Monday 27 January 2014

Reviewed: Cake Hummingbird 'Orange' skirt in red corduroy

So, this was not the greatest first garment make for 2014. My overall verdict is: meh. I am giving the pattern away if anyone fancies having a go to see if they like it better, though (and I know there are some Cake fans among my handful of readers!)



Pattern Description: From the pattern envelope: Knit top with horseshoe neckline, cap or elbow length sleeves and a seamless four-leaf-clover-shaped peplum inspired by the work of Charles James. Optional mid-century sewing challenge: dickey and bias cuffs from woven shirting fabric. Woven Skirt with no-gape panel pockets, back zipper and simple bound waistline (~1″ below natural waist). Optional back tailfeather flounce.

I made the "Orange" skirt, which is the basic skirt in the package (no tailfeather flounce).

Pattern Sizing: The sizing of this pattern is idiosyncratic, consisting of a set of sizes between 35-55" full hip. I made a "size 40" -- no noticeable relation to normal European size 40s, whether RTW or pattern -- and used the marking provided to choose what I thought was an appropriate waist band (it wasn't, as it turned out). I found the sizing easy enough to understand when I looked at it but didn't find it added much to my experience of making up the pattern, in terms of customizing fit out of the envelope.



Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? For the most part, yes. I think the line drawing makes it look like the hem is slightly pegged, and the actual pattern is completely straight.

Were the instructions easy to follow? Yes, they are clear and straightforward. I found the constant references back to the pattern creator's website for information on steps like installing the zipper annoying, but I can see some, particularly novices, might prefer this option to a truncated description in the printed instructions.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I was most drawn to this pattern by the design and placement of the pockets, which I liked very much and which I think are the nicest feature of the finished garment.

Even after careful initial measurement and considerable tweaking during the sewing process, I found the waist and hip fit of the pattern a poor match for my body. This is not really the fault of the pattern itself, of course, which cannot realistically anticipate every body shape variation. However, it left me with the rather lukewarm conclusion that for me, with this particular pattern, while the unique sizing scheme is certainly not worse than Big4 or Burda, it is not particularly any better either, in terms of permitting out-of-the-envelope fit, with the disadvantage that I had to invest additional time figuring out what size to make in the first place.

Stupidly, I decided to take the suggestion contained within the instructions and did not interface the waistband, which was a terrible, terrible mistake. I think it is misleading to include this anti-interfacing commentary in the instructions. However, to be honest I am more baffled by my own suggestibility because no, really, I do know better than to think such a rule can be applied to all fabrics, especially when handling the fabric suggests it needs interfacing.

I also, as always, dislike the use of half inch seam allowances, although at least on this occasion it is clearly marked on the pattern and stated in the instructions. As far as I can tell there's no real advantage to this departure from the norm and it's an annoyance to me as I use a machine with metric markings, which do not include 12mm (1/2") marks. This is the second indie pattern in a row I've used to make this choice in pattern design, and I honestly don't understand it. I can only assume there is some design or philosophical reason behind it but from my metric-using point of view it is just a pain in the behind.

Fabric Used: I used just about 1m of lightweight red needlecord, and a scrap of cotton blend left over from another project for the pocket linings. This is slightly more than the pattern suggests as my fabric was a peculiar width.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: As written, the pattern is too short for my height and skirt length preferences. I added around 9.5cm to the length, but this was not entirely satisfactory in outcome. As I discovered, however, the skirt being quite narrow and not vented, it substantially reduces my stride when worn at just above knee length. As the skirt has a centre back seam, it would not be overly complicated to add a vent and depending on your preferences for stride and movement you may wish to do so if you also add length to the skirt.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? I don't precisely dislike this skirt, but I am decidedly indifferent to it. I am very unlikely to sew the pattern again. Like most indie patterns this pattern was quite expensive. I would very likely only recommend it to others if they also wanted the remaining patterns and/or found some particular value to the sizing scheme (it does nothing for me, but I know from other reviews that it has been a hit for other people) because otherwise it works out rather expensive for a simple skirt pattern.

