Burda Style Magazine

Although I love reading magazines, I don't have a subscription to one. The main reason for this, is that I often just pick a magazine based on how I'm feeling that day, and the articles that are in each magazine. This means that I read quite a range of magazines, some you might expect me to read(Company, Glamour, Mollie Makes), and some are a little more surprising (National Geographic, The Economist). It just depends on whether I'm feeling creative, highbrow, or in need of some pretty photo shoots.

Sometimes, I'll buy a magazine as a kind of incentive to do something, especially a craft based magazine. As I've been itching to get sewing recently, I treated myself to Burda Style Magazine, a super comprehensive dressmaking magazine. If you're interested in sewing, or dressmaking, I'd truly recommend it.

One thing that I really like about this magazine are the several photo-shoots included in each issue. They really help me to envisage how one pattern can be made in several different ways, and in different fabrics, whether your style is girly, rock 'n' roll or minimalistic.

As well as the lovely photo-shoots showcasing the sewing patterns included in the magazine, there are several pages of ideas on how to customise all ready existing items of clothing, taking inspiration from the latest catwalk shows. Which, if you're a complete sewing novice, is a great way of easing yourself into dressmaking. Also, each pattern has a difficulty rating, so you know beforehand whether the pattern is suited to your ability. You can mark your progress by working up to the higher rated patterns (one day I will sew a coat!).

At £4.75, it's hardly the cheapest of magazines, but after considering that individual sewing patterns from the Burda website cost an average of £2.99, and that in this issue you get over 16 sewing patterns, the maths does itself. Another plus, there are absolutely no adverts throughout the whole magazine (trust me, I double and triple checked). Which is great, because most fashion glossies have pages and pages of adverts before even the contents page. It means there is more room for the things that matter.

I'll definitely be buying Burda Style on a more regular basis, especially because I find that fashionable sewing patterns are hard to come by.

Are there any sewing or craft magazines that you'd recommend? And does anybody know what happened to Cloth Magazine? I used to really like the wide variety of crafts included in this magazine, especially the mix of sewing patterns, jewellery making and customisation. It seems to have vanished from publication within the last year or so, which is a shame because it was a magazine which always inspired me. Anything you'd recommend in the place of Cloth Magazine?