The pattern and instructions booklet are very well produced. Everything is clean and legible. A 1769 French Tailor’s Manual instructions for making a bed gown are quoted and translated. There is a good bibliography of documentation. I found the cutting layout incomprehensible for some reason. The front and back are cut in one piece but, the layout illustrations made this confusing to me. The pattern pieces fit together correctly and the markings all line up; particularly important for the diamond-shaped underarm gussets. I sewed the gussets entirely by hand which makes sewing some of the odd angles very easy. You may want to consider a combination of hand sewing for the tricky bits and machine sewing for the long seams. The sewing instructions and illustrations are very good and complete. A beginning sewer would probably be less confused if she has a sewing buddy to help puzzle things out. Caveats: Take careful measurements of yourself and the patterns pieces before you decide which size to use. A bed gown should be loose enough to allow easy movement but, not huge. Using my bust measurement, I cut my bed gown out in a size XL and it came out on the huge side. The instructions specify using 1/4″ seams for the bed gown and 3/8″ seams for the lining on the theory, I think, that this will make the lining hang well. In my case, this caused the lining to be too small to be whipped down flat to the bed gown as instructed. If I’m understanding the translation correctly, I believe the bed gown should be flat-lined, which is more accurate for the period. Do take the time to make the pleated sleeves; they look terrific and will keep you from trailing your sleeves through the butter at breakfast. Do also consider pocket slits in the side seams (this assumes you’ve got pocket slits in your petticoat and pockets tied around your waist) as there is no graceful way to hike up your bed gown to get at your pocket. with this excellent pattern now available, there is no reason why the bed gown should not be much more widely worn.
Amdrea Cesari –
The pattern and instructions booklet are very well produced. Everything is clean and legible. A 1769 French Tailor’s Manual instructions for making a bed gown are quoted and translated. There is a good bibliography of documentation. I found the cutting layout incomprehensible for some reason. The front and back are cut in one piece but, the layout illustrations made this confusing to me. The pattern pieces fit together correctly and the markings all line up; particularly important for the diamond-shaped underarm gussets. I sewed the gussets entirely by hand which makes sewing some of the odd angles very easy. You may want to consider a combination of hand sewing for the tricky bits and machine sewing for the long seams. The sewing instructions and illustrations are very good and complete. A beginning sewer would probably be less confused if she has a sewing buddy to help puzzle things out. Caveats: Take careful measurements of yourself and the patterns pieces before you decide which size to use. A bed gown should be loose enough to allow easy movement but, not huge. Using my bust measurement, I cut my bed gown out in a size XL and it came out on the huge side. The instructions specify using 1/4″ seams for the bed gown and 3/8″ seams for the lining on the theory, I think, that this will make the lining hang well. In my case, this caused the lining to be too small to be whipped down flat to the bed gown as instructed. If I’m understanding the translation correctly, I believe the bed gown should be flat-lined, which is more accurate for the period. Do take the time to make the pleated sleeves; they look terrific and will keep you from trailing your sleeves through the butter at breakfast. Do also consider pocket slits in the side seams (this assumes you’ve got pocket slits in your petticoat and pockets tied around your waist) as there is no graceful way to hike up your bed gown to get at your pocket. with this excellent pattern now available, there is no reason why the bed gown should not be much more widely worn.