Easy pattern to make and easy to scale (if necessary). I cut the front slightly wider and added tucks on either side of the front buttons. I also added a standup collar and cuffs. I left off the waist tie and instead of a tie, took the seam in at the natural waist shaping the blouse. I did this because I intended to wear the blouse on the outside of the skirt (more like a jacket style) rather than tucked into the waistband.
Rated 5 out of 5
Eris Weaver –
The instructions are clear. This went together easily; however, all of the size adjustments on the multi-sized skirt pattern are on only four of the seven gores. If you follow their cutting lines and make a larger skirt, you end up with a teeny center gore and wide side gores. If I make it again, I will adjust the pieces to make the gores even all around. I also agree with the suggestion to widen the waistband. The blouse seemed strange when I was working on it, but ended up looking just like the picture.
Rated 5 out of 5
Loren Dearborn –
I made the skirt only. It’s a great walking skirt for the period and fits very well.
Rated 3 out of 5
Teresa Liao –
The skirt was very easy to put together. The directions are clear and the finished skirt is lovely. The only place were the directions kind of fall apart is in the skirt closure. I couldn’t find the directions for this. The pattern piece itself is labeled for a snap placement. I ended up closing the skirt with hooks and eyes which worked very well. The only other adjustment I made was widening the skirt waistband.
Rated 4 out of 5
Teresa Liao –
I cannot recommend the shirtwaist. While the pattern goes together well enough (although I found it runs a bit large — unlike the skirt pattern), there are no pattern pieces for the waist tie and the directions are, basically, “attach”. I ended up leaving the tie off for now. The sleeves, however, were nearly a catastrophe. I had decided to take up the extra fabric at the cuff with pin tucks. It wasn’t until after I had cut the fabric and spent all that time making the pin tucks that I realized the pattern called for the sleeve seam to run right down the front of the arm. Had I noticed this ahead of time, I would have cut the sleeve so that the seam would match up with the side seam. As it was, I had neither the time nor fabric to make the adjustment, so I had to make do with moving the seam as much as I could towards the underarm with making the sleeve head look too funny.
Rated 4 out of 5
Lisa Dyrke –
I created this ensemble when I was in high school, so it wasn’t too difficult. Later, I added the lace insertion and shoulder ruffles to spruce it up. Those additions truly gave it an antique look. My only problem was the kick pleat at the back of the skirt. I couldn’t get it to hang correctly the first time. It took a lot of fusing to get it right. You will have problems with the pleats over the shoulders if you use a slippery fabric. This pattern works best in a cotton.
Sally Norton –
Easy pattern to make and easy to scale (if necessary). I cut the front slightly wider and added tucks on either side of the front buttons. I also added a standup collar and cuffs. I left off the waist tie and instead of a tie, took the seam in at the natural waist shaping the blouse. I did this because I intended to wear the blouse on the outside of the skirt (more like a jacket style) rather than tucked into the waistband.
Eris Weaver –
The instructions are clear. This went together easily; however, all of the size adjustments on the multi-sized skirt pattern are on only four of the seven gores. If you follow their cutting lines and make a larger skirt, you end up with a teeny center gore and wide side gores. If I make it again, I will adjust the pieces to make the gores even all around. I also agree with the suggestion to widen the waistband. The blouse seemed strange when I was working on it, but ended up looking just like the picture.
Loren Dearborn –
I made the skirt only. It’s a great walking skirt for the period and fits very well.
Teresa Liao –
The skirt was very easy to put together. The directions are clear and the finished skirt is lovely. The only place were the directions kind of fall apart is in the skirt closure. I couldn’t find the directions for this. The pattern piece itself is labeled for a snap placement. I ended up closing the skirt with hooks and eyes which worked very well. The only other adjustment I made was widening the skirt waistband.
Teresa Liao –
I cannot recommend the shirtwaist. While the pattern goes together well enough (although I found it runs a bit large — unlike the skirt pattern), there are no pattern pieces for the waist tie and the directions are, basically, “attach”. I ended up leaving the tie off for now. The sleeves, however, were nearly a catastrophe. I had decided to take up the extra fabric at the cuff with pin tucks. It wasn’t until after I had cut the fabric and spent all that time making the pin tucks that I realized the pattern called for the sleeve seam to run right down the front of the arm. Had I noticed this ahead of time, I would have cut the sleeve so that the seam would match up with the side seam. As it was, I had neither the time nor fabric to make the adjustment, so I had to make do with moving the seam as much as I could towards the underarm with making the sleeve head look too funny.
Lisa Dyrke –
I created this ensemble when I was in high school, so it wasn’t too difficult. Later, I added the lace insertion and shoulder ruffles to spruce it up. Those additions truly gave it an antique look. My only problem was the kick pleat at the back of the skirt. I couldn’t get it to hang correctly the first time. It took a lot of fusing to get it right. You will have problems with the pleats over the shoulders if you use a slippery fabric. This pattern works best in a cotton.