I personally was pretty late hearing about Suzy Magazine. For example I missed the entire kick starter campaign and only really heard about it on Instagram. Anyway the magazine titles itself as for the "fashion forward sewist" Which did peek my interest. As someone who has spoken about how irritating I find some of the kitsch projects in the more well known sewing magazines the idea of having something that's "fashion forward" seemed brilliant.
Which naturally meant some batting of eyelids was done in Rikkis direction and we agreed to get me one and then we saw the £10.00 price tag and started dithering a bit. And I decided that if I was going to spend £10 I was definitely going to need to have an idea of what was inside. So I kept searching for the #suzymagazine on Instagram but all that really kept coming up was flatlays of the magazine or selfies with the magazine, nothing about what was actually inside. And then I stumbled upon a post by the lovely stitchedupsam and not only was she kind enough to describe what was within but she also offered to send me her copy because she was finished with it. Sewing people are the absolute coolest!
Right so here's my review! As always I've been honest because I don't know how to be anything other!
Things I liked:
- The paper its printed on is really lovely quality.
- There's a small piece about an embroidery exhibition by Molly Goddard that I found interesting and that I wouldn't have known about otherwise.
- The gift guide section was nice and opened my eyes to some new products.
-The photography really is outstanding, The pictures are very beautiful throughout.
- There's a sewing base piece of typography on the back that's very pretty, its the sort of thing you could easily cut out and frame.
Things I disliked:
-The playlist, one page is dedicated to a sewing playlist. I tend to think that music is so subjective that this is a bit pointless. For example my sewing playlist would feature heavy metal not the spice girls. I'd have rather seen an interview with someone who sews listening to music and one who sews watching telly and see how their ideas and concentration compares.
- A whole page of illustrations. Whilst the illustrations are lovely I did find them a bit pointless?
- Large blocks of text. It seemed to me whenever there was words there would be quite a small picture and then a HUGE chunk of text. I feel like things could have been spaced out more.
- No tutorials or patterns. Now stitchedupsam had already mentioned that it didn't include any patterns, but then it didn't have any tutorials or even any ideas? I mean there's a piece on getting the most out of your patterns and uses the Cleo dress as an example. But they just make it up in five different fabrics? And add a patch to one. I'd have much rather seen some pattern hacking ideas, i.e extending the length [for those who prefer modest fashion] or a one covered in patches or embroidery.
- There's a colouring page, and not a detailed artsy sort of colouring page, its just outlines of pictures of sewing patterns?
So all in all I think its a lovely idea. Even though I make my own clothes I still pay attention to the latest fashion trends and buy fashion magazines so the ideas of a magazine for the fashion forward sewist really appeals to me. What I think it needs is a bit more content and substance. I'd like to see pattern hacking and things made up in really unusual fabrics. And ideas on how to customise things.
I really do think its a great idea and kudos to them for making it happen but personally I don't think I'll be putting it on my buy list until they've put a bit more in. And I still think the £10 price tag is VERY steep especially for what you get. For example you could buy the dressmaking technique bible for the same price and have change for donuts. Or you could just buy £10 worth of donuts [FYI if you buy tesco jam donuts its five for 50p so you could end up with 100 donuts in your hands, that's if I've done my maths right]
So have you brought suzy magazine? and what did you think of it?
Much Love
Frankie
Disclaimer: I didn't pay for my copy of suzy magazine as it was sent to me by stitched up sam, and if I do ever have to pleasure of meeting her I will certainly give her some donuts, might even stretch to some krispy kremes!