Conclusion: Not really the skirt I was hoping for, but not terrible either.

Extra wibblings 

Fabric: I bought 5m of this needlecord from the lady on eBay liquidating her late mother's fabric stash for £4/m including p&p. It is absolutely gorgeous fabric but making this skirt alerted me to how relatively lightweight it is. I have always planned to make a coat or jacket from the remainder -- I have a Mad Plan of Madness, actually -- but now I am wondering if the weight of the fabric will work in my favour or against me in the MPoM. The other thing is that it's really, incredibly RED, and I am wondering also if I would ever actually wear a coat quite so brightly hued!



Sewing: There isn't much to say about the sewing on this except for the part where I tried out my coverstitcher! Check out that triple stitched hem front and back :D I also did a ton of top-stitching to give this skirt a tiny bit more edge. I didn't contrast top-stitch, so it's barely visible, but at least I know it's there.

Cost: The big cost for this skirt was the pattern, which was far more than I should have paid though I don't remember how much. Fabric was, as noted above, £4 as I used a metre. The zip was from a very cheap bundle and cost 8p. It was theoretically 2cm shorter than the pattern required, but it was totally fine.  Catch was 25p. Including overheads, I guess the total cost comes in somewhere around £5 plus the price of the pattern.

On criticizing indies: My sense is that despite the backlash at the end of last year, you criticize the indies at your own peril. However, I am not going to lie: I find the fact that the instructions relied on you going back to the website constantly extremely grating, and I thought the "unique" sizing schema added time and complexity for no appreciable gain in the case of this particular pattern. However, I also think at this stage I can also conclude that I am just not the intended customer for Cake patterns, on many levels. I gave it a try, it was moderately successful in that I don't by any means HATE my skirt, and now I am done.

26 comments:

  1. An honest and detailed review, well done to you, I am sure it was a tricky job to write. I hope you find a new owner for the pattern, very kind of you to do a giveaway for it! Hope you get all positive responses! :-)

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    1. Thanks! I did take a while thinking of constructive ways to word my critique of the pattern. And it's not a bad pattern, you know, I genuinely think there are people who would love it, or the top pattern, I am just not one of them. Originally I was going to try the top as well, but I've read way to many reviews of people struggling with bust sizing and bodice length, and since I am lukewarm about peplums anyway I decided against it. In the end I'd rather the pattern went off to a new home than gathered dust in my pattern box.

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  2. I wonder why independents feel the need to have non-standard sizing and seam allowances. Sizing systems do vary with location, but the "Big Four" pattern companies are US-based and they manage to have a 5/8" or 15mm seam allowance, so I don't think it can all be blamed on geography.

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    1. Sometimes the wacky sizing is intended to be a unique selling point -- certainly that seems to be the case with Cake patterns. To be fair, I've read enough reviews of the Cake patterns that the wacky sizing with all the alleged customization options really does work well for quite a few reviewers. However, it's not clear to me that they are reviewers who necessarily struggle with basic fit in any other pattern brand.

      As far as the seam allowance thing is concerned, I think it IS a nationality thing for some of the American Independents. EVERYTHING in the US is still feet and inches, and I just don't think those independents even ever think about metric as being something that people actually use, never mind that actually US sewers are the only people who don't! Look at all the indies who don't give ANY metric measurements at all, as if it's not even required (Silhouette, for example, among the bigger indies). By contrast, the Big4 are well aware that if they want to sell patterns in the same envelopes and instructions around the entire world, they have to make sure it's easy for users of both imperial and metric.

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    2. something that's funny weird, not funny haha is that in canada, we tend to use imperial for, like, seam allowances, but metric for buying fabric. Unless it's home dec... at my local, that's still sold in yards!

