Review Knipmode April, May and June 2017

At the beginning of spring I stopped reviewing new Knipmode magazines. For no particular reason, other than being busy. Recently there were few signs that people might be missing these reviews. In a discussion at the Curvy Sewing Collection site it was mentioned that there used to be much more information on pattern magazines available before bloggers shifted from blogging to Instagram. I decided to check the stats for my blog to see if anyone was actually reading my reviews. Guess what?  This week alone over 250 people read the old post about the August 2016 issue, I presume most of them were looking for news about August 2017. The biggest surprise of all was the number one search entry: книпмоде. Coming from a Russian sewing forum. Hi there!
So I thought I might do a quick recap of recent months to see what's new. Today it's April, May and June, later this week July and August. All patterns can be downloaded as pdf here.

The regular April issue had some useful patterns, but nothing that really caught my eye. One of the new trends: lingerie inspired tops and dresses. What do you think? I'm afraid it will make me look like I've lost my marbles and forgot my dressing routine. Does a slipdress worn over a shirt become a dress?

My favourite item in this issue was again the menswear. This pattern is already traced to make for mr Foxgloves in a wonderful navy twill.

Bomber jacket

The April supplement was a bridal special, containing a three piece bridal gown and several pretty dresses for wedding guests.

Dress, overskirt and top

Colourful and summery dresses for all guests, except for the poor mother of the bride who is all buttoned up in beige.

May was the month we'd all been looking forward to ever since Knipmode announced a new designer collaboration. De jurken van Janice (dresses by Janice) is a new monthly feature. The dresses are accompanied by an instruction video on the Knipmode YouTube channel. Ready for the first 'designer dress'?

Not a top notch first impression, to put it mildly. The only thing distinguishing this dress from a regular Knipmode pattern is the use of a finer fabric. (The feature is sponsored by a higher end fabric shop). In fact this dress looks like a simplified version of for instance dress # 1 from April (check the pattern overview above). The designer tells us this dress was inspired by the 30s charleston style. Blahblahblah. Curious to see where this is going.

The rest of the May issue has a patriotic vibe with red, white and blue, tulips and orange. Both the colour and the House of Orange as once again a collection is inspired by Queen Maxima.

June was all about dresses. The bodice of dress 5 (below in orange, second from the right) has interesting seam lines. The pink dress on the left (14) is not an A-line dress but has a waistband behind the models arm.

One of the benefits of delayed reviews is seeing some of these patterns pop up in the blogosphere.

Camelia made a lovely version of the dress on the left (#10), you can find her blogpost here

June designer dress

The designer dress (26) looks somewhat more interesting than last month's, but apart from the slightly more glamorous styling it's not really different from the rest of the dresses in this issue.

All patterns come in EU sizes 34-54, except for the bikinis

Polo shirt

Menswear comes in European sizes 46-58 and is drafted for a height of 184 cm.

Well, that was a long and picture heavy post! Another catch up post will follow soon and then it's back to monthly reviews. And sewing of course! I have a few unblogged items waiting for pictures but unfortunately my iron broke down and I'm not ready for a wrinkle fest.

To be continued!

Disclaimer: this review contains no affiliate links. I paid for my copy and all opinions are my own. Photocredits: Knipmode

A polka dot wrap dress

....Or the story of a twice forgotten dress. Last month I checked my Instagram account to see at what date in 2016 an event took place. (Do you also use Instagram as a picture diary? It's my favourite data source when I want to know when and where I bought that floral fabric, at what time last year I picked the first sweet peas or when we visited a concert or exhibition. But I digress) What I was going to say was I rediscovered this picture:

Posted in June 2016, when I was cleaning my sewing room and found a shoe box with a neatly labeled Vogue 8379 wrap dress. I cut it out during the summer of 2015 and then completely forgot. Salient detail: the print on the sticky notes says 'don't forget'.

Apparently I finished the dress at the end of August 2016, given this photographic evidence of hand stitching the hem in the garden.

The dress was put away in the back of my closet and if I hadn't seen that IG picture again I'm afraid it would still be there. Well, it's re-rediscovered now!

It's a remake of the  Jungle January dress, with short sleeves. I made my standard adjustments for this pattern: lengthened the bodice, skipped the facings and lengthened the ties.

It's still my favourite wrap dress pattern. I like the look of the diagonal pleats, the neckline lies flat and there is plenty of overlap in the skirt, making it suitable to wear on a bicycle.

No wardrobe malfunctions during a typical Dutch breeze, so what's not to like? I'm not sure. What are the odds of a twice forgotten dress turning ever into a wardrobe staple? Time will tell!