This week I made a sewing first for me – I sewed with chiffon! Just a simple light and boxy throw-over cover-up style for wearing over my swimsuit or a plain cami. It's from a pattern from the Burda Style May Flagship Kit.
When I first started out in sewing, I used to be a subscriber to the Burda monthly sewing pattern magazine. I think the Europe and UK version is monthly, the US version is quarterly. It's very trendy, has interesting patterns and styles you won't find anywhere else and is fun to read.
What's NOT so much fun is the way the patterns are delivered. There is a large sheet in the center of the magazine that you pull out and that sheet has ALL of the pattern pieces on it for all of the patterns, all laid over the top of each other. You have to trace the pattern from the sheet to be able to use it.
I did an article on the best way to trace Burda patterns (works for any and all patterns actually), but in all honesty, after a while, with my failing middle-aged eyesight, this sort of thing got the better of me, and as much as I love the magazine and patterns, I couldn't cope with that maze of lines anymore and cancelled my subscription. Shame 🙁
If you wanted to avoid that, then you can buy all of the patterns individually from the Burda Website and they are fun patterns and good value, so give that a try if you fancy one or two of them. But if you wanted all the patterns in the monthly magazine, there wasn't any option other than buying them all separately or the tracing – until now!
Burda Flagship Monthly
![May Burda-Flagship[1]](https://so-sew-easy.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/May-Burda-Flagship1.jpg)
The good folks at Burda have listened to readers feedback on the pattern maze and made some changes. The print magazine is no longer available, but the individual patterns can still be bought as downloads from the Burda website, but now there is a 3rd option – get ALL the patterns in the magazine as individual downloads in a single ‘Kit'.
They are calling the new product a Flagship Kit, and it includes:
- A picture of each finished garment or project
- A table of contents
- A ‘key' page with all of the patterns in that issue on one sheet
- An instructions download
- A patterns download
and all the patterns come on their own sheets – not jumbled up on a single huge sheet! No need to trace, just pick the pages that correspond to your pattern, print, assemble and sew. Ta dah – trendy Burda patterns with no tracing (and the potential errors that come with it) or headaches.
The May Flagship Kit
Still, sewing time is short and I've only just really taken a good look at the May Flagship Kit. There are 51 sewing patterns included in this kit for $19.99 – bargain! There are patterns for their standard and plus size ranges and in this issue, some children's patterns too. Here is the Key page with all of the patterns in the May kit. You can click on this picture to bring up the full sized one in your browser so you can see more detail.
I was keen to try out some simple sewing with a chiffon fabric I had because Laura shared with us her tips for making beautiful seams and hemlines on sheer fabric. I made the top 124 from the Saraha collection – and oh it was so much more of a pleasure without having to try to find the pattern pieces in that maze and trace them off. Just what I needed for a light and loose summer cover up. It even had pockets although I missed those out.
I sewed a tiny hem at the bottom, used chiffon bias around the keyhole neckline (it's not perfect, don't look too closely), used french seams for the shoulders, yoke and side seams, and lastly sewed in the sleeves with my regular machine and then finished the raw edge with the serger. This easy pattern gave me plenty of opportunity to really work with the chiffon and try lots of difference finishes to hide those ‘fray-like-crazy' raw edges.
It turned out better than I expected and is actually wearable – not bad for my first chiffon sewing. Would I be in a hurry to sew with chiffon again – probably not, but I enjoyed learning a few new techniques and working with a different fabric.
If you like to sew something a bit different, give the Burda Flagship Kits a try. A great way to build a large and trendy pattern library to keep on your computer, for not a lot of money. All 51 patterns only cost $19.99.
Burda Flagship Pattern Kits
Here are all the patterns included in the May kit. Click to enlarge.
Hi Deby, you did a good job with the chiffon. You can spray the fabric with spray starch. It gives it some body, makes it easier to handle and cuts down on the fraying. I’ve used it on lining fabric also.
Thanks for that tip Cathy, I admit the chiffon bias was a little hard to handle and starching could certainly have improved it. But binding on a curve is not a strong area for me anyway – that’s why you’ll never see a tutorial on that subject! Yet to master it.
Thanks for the info on Burda. I recall buying their magazine ONCE, and when I saw the pattern sheet, I decided that it was not for me. I am glad to see that they listen to reader feedback.
That doesn’t look like a French seam at the shoulder.
I sewed the French seam and then sewed it flat to the fabric to make it lie nicely and make that shoulder seam nice and strong. So now it actually looks like a flat felled seam. You could call it a faux- flat felled I guess!
Nice top Deby , I love chiffon sewing 🙂
Debi, great job working with chiffon! That’s one fabric I’ve never sewn with.
I love your top and think it looks wonderful on you! Another good way to get chiffon to cooperate is to back each piece with a lightweight fusible interfacing. It gives a little more support to the fabric without taking away the wonderful drape. Also, if the chiffon is see through, the interfacing takes care of that too!
Interesting about the interfacing, thanks for the tip. I’ll give that a try if I should ever feel the need to use a chiffon again. I have a feelign it could grow on me.
This is a lovely top, and what a great idea with the patterns. Thank you Burda!