La Maison Victor lands in the UK

La Maison Victor World Blog Tour 2017 - celebrating the launch of the English version of the magazine, and a pattern review / maxi dress hack

It's the last day of the UK leg of the blogger tour celebrating the launch of the English language version of La Maison Victor magazine....and I'm hosting today! Previously La Maison Victor has only been available in Belgium, France, Holland and Germany, but now we can get hold of it in the UK, USA and Australia. I was sent a copy of the magazine to review and used the Malia top pattern to create a floaty summer maxi dress ready for the holidays. Having given all of La Maison Victor (in print and online) a good old look, I think it's really exciting that we can get our hands on an English language version now.

La Maison Victor Malia top Maxi dress


What is La Maison Victor?




La Maison Victor is a magazine for those of us that love to craft. Though there is a strong focus on sewing, the make it yourself projects also include knitting, accessories and home decorations. My particular favourite is the 'Floating Flowers' feature this month. In terms of value for money - this magazine really is full of modern and stylish clothing patterns for women, men and children.If you haven't seen this week's makes from What Katie SewsThe Thrifty Stitcher and Handmade Jane yet, you really should! They have made some very wearable pieces, which kind of shows how in tune the magazine is with current ready to wear fashions. Here's a sample of some of the patterns included this month....



The patterns that are included in the magazine have clear instructions with diagrams. I would say the instructions are on par with some of the sewing books I have bought before. The online site is also really worth checking out; there are video tutorials on there for the magazine projects - the videos aren't in English but are shot well so you can follow along easily enough if you have the instructions with you.

The website also has patterns to download and fabric kits so you can recreate the look in the magazine (direct link to the fabric store here). I love how they even include a 'La Maison Victor' label and have my eye on the Harriet dress pattern for some future makes. You can get printed copies from the fabric store, or in UK supermarkets and WHSmiths stores.


The Malia top



The Malia top is one of this month's included patterns. It's intended as a quick and easy summer top, to be made with woven fabrics. It has a gentle gathering detail at what would normally be a bust dart that creates a gentle falling detail at the sides. The armholes and neckline are finished with bias binding, which forms two of the six pattern pieces for this top. This really is a quick and simple make!

However, it being summer dresses month for the #wardrobebuilder project, I decided to use this pattern to hack a maxi dress for my holidays....this seems to be an annual thing for me! Seam allowances aren't included on the pattern pieces - the instructions tell you how much to add. It's different for hems and side seams but clear enough to follow in any case. Although I had traced and cut out all the pattern pieces, I didn't use them all because two pieces fall below the waistline which was my dress cut off point. I traced around these directly on to the fabric, then marked the seam allowance separately (also on the fabric). This meant that I had a lovely seam line to follow when I was constructing the top.

La Maison Victor Malia top as a maxi dress - English blog tour

Turning the top into a dress:

This possibly could be the laziest method in the world - essentially it's adding a large rectangle for a skirt and creating a channel for some elastic. I used the same method last year in this maxi dress pattern hack. Have a look at this post for more comprehensive instructions! To finish I cut two strips from the entire length of the fabric and stitched these together to make a narrow belt.

One more alteration to the pattern.....

This could be controversial, but I switched from woven to knit. When I walked into the fabric store my eye was immediately drawn to this beautiful jersey fabric, and I could not be persuaded by any of the wovens. (Actually there was an Atelier Brunette lawn that would have been great, but there was only 1m of it).

La Maison Victor Malia top in viscose jersey as a maxi dress

Obviously a few changes were needed to accommodate using viscose jersey fabric:

  • Seeing as knit fabrics don't fray I didn't use the binding pattern pieces over, and just turned over the neck and arm holes, stitching in place with a zig zag. 
  • Stabilised the shoulder seams with ribbon (a la the Agnes top).
  • Took a gamble on sizing ( I cut what was labelled as a UK size 10, though the size chart on the website indicated I might need the UK12. I did do a pin fit with the pattern and it looked like the 10 was best....Seeing as it was knit I thought it would be fine).
  • Considered leaving the bottom hem unfinished, but hemmed it in the end.

Would I make this pattern again? Yes - I would like to see what the intended woven looks like!
What I like most about this pattern is the gathering under the bust. It creates a really flattering effect that worked well for the maxi dress.
Would I recommend this pattern? Yes - it is really simple, and I would like to try out more of La Maison Victor's patterns.

Now I'm totally ready for holidays - I'm hoping to wear this comfortable dress to the beach, and out on a hot evening (see, look at me being ready for the sun - imagine the sea in the background................).






La Maison Victor World Blog Tour 2017 - celebrating the launch of the English version of the magazine
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Welcome to Sewing and Other Stories; my journeys with sewing and knitting; pattern reviews, tips and guides for beginners. I'm also the designer behind West Beach Knits knitting patterns and I host a Knitting and Sewing channel on YouTube where you can see all of this in person. Come have a look!

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