You will note a lot of negative facets in my review, but overall the results of the dress were great. The pattern itself was very crude–shaky lines not made with a ruler in some cases, messy handwriting to identify the pieces, and the pleats on the skirt were not uniform. The instructions were not always completely accurate, and you must do some interpretation of the best course of action, but an experienced sewer will know what to do. For example, the instructions never make mention of how to attach the stomacher to the gown, other than to sew it in (in which case you couldn’t get into the gown!) So I opted to make hooks and eyes along the edge of the stomacher so I could attach it to the gown after I got into the dress. Note: I highly recommend that you DO bone the stomacher. This is an optional step, but I can only imagine the sloppy results of an unboned stomacher. I added other details to the dress that are not in the instructions, such as rouching and trims. Again, though you see many negative comments above, this was hardly a frustrating pattern. I got through it without pulling out hair, which is more than I can say for many independent patternmakers! A really good thing is that the creator of the pattern is available to you to call or e-mail to ask questions and make suggestions on the pattern as you go along, which I took advantage of once or twice.
Sharon –
You will note a lot of negative facets in my review, but overall the results of the dress were great. The pattern itself was very crude–shaky lines not made with a ruler in some cases, messy handwriting to identify the pieces, and the pleats on the skirt were not uniform. The instructions were not always completely accurate, and you must do some interpretation of the best course of action, but an experienced sewer will know what to do. For example, the instructions never make mention of how to attach the stomacher to the gown, other than to sew it in (in which case you couldn’t get into the gown!) So I opted to make hooks and eyes along the edge of the stomacher so I could attach it to the gown after I got into the dress. Note: I highly recommend that you DO bone the stomacher. This is an optional step, but I can only imagine the sloppy results of an unboned stomacher. I added other details to the dress that are not in the instructions, such as rouching and trims. Again, though you see many negative comments above, this was hardly a frustrating pattern. I got through it without pulling out hair, which is more than I can say for many independent patternmakers! A really good thing is that the creator of the pattern is available to you to call or e-mail to ask questions and make suggestions on the pattern as you go along, which I took advantage of once or twice.