Last week, with Christmas preparations in full swing, Knipmode January 2018 arrived. I was tempted to postpone this review till after the holidays, but on January 6 the next issue will already be here. Hard to keep up with 25 new patterns each month! So just a quick post now, and later this month I'll write an update on the KnipmodeChallenge2017.
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| Patternoverview Knipmode January 2018 |
The January theme is 'Readers' request'. Not a receipe for a coherent collection, but it is an excellent chance for readers to ask for a type of pattern that is missing in the Knipmode magazines and pdf shop.
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| Dress 23 (Loes), toggle coat 8 (Eline), sailor's pants 3 (Katrien) |
The dress is a copy of a dress as seen in a mail order catalogue, and it's been a while since we've had patterns for a toggle coat or sailor's pants.
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| Dress 15 (Lola) and dress 10 (Jantiene) |
At first glance the dress on the left looks like the type of fit and flare dress we've seen in all recent issues, except this one is for woven fabrics. The dress on the right has a Ralph Lauren style polo neck, as asked for by a reader who loves the versatility of the style for both office wear and weekend outfits.
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| Blouse 13 (Laura), this month's designer dress, skirt 1 (Edith) |
The Italian style silk blouse is looking a bit too messy for my taste. Too much detail, or would this neckline look better in a firmer fabric? A double breasted robe manteau is always a nice classic, but for the sleeves I think I would prefer sharp cuffs over a flounce. It feels like the softness of the sleeves is clashing with the pointy lapels. The skirt on the right is a request by a lady who says the style reminds her of the engagement dress she made in 1963. Wouldn't you love to see that dress? It must have been stunning!
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| Coat 9 (Suzy) and pants 4 (Amber), dress 27 (Joanne) and jumpsuit 5 (Jada) |
The patterns above are from the regular collection so no reader is to blame for the 'eye catcher' dress in the middle. I'm curious to see if anyone will make this no-pattern-dress. It's a rectangle with cut on sleeves, all shaping comes from the ties.
What's new? A few weeks ago the Knipmode editors announced that from now on all patterns will have a female name. This was not received very well, to put it mildly. Not only is it questionable how long this will work with 300 patterns a year, it is also rather strange to ditch a fully functional system that also works fine for social media.
For a large number of years all patterns could be identified by their unique code, consisting of year-month-number. For instance KM 1706-23: Knipmode 2017, June issue, pattern 23.
I'm a long time collector of Knipmode magazines and I keep them by year of publication. Give me the code and I can locate any pattern, even from over a decade ago, within seconds.
Now out of the blue the editors have concluded that this system is too complicated for us readers. I quote: "When someone asks you what pattern you used for your skirt, you need to say it's pattern 2 from Knipmode January 2018 - it's a mouth full - now you can just say you made the Lisanne from Knipmode." Right. Except in a few months time nobody will remember in which issue the Lisanne can be found.
We'll see how long this silliness will last. In the meantime I'll keep using the good old code and I'll add the name of the pattern for completeness' sake. Thus proving that dumbing down only complicates matters.
On a more positive note I'll end with my favourites from this edition.
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| Sweater 25 (Bonne) and skirt 24 (Yara) and top 16 (Tinka) and skirt 12 (Klaske) |
Just the kind of sweater I love to wear while baking Christmas cookies!
So many thoughts! First, thank you for continuing to do these updates. Even though I don't subscribe to KM, I like to see what they are doing.
ReplyDeleteUmmm, I don't love the pattern name idea. I get it for smaller companies that put out one or two collections. Yes, it's much easier for me to remember what pattern they are talking about. But, I also don't collect those patterns. If Burda named patterns instead of chronological order and numbers, I'd go bananas trying to find something! Now I can just reach onto my mostly organized collection and find the pattern.
As for the patterns this month I quite like them! I think the coat patterns are nice. I like the shiny shirt dress. And, I live for sailor pants.
Why change a system you can easily use for a century? You are so right about those pants. Really nice but my focus is on conquering jeans fit!
DeleteI also love the updates and magazine reviews. Even if I never buy one I like to get a quick glance through any pattern magazine. As for the names - ridiculous for a company that puts out 300 patterns a year to go with the name system - as you said, the number system works great and indicates the issue. I think it is just following the trend and also sounds too cute and not useful. I like that last asymmetrical skirt - might have to try that one.
ReplyDeleteBlindly following a trend without giving it too much thought. I can't imagine what names they will come up with after a few months!
DeleteI love seeing your Knip reviews too. I actually like the silk blouse (13). There was another photo on the website with the peaks folded down and gives it a completely different look.
ReplyDeleteYes, agree with you on the pattern names. Perhaps they had too much to drink at the Christmas party when they decided on that one?
Hope you have a great Christmas and all the best for the new year.
I must check that website picture! I hope they get sober soon, why don't we drink to that? Merry Christmas to you too!
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