garment.  I don't know Italian fabric vocabulary, but a lot was either  added it in English or it is the same in Italian so easy to understand.  They also gave more than one fabric suggestion for each, not just what the garment is made up in which is a definite plus.



11 comments:

  1. Wow those selections look very cool--I like the t-shirts and the layered top. Thank you for your mini review!

    Rose in SV

    ReplyDelete
  2. That cover makes me lol. Obviously, Americans are not the target market.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The cowboy stuff always cracks me up. I like the T shirt. Those models are plus size compared to the normal starved waifs they usually show.:)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I always think buying a pattern magazine in a foreign language is brave. I mean, no intelligible instructions! But then, I go out and buy Burda magazine's English edition, which also lacks intelligible instructions, lol!

    I'm interested to see how the "scraps" t-shirt makes up. A way to get rid of all those pieces that are too small to do anything with, and to small to use would be great.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Nice picks you have from this issue. I have only one LMB and nothing really tempted me.

    I use LiveWriter for writing my posts. Easy and using a table with pictures in one column and text in the other works very easy. I never use blogger itself anymore for writing posts.

    ReplyDelete
  6. How fun! I'm sure you'll come up with a wonderful garment out of that magazine. Blogger makes me crazy sometimes!

    ReplyDelete
  7. @Sigrid, what is LiveWriter?

    ReplyDelete
  8. thanks for the photos! I subscribe via Magazine Cafe but my June issue hasn't arrived yet.

    A note about sizing - according to their size chart, I should be a 46, but their 44s actually fit me perfectly (and I do NOT have a particularly well-defined waist). I am a Burda 42, for reference.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh dear, I wish I didn't know there was an "official" US source for getting these magazines...

    To place your images to the left or right of text, you place the following tag at the end of (but inside) the image coding:

    style="float:left"

    or right, if you that's what you want. When you're adding photos using the blogger interface, there is a checkbox for floating left or right or center; it will add all the necessary coding.

    ReplyDelete
  10. These are now available in my shop in Aus too, shipping may be quicker for you from here.

    Lisa :)

    www.craftymamas.com.au

    ReplyDelete
  11. As you know, bird's nest has been women's elixir to stay young and beautiful.

    I am regularly consuming bird's nest for health and beauty~~ Usually I would choose the sugar free ones (e.g. hongkong-bird-nest.50webs.com/index_e.htm) for better control of energy intake.

    Keeping fit and young, for both inside and outside is an important yet difficult goal to archieve.

    ReplyDelete