I must correct an assumption some have after reading my post on the craft items in BWOF yesterday: the 16 craft pages are not all like the examples I gave. Some are sewing/fashion related, like how to make things from scraps (a.o. sleeping mask, detachable collar, keycord) and embellishing with rhinestones. For me these come in the category "not my style", but I don't object to having these in the magazine.
It was the prominent place the craft / crockery items got (7 full pages in the first halve of the magazine) that really triggered me to write yesterdays post. There are 4 patterns for white blouses that are published only on the last two pages!! I only saw that these were for patterns and not just inspiration the second time round.
For comparison I took 2 older issues, October 2008 and my favorite February 2009 and compared those with the August issue: both had no craft items in the first half of the magazine, and only 6 craft pages in the back of the magazine (the normal amount for BWOF, the pages I always skipped). No sewing/fashion crafts.
And: it doesn't seem that the amount of patterns has decreased a lot.Hope that it remains that way, I DO love BWOF. Of course there are changes to magazines sometimes, but I surely hope it doesn't go too much in the craft direction.
Hello Sigrid, I am not in the craft movement either. Burda World of Fashion should concentrate on its original vocation. I did not receive the August number yet. When I do, if I find there is to much craft, I wont be shy to send them an email. Not comments, not changes.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you 100% Sigrid.
ReplyDeleteI just subscribed to BWOF for the first time for the sole purpose of their stylish attire patterns. If I need sleeping masks or how to decoupage a night table I can go to the many craft stores here in town !
I wonder where/how Burda is getting the feedback that encourages them to keep this stuff in the magazines. I never see any of it made up by readers. Are there particular brand names involved in those pages, I wonder, and this is really advertising $ in disguise? I don't know.
ReplyDeleteI'm not entirely happy with the increase of craft projects in BWOF. It's not even known as Burda World of Fashion anymore - now it's Burda Style. I hope they don't reduce the number of patterns, especially the plus size patterns, to make room for the craft items. There are other changes going on at the website that have me a little nervous. We'll have to wait and see what these changes will bring.
ReplyDeleteI haven't received my Burda yet, if I am lucky it is at the post office with the rest of my mail, but I read your post and went online and I counted the patterns, and while it seems to be around the same amount, a lot of them are multiple versions of one pattern without even much, if any change made to them.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Debbie, where are they getting the feedback or market research that says their subscribers want crafts? I have never seen anyone make these crafts, of course, would they post them on PR? Though I haven't seen them on any sewers blogs either. I've never seen anyone make up those hideous costumes from the carnival issue either. You may be sensitive to the crafters, Sigrid, but I have no qualms saying I HATE CRAFTS. But some other magazine, and leave my Burda alone!
Debbie made a good point. Hope that's not the case, but if it is, they're slowly digging their own grave. And Nancy K; LOL, I hear you :))
ReplyDeleteThanks for the clarification Sigrid, maybe there's still hope. If necessary we should perhaps form some kind of grassroots uprising; creating a site specific to BWOF analysis?
I received my copy of the August issue yesterday. sigh. The candleholder made from teacups is a new low being crafty. Does anyone ever actually make the non-sewing/non-fiber crafts?
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this post I checked my Burda again. It seems that the placement of the content is different in different coutries.
ReplyDeleteThe german edition has the four white blouses in the first half (p44/45 of 118 pages in total),the ... strange... crockery stuff is in the second half (p74 - p81)
They used to have local editors for each country, so maybe someone at your side has decided that dutch people like crockery craft more than sewing blouses? ;)
(I wonder how the placement is in other language and whether that has an effect on how we see the patterns and stuff?)
Russian edition has those four white blouses at pages 90- 91 and 130 pages in total. No craft. Maybe russian people are'nt very crafty? :-)I compared russian edition to english edition on their homepage and found one item missing in english magazine. Is there skirt 110?
ReplyDeleteAnd one more interesting thing.As long as burda does'nt come in my native language, I prefer the russian version because it's cheaper, a lot. We have both in our magazine stands and russian one is more than 1,5 X cheaper.