Why Hai Everyone! I’m We’re back!

Yep….that would indeed be my husband in front of the camera today. You don’t see him often, but special things are happening around the ‘ol blog today. I’m officially part of La Maison Victor’s English language magazine launch.

La Maison Victor is a Belgian Sewing Magazine, popular in Belgium {obvs}, The Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and France.  They are currently rolling out their first English language issue in the UK, North America and Australia.

To celebrate the English release, La Maison Victor has put together a blog tour featuring sewing bloggers from the UK, USA, Canada and Australia. I am delighted to be sharing the North American leg of the tour with Chloe from Button and Needle : : August 15, 2017, Anya from Anne Zoe : : August 17, 2017, Sara from The Sara Project : : also August 17, 2017 and Rachel from Maker Style : : August 19, 2107. {See bottom of post for links to my UK and Australian peeps.}

Ah….there’s so much to love about Belgium…Fries, Waffles, Beer, Chocolate, and Mussels. It was with this in mind that led me to saying yes to participating in the tour. I remember thinking ‘they make such wonderful food, I bet the magazine will be awesome too’. {Sheesh…so awkward…sharing the way my mind works.} Fortunately…yes…the magazine is pretty awesome. It’s a sewing magazine, but really so much more. It’s artful, inspiring and in addition to sewing patterns, has crafty DIY projects and in this issue, a pattern for a hand knit sweater. I love the beautiful photography and the creative use of fonts throughout.  Seriously…reading it and I suddenly want to sew all the pretty things. That being said, it’s not just about pretty. I mean….I made pants from a magazine pattern people.

Above are the line drawings for the patterns available in the current issue..and yes they are actual paper patterns, no downloading required. You do, however, need to trace your pattern and add seam allowances. Why trace? Well, there’s more than a single pattern per page and they do overlap each other in places. To help you out, each pattern has its own colour key and the trace/cut instructions are clear and easy to understand.  As blog tour participants, we were given the choice of any pattern in this inaugural English issue to sew. I chose the Greg Chinos, men’s trousers/pants with a casual vibe.

The Greg Chinos have slit pockets, two small front pleats  and two back welt pockets,. The pattern is classed as advanced but with detailed written instructions and illustrations at every step, I encountered no difficulties.  

The chinos in the magazine were made with a medium weight cotton….a pretty standard fabrication for casual pants. It was a little frustrating, but we could not find a cotton twill in a masculine colourway. After three stores, we settled on this denim tencel. The pants finished up drapey rather than crisp, but G’s really happy with them and that’s what matters.

I’m pretty pleased with the fit although I may shorten the rise when I make his next pair. Oh yes, there will be future Greg Chinos. That’s one of the cool things about pants. Once you get the fit right, you’ve got a TNT. It’s easy to change the look from one pair to the next with different fabric or by eliminating the pleats or even by switching out the welt pockets for patch pockets.

La Maison Victor is now available in Canada at Chapters/Indigo and some independent retailers. Here is an Excel spreadsheet with the complete list: Shops Canada

Please do check out the other bloggers in the tour. This week the spotlight is on North America, but I’ve provided links to the UK bloggers’ posts and to the home pages of the upcoming Australian bloggers. With eight patterns to choose from, there’s sure to be plenty of variety!

The first leg of the tour featuring four UK bloggers:

What Katie Sews  : : July 5, 2017

The Thrifty Stitcher : : July 6, 2017

Handmade Jane : : July 7, 2017

The Petite Passions : : July 8, 2017

And still to come….Australia:

Sewing With Kate and Sewpony : : September 19, 2017

While She Was Sleeping : : September 20, 2017

Ada Spragg : : September 21, 2o17

MaiiDesign : : September 22, 2017

A copy of La Maison Victor was given to me free of charge to review. All views are my own.