Threads Magazine, Spring 2023
This issues brings a mix of topics. As the spring issue, it offers the spring color forecast from Pantone which is full of pastels with names like vanilla cream and skylight with some brights throw in like tangelo and beetroot purple. You get a set of spring patterns which have been tried by dressmaking reviewers as well.
On the cover, you can see a quilt by Heidi Parkes and read an interview inside about her process, while a technical article explains some of the basic decorative embroidery stitches for beginners. I have loved Roz Chast’s cartoons in The New Yorker magazine for years. But they almost always appear in black and white, and it turns out Chast hankers for color and enjoying using color in the embroidered panels, see her undersea diver.
The back cover features a snappy suit from the TWA collection worn by an air hostess in the 1960s. Kenneth D. King demonstrates step-by-step how to make the buttonhole welts which close the jacket and work well with the large buttons. Sara McFarland explains in another technical article how to shift seams into darts and embellish with lines of lace as you see in the coral and white straight skirt. This is a nice idea if you are thinking of something to wear to a spring wedding or party.
Rae Cumbie and Carrie Emerson take their Carpe Diem Dress & Tunic pattern and alter it in various ways: with a scalloped edges, with raw-edge appliques, with a notched neckline, and in white here with appliqued circles. This a step beyond making your favorite patterns in new colors and fabrics, and will get you thinking about your favorite patterns and how you might tweak them.
There are also articles on sewing a knit blazer, on thinking about fit if your body fits one standard pattern size at the bust and a different one at the waist, and on using voile fabric, plus more. There is a reason why Threads is my favorite plane trip reading.
You can find Threads at your local fabric store, newsstand or here online: https://www.threadsmagazine.com/
The Carpe Diem Dress & Tunic is here: https://fitforartpatterns.com/product/carpe-diem-dress-tunic/