I found the current issue of Ottobre on the newsstand yesterday (love living in Sweden for that!) so here are my initial thoughts.
First, it’s not such a stunner as last year’s autumn/winter issue, but that was exceptionally good. This year, we have two pair of trousers, two coats, two jackets, four woven tops, four skirts, three knit tops (two also shown as dresses), and two knit dresses. Also a necklace-y sort accessory.
Line drawings for Ottobre Woman 5/2013 – from the downloadable PDF on the Ottobre Design site
Ottobre always shines with knits, and knit tops 1 and 3 with wide necks and respectively set-in and raglan sleeves are sure to be go-to patterns. Dress 5 and top 16, both with a curved front yoke, also look flattering on the models, although the line drawings leave me unsure.
The fascination with short skirts and short pants continues. I would lengthen all of the skirts (since it’s freezing here in winter and I don’t like skirts above my knee anyway), but other than that, only skirt 11 is really a classic and all of them look boring to me. Better to go to Burda for skirts. Still, if you are looking for a basic pattern, 11 fits the bill — and let’s not forget that it has pockets. Both trousers are illustrated as full-length but the suit trousers (7), hit just above the ankle. Why? At an rate it’s a nice pattern with pockets, six belt loops, and creases, in a narrow silhouette, quite modern. The other trouser (2) is a casual straight cut with flapped back pockets, a proper fly (not cut-on) and fly shield, and wide elastic at the waist as well as belt loops. Looks nice for hiking and country walks – they make it up in poplin. I like this pattern very much and will probably return to it. It’s also NOT SHORT.
The shirts, 8, 12 and 13, are great because they expand the Ottobre shirt repertoire with a rounded collar, bishop sleeves (sort of), short puff sleeves and a peplum. It’s like Christmas when you combine with shirts from earlier editions, which is generally easy to do. I think the peplum starts too low and is too short, but that’s an easy modification. The woven tunic number 3 is perfect for summer. I haven’t a clue why it’s in this issue, but having said that I have a pretty wool twill that might be just the ticket. A nice feature of this pattern is the back yoke and the gathers. I think it’s really pretty.
For me the jackets and coats are not particularly exciting this time, with the exception of the unlined wool crepe blazer, 13. I say wool crepe, they say they have lightly felted it. I can see it made up in a range of lighter fabrics with bound seams too. It has a pretty funnel collar and a two-piece sleeve with the seam up the top of the arm — well, not as nice as a traditional two-piece sleeve for my money, but OK. The bad thing is, no closure, but you could add a zipper or buttons and loops. The other blazer, 6, is a super-traditional single-breasted blazer with all the trimmings and if you feel like tailoring, this looks a complete pattern, including flapped welt pockets AND an inner lining pocket. The parka, 18, is fine except I just hate that style, and the wool coat, 19, is very straight cut and basic – not for me, although it DOES have a centre back seam, so opportunities for fitting, and they specify two different types of interfacing, which to my mind means they’ve really thought about the pattern. It has a one-piece sleeve and is not very close-fitting – quite a boxy look.
So here’s how my collection for winter would look if I had nothing to sew from but these patterns — I’d go casual, I think, because my favourite patterns are the tops and the casual trousers, so 1 pair casual trousers, two t-shirts, the wool crepe felted jacket, the tunic or bell-sleeved shirt, the frilled skirt (lengthened!) and the yoked dress.
Your picks?
