This gown was fun for me to make, coming from a quilting background (tedious work does not bother me). There are 100 vertical pleats, 24 waist darts, 9 curved hip darts and 4 bottom hem pleats. This was a marvelous challenge. The pattern worked like a dream puzzle with eight yards of fabric. The pleats were actually quite easy. The rhythm of the madness goes like this: All pleat lines are marked on the wrong side of the fabric; you take the piece to the ironing board and iron on the right side a fold onto the marked pleat line. You can stand there and do all the layers at once, then take it to the sewing machine and sew 3/8ths from the fold. And sew and sew and sew and sew until you are done. I did not alter the length as it fit me perfectly (I am 5’6″). The waist fitting comes together when you sew the hooks on the back. The instructions tell you to have a friend come over and help. My dress form is my sewing buddy, so I was able to do the waist fitting by myself. I started on Sunday morning cutting and marking (2 hours) and sewed about four hours a day for four days to complete the major sewing, fitting and attaching the hooks. The pattern instructions do not include any photos of how the back is supposed to look. I found an illustration of the skirt back in the catalog from which I ordered the pattern.
Victoria Meyn –
This gown was fun for me to make, coming from a quilting background (tedious work does not bother me). There are 100 vertical pleats, 24 waist darts, 9 curved hip darts and 4 bottom hem pleats. This was a marvelous challenge. The pattern worked like a dream puzzle with eight yards of fabric. The pleats were actually quite easy. The rhythm of the madness goes like this: All pleat lines are marked on the wrong side of the fabric; you take the piece to the ironing board and iron on the right side a fold onto the marked pleat line. You can stand there and do all the layers at once, then take it to the sewing machine and sew 3/8ths from the fold. And sew and sew and sew and sew until you are done. I did not alter the length as it fit me perfectly (I am 5’6″). The waist fitting comes together when you sew the hooks on the back. The instructions tell you to have a friend come over and help. My dress form is my sewing buddy, so I was able to do the waist fitting by myself. I started on Sunday morning cutting and marking (2 hours) and sewed about four hours a day for four days to complete the major sewing, fitting and attaching the hooks. The pattern instructions do not include any photos of how the back is supposed to look. I found an illustration of the skirt back in the catalog from which I ordered the pattern.