The Hunt for Patrones
24 January 2008, 15:14Patrones is a Spanish sewing magazine similar to Burda World Of Fashion or KnipMode in that every issue comes with a ton of patterns included which you can sew up for yourself. Patrones is a bit different in that they include a lot of patterns direct from the big name fashion houses, though, so in the current edition (#264), you’ll get designs from Jil Sander, John Paul Gaultier, Gucci, and a whopping 90 others. There are twelve issues each year, with each one dedicated to a different topic (vacation wardrobe, basic wardrobe, special occasion, etc) or size (children, youth, plus size, or regular).
Sounds great, huh? The only problem is that buying an issue of Patrones outside Spain is damn near impossible. You can’t order individual issues or subscriptions from the publisher (do they not want to sell magazines or something?), the last two remaining non-Spanish distributors have stopped carrying it (drying up the former German sources), and the only two remaining sources for a subscription start at $459 for US delivery or 130 euros for European delivery!!
Barring a subscription, your only real choices for getting your hands on an issue are to
a) take a cheap flight to Spain (a definite possibility from London) or
b) scour German eBay (which seems to have more copies floating around than the other localised eBays).
I did the latter, and such was my determination to actually get my hands on one of these elusive beasts that I ended up paying 33 euros (inc shipping) for the newest issue. Which is pretty eye wateringly expensive if you think of it as a single magazine, but it does contain 93 designer patterns and frankly, I don’t plan on buying another any time soon after the effort it took to get this one!
Luckily, my other recent purchase was a lot easier to track down – I’m now the proud owner of Sewing Lingerie That Fits, by Karen Morris which is out of print, but priced by one Marketplace seller at a mere £11 (40 less than all the rest). This is going to make for fine train & ferry reading when we go to Dublin in a few weeks (anyone have any fabric or haberdashery store recommendations??).
And I’m pleased to report that I finished my Pendleton wool jacket last night! Lots of basting and hand stitching on the hem and sleeve hems, but it’s done, and I’m incredibly chuffed with the end result. Thanks for all your suggestions on the non-button fastenings – I’ll report back at the weekend with some photos from my boyfriend’s new DSLR!
Tags: patrones, shopping
Yay! I’m glad you got yourself a copy. I’m not sure why it’s so difficult to get a hold of this magazine – it’s so brilliant! I wish some English (speaking) publishing group would pick this up. I might sew exclusively from Patrones and Burda then!
— stacysews Jan 24, 04:08 PM #
When there is a next time, you might try http://www.marlofashionmagazines.nl, they sell this magazine. But checking they don’t have the 264 issue (yet).
— Sigrid Jan 24, 05:09 PM #
Ooh, thanks for that link, Sigrid. Someone mentioned it on PR but I wasn’t sure if they suffered the same distribution problems that befell stoff-art.de – I guess we’ll have to wait and see if they put up the new issue. Do you know how much they sell the previous issues for? I find it strange there are no prices on the site…
— melissa Jan 25, 04:08 PM #
Patrones is soooo fantastic but it is ridiculous how hard it is to get ahold of! They could be like Burda, taking over the world, but instead it becomes more esoteric and exclusive all the time. I hope Around the World Books in NYC still carries it. I got a copy while there in November but they were months behind. I’ll be in NYC again at the end of February and have my fingers crossed.
— The Slapdash Sewist Jan 25, 09:32 PM #
Thanks to Sigrid, I also found back the one Dutch site that sells patrones (I found it before, but hadn’t made it a bookmark…) To find out what stuff costs on that site, click ‘downloads’ in the main menu, then you’ll get to a page on which the first options are ‘download catalogus’ as word file and as PDF. If you click that, you’ll download the catalogue with all the prices (all in Dutch unfortunately). Patrones is listed as 10 euro for EXTRA editions (whatever those may be) and 9 euro for the other editions, both excluding shipment. There is no mention about shipment to other countries than Holland and Belgium.
— lauriana Jan 27, 06:58 PM #
Please excuse my naivete but do you actually get 90 patterns? If so, how do they put all of those in a magazine?
— JenL Jan 28, 05:50 AM #
JenL – Sorry I didn’t reply to this until now, but I just got my copy in the post last night! :) Yes, there are 93 different patterns in this issue of Patrones! They don’t repeat/reuse paterns like Burda WOF so they’re all different. The magazine is significantly thicker (more like an average issue of Vogue magazine) and the pattern sheets are CRAZY – loads more jammed onto one sheet! I’m going to write up a comparison of Patrones vs Burda WOF vs KnipMode in the next few days, as I’m finding it all fascinating, too!
— melissa Jan 30, 10:50 AM #
I got a subscription through a website called www.modeinfo.com for about 96 Euro – I think a yearly sub is now 115 Euro. They are not terribly reliable with delivery though, I am still waiting on three issues.
— Kate Jan 31, 08:26 PM #
Just wanted to thank you for the tipoff about Patrones magazine. I read your post last Monday and happen to be going to Madrid on Tuesday!
If anyone is planning to get a copy whilst in Spain, they may be interested by my search – I went to 6 different news kiosks, all of which stocked the magazine but 3 had sold out, 1 only had the Feb childrenswear edition and the other 2 had only a single copy left. I bought both of them – one for me, one to ebay.
It was totally the worth the effort – it’s a great issue, I love some of the dresses in it and the JPG skirt you’re making.
One question, roughly how long does it take you to trace each pattern?
— sew_u Feb 25, 11:52 AM #
Thanks to Kate for the tip. I ordered the #264 through www.modeinfo.com and it arrived today. Even if it’s more expensive than buying it in Spain it’s still cheaper than ebay and you don’t have to fight!! (I paid 23 euros including delivery in Italy)
— Petite Main Feb 27, 12:19 PM #
sew_u –
Thanks very much for those nuggets of info! I had no idea if Patrones was even sold on regular newsstands in Spain or whether you had to go to specialist bookshops or something. This is all very good news as my boyfriend’s parents go there a couple times a year, though I just need to hope they time their visits with the release date of the issue!
With the tracing, it depends on how many pieces are in a pattern, really. For something with only a few pieces like that JPG skirt, maybe 10 minutes. But for something complex like a coat or complicated dress, more like 20-30 minutes. I trace out all my patterns, though (even the envelope ones) so I’ve got it down to an art: lay brown craft paper on a carpeted floor, lay pattern on top, use serrated tracing wheel on all the pattern lines and notches, mark with a sharpie, cut out, rinse & repeat!
— melissa Feb 29, 04:27 PM #
I just read your message and when I see the price for European subscrition I think that modeinfo.com earn a lot of money with this. I receive Patrone each month in France for only 80€. I think it will be better to contact directly Patrones for subscription like I do.
Have a nice day.
— katoo Mar 20, 10:27 AM #
I live in Madrid and just read your post. If I can be of any help just say the word. I don’t mind walking to the kiosk, buying Patrones, Burda or any other magazine and sending it your way. Not a problem. Really, it wouldn’t be a big deal _
— Cintia Jul 4, 09:59 AM #