You know, one of the great things about the indie sewing world is that it feels like there is always something new to discover.
And while, of course, I’ve been aware of La Maison Victor for a while and have a few editions (I tend to pick them up while I’m in France visiting my in-laws), this Nora Jumper (or Pull Nora in my French édition!) was my first time actually sewing one of their patterns.
And, well, frankly, I was pretty pleasantly surprised.
La Maison Victor Magazine
Whilst it’s no secret that magazine sewing patterns are not my personal favourite – soooo many lines and all those seam allowances, but visually, I found the patterns in Maison Victor to be a lot of easier to follow while tracing than other sewing magazines. Also, the instructions are excellent!
In terms of actual ease of use, la Maison Victor is right up at the top of the sewing magazine world. I guess I just wished I liked the style of some of the patterns more.
For example, while I was instantly drawn to this Nora Jumper and purchased the magazine on its strength alone, there is honestly nothing else in the edition which I’m interested in sewing.
But, no need to dwell on the negatives, check out my Nora Sweater!!!
Nora Jumper/Pull Nora
To cover the specifics, the Nora Jumper or Pull Nora appears in the Jan-Feb 2020 édition of La Maison Victor magazine.
It’s a very simple cropped raglan sweater with dramatic ballon sleeves, but I found the style lines really captivating and stylish.
I sewed my version out of a deadstock wool knit from Meter Meter, but I don’t think its in stock any longer!
My Nora Jumper is a size 42. My measurements actually had me between a 40 and 42 and since La Maison Victor was new to me and I wasn’t sure how the sizing works, I errer on the side of caution and sewed a size 42. I think at some level, I was also influenced by RTW numbers here – my mind automatically though – no, size 40 is way too small for me. In the end, I think 40 would probably have been fine too.
Guess I should trust size charts over my gut – who would have thought???
In addition to really liking the finished product, I also need to celebrate the fact that sewing this Nora jumper took me all of three hours in total, including tracing out the pattern!! Gotta love a quick and effective sewing project!
Magnetic attraction!!!!
And, there’s also one other matter for which I shall be eternally grateful for this édition of la maison victor magazine. It included a fabulous tip for sewists like myself who hate adding in seam allowances. Don’t bother and get yourself a little magnet 1cm long which you can attach to your scissors and use to add in the seam allowance as you cut!
Like this:
It’s totally brilliant!!!
Someone actually told me this tip on instagram a while ago (I’m so sorry, I’ve forgotten who), but I didn’t fully understand it at the time. The photo of the tip in this edition of La Maison Victor was a total lightbulb moment for me. I feel that my despise of adding in seam allowances shall no longer be a barrier.
Sewing magazines are now official my oyster…
Oh and, finally, a little P.S! If you like to get your blog hits through Bloglovin’, feel free to follow me over there: you can find me here. And you can find me on Instagram here.
This sweater looks wonderful on you, I love the colour! I’m not usually a fan of La Maison Victor either, maybe it’s because I always feel that the finished garment won’t fit (did you ever have a feeling that a lot of French sewing patterns were made only for French women?), but this one looks great…and uncomplicated, which is always a plus! 🙂
Hi Jasa,
As far as I know, La Maison Victor is Belgian 😉
Also, being a French woman, I’m curious about your comment 😉
Are you thinking in terms of sizing maybe ? (as for example a retail size 40 in “European size” – used in Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany… – is a retail size 42 in France).
Anyway, you got me wondering, so I compared the size tables in my French and Belgian LMV editions (I live in Belgium, and my sister picked up the French one for me), and they’re identical. My guess is they started from something closer to Belgian sizes but of course I can’t be sure 🙂
And I haven’t made any yet (I’m also on the fence about a lot of their designs) so I can’t comment on how true to size they are…
Hi Brune,
I had no idea it was a Belgian company, thank you! It seems you really do live and learn 😊 yes, I was talking about sizing – recently, I made some pyjamas for myself from a sewing pattern from a French company (this time, I double-checked and it really is French 😁) and I chose a size 42 for the bottom to be comfortable at night (usually, I normally fall into size 40 for nearly all patterns), but I couldn’t get it past my derrière so I gave up before even starting on the top…then again, there are some brands of sewing patterns that seem to be more true to size for me than others, so maybe that was also the case here. But more generally speaking, when I was buying retail and living in France, I also regularly had to buy bigger clothes than in the same retail chain in my home country. Like I said, I don’t seem to find my way around French (or francophone, apparently 🙃) patterns, that’s why I was wondering if that was just my feeling or a general “issue” (if you can call it that…) Do you think that the sizing of the same pattern is different depending on the country it is sold in (like in your example, Belgium and à France)?
That’s a pity for your PJ bottoms 🙁
I think there’s a good chance that the sizing of a pattern company somewhat follows the RTW sizing of their home country, yes (though that might not always be the case, especially if they want to appeal to a more international audience, or prefer to do away with conventional size labels, for example using letters or color names as sizes).
Though I don’t expect the same pattern to have different sizing when sold in different countries (as that would be extra work for the designer and might be confusing for some customers who might have ties to several countries).
The only advice I can think of is to always double check what size(s) your measurements fall in (as that can be different for different brands, even from the same country) and, if they’re available, to check the finished garment measurements to see if the ease included is to your liking (maybe compare with a similar garment you already own). It is a bit more work but hopefully it’ll help 🙂
But yeah, I hear you on having to buy a bigger size in French shops, it’s a bit of a sticker shock to me too now that I’m used to “EU” sizes (and that I’m a few sizes bigger than when I left France about 15 years ago). Italy’s even “worse” btw 😀 The 40 EU/42 France size I used as example is actually a 46 in Italy! No idea why that is… And Asian sizes are on the small side too (based on my experience of trying to shop in Singapore and having to buy nearly the biggest size of everything 😂).
I think my takeaway is, since what they call sizes can vary quite a bit, the size “number” we are is not actually that important, what matters is that the clothes fit us well and that we feel good in them 🙂
Good luck with your future projects 🙂
The seam allowance magnets are amazing! I discovered them a while ago at the yearly fabric market and haven’t marked or measured seam allowances since.
I’ve decided to ignore La Maison Victor a few years ago after every pattern I tried from them had issues- mistakes in the drafting or instructions that made no sense (as in, the instructions were clear but they had you do overly complicated or unnecessary things). I kept noticing these problems with students using the patterns when I was teaching sewing workshops… Maybe they’ve changed their ways by now?
Or maybe I got lucky with such a super simple pattern! Since it’s my first one, I can’t really judge!!