La Maison Victor on the Curvy Side

When you are stranded on a chair for long hours and your brain is drawning in hormones, you cannot write or fully focus on anything, especially in a language that is not your native one. That is why I started reading more French sewing blogs in the last weeks before Oscar's birth. Within a few days, I have found a new world of inspiration coming from a Belgian magazine : La Maison Victor.

I am sure that most of you read about it on Melissa's blog. She summarized really well why it is worth a look. Make sure you read her post to see why this magazine is a massive upgrade compared to Burda (easy drawing, illustrated instructions, individual patterns for sale including videos, knitting and crochet projects and also kids and male patterns).

Today, I would like to highlight the plus size patterns they offer. Most of their designs are available up to a size 48 and are worth a look. I will however focus today on the ones available in sizes 54.

I will start with their sizing chart. I find it very interesting. If you compare the largest chest measurement to the one from Colette Patterns for example, LMV's size 56 corresponds to Colette's 26. It seems however that they use a different pattern block, with a larger waist and a smaller hip. You will find more details here :

Size	34	36	38	40	42	44	46	48	50	52	54	56
Chest	80	84	88	92	96	100	104	110	116	122	128	134
Waist	66	70	74	78	82	86	90	94,5	101	107,5	114	120,5
Hips	92	96	100	104	108	112	116	120	124	128	132	136
Chest	31 1/2	33	34 1/2	36	38	39 1/2	41	43 1/2	45 1/2	48	50 1/2	53
Waist	26	27 1/2	29	31	32 1/2	34	35 1/2	37	40	42 1/2	45	47 1/2
Hips	36	38	39 1/2	41	42 1/2	44	45 1/2	47	49	50 1/2	52	53 1/2

Now, before I tempt you with the pictures below, you have to know that until now, the magazines are not available in English (only in French, German and Dutch) BUT after going through all of them, the drawings in the tutorials are more than clear and sufficient. I will come back to this but I am planning on contacting La Maison Victor to ask questions about that topic and others.

It is now time to have a look at the plus size garments offered by LMV. I will talk about the ones featured in all their past editions, except the latest one that I will review on the CSC (Spring 2015). We have so far 6 dresses, 2 jackets, 1 top and a pair of leggings.

Lisan	Chloe	Roxy

Lisan is my favorite of them all. It is a tunic-dress with rounded seams. The wrap style of the skirt is super flattering. It also has a V-neck and scallopped sleeves. LMV advises to wear it with a belt to cinch it in even more at the waist.

The Chloe coat has raglan sleeves and side bust darts. The design is very simple. I am not sure it would work on bigger cups but it is quite fashionable. It is available for purchase individually.

The Roxie leggings are a great basic ! They are available for purchase individually.

June	Jolene	City

The June Dress is a very basic and flattering design. It has a simple princess seams top and a box pleated skirt. It is available for purchase individually.

The Jolene top is a loose V neck with batwing short sleeves. It is a good basic to have. I am not sure it would work on broad shoulders though.

The City dress is developped to try your hand at color-blocking with knits.

Jazmin	Eliza

The Jazmin jacket is a kimono style cardigan. It looks great on the model but it is not tailored. I would be curious to see how it looks if it is not cinched in at the waist.

The Elisa dress is a nice wrap dress developped for knits. It can be used as a basic but is quite similar to other designs available with other companies. If you are interested, it is available for purchase individually.

Mary	Black Velvet

The Mary dress is more fitted. You can use thick knits or woven fabrics. It has a pannelled top and a slitted neckline. I think it could be used for color blocking as well.

The Black Velvet dress is also one favorite of mine. It is a cool variation of the center pannel/princess seams theme. It also has visible darts and is super curves friendly.

What are your thoughts on these designs ? As hinted above, I am planning on sending LMV an e-mail and I already have a few questions about the possible use of English language and the idea of having pdf patterns available online. Is there any question you would like me to include in the e-mail ?