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  3. Cake is out of New Zealand, but the pattern designer is originally from the US. I would guess that with most indies, the lack of metric measurements is an oversight that comes from being US-based. (Sadly, and I say this as an American, the US can be woefully ignorant to the rest of the world in many respects.)

    I'm all for the "wacky" sizing of some of the indies--I have a huge bust and have trouble fitting it with standard Big 4 patterns, so I'm always up for trying a new indie where I won't have to spend a bunch of time messing with the bust and resulting alterations. For me, HotPatterns is my personal gold standard for fit and my own style, but I know that a lot of people struggle with the fit of their patterns. I'm just happy that we have a lot of options these days so that we can figure out what fits us best individually.

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    1. She's in Australia, isn't she? Same difference, anyway. Even if the local norm is metric, it's evident from her patterns that she works in imperial measures herself.

      I definitely think there's a place for a plurality of sizing schemes. You only have to look at Sewaholic to see how successful one targetted to a particular body shape can be. However, I think, like Sewaholic, which is hilariously wrong for my carrot-shaped, Boobs Of Doom endowed self, Cake's particular sizing scheme is a big no.

      I have a HotPatterns pattern, in part because I saw you enthusiastically endorsing it on the PR forums! :D It's the Weekender Sunshine. Not quite the right weather for making it at the moment, but I hope to do so in the spring. If I like it I may consider buying more patterns, but the price is KILLER here for HP -- at least $25 if I buy it in the UK for the pattern, before I even GET to postage, and if I buy from the US they charge INSANE, and I mean INSANE postage charges internationally. $25 to mail one paper pattern? Don't think so!

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    2. A big no for *me*, I mean!

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  4. Brava! A beautifully crafted cautiously worded review. 8-D I don't see any potential flame wars happening here (insert giggling).

    Wow, that is one expensive pattern! I have never thought of it before, but is it possible to buy a cheap pattern in Ireland or the UK or Europe? Besides Burda, and all those lovely magazines that cost a fortune in North America.

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    1. If I want BMV or Simplicity/New Look, I wait for the sale at a couple of UK-based pattern sellers. They want an arm and a leg to ship to Ireland, so I have them sent to my parents, who live in the UK, and pick them up when I have the chance. The cheapest you can really get a recent, new, normal BMV i.e. no Sew Simple or whatever even on sale is let's say £5-8 (US$8.50-13.50 ish), plus postage. Not in a sale, double those prices, and that is the norm. Paper indies vary and there are few stockists. If you're buying paper patterns, something like SewBox.co.uk sells e.g. Sewaholic, Papercut, etc, and they normally cost upwards of £15 per pattern, and they rarely (never) go on sale. Depending on the company it's sometimes cheaper to buy from the pattern creator. HotPatterns are RIDICULOUS about postage -- similar to the way StyleArc used to charge to ship from Australia to the US, a couple of patterns and it's $25 to mail despite the fact that the cost to the company is closer to $10. Silhouette are cheap and even free.

      Magazines are cheap if you can buy them locally -- £5 for Burda, etc, but mostly you CAN'T buy them locally. There's a single stockist for Burda in Ireland and it would cost me more in bus fares or parking to go there than to pay for shipping. So I still pay £7.50 per issue of Burda posted to Ireland.

      Long story short: no, there are no cheap patterns in Europe. I salivate over the idea of a $2 pattern sale!

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  5. I fell in to the same trap when Kenneth King said that denim should be sturdy enough in a jeans waistband with no interfacing. That was one of only three things he was wrong about in about 6 hours of lessons, but I still find it strange he would advocate leaving out interfacing.

    I really like the colour of the skirt, and it looks like the construction is beautiful, I hope you warm up to the finished object.

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    1. I can see it with some kinds of really heavy denim, I guess, that interfacing would just bulk up fabric that really didn't need it. I've made bags out of ultra HW non-stretch denim and no, seriously, interfacing really would have been overkill. But this instruction thing was like I LAUGH IN THE FACE OF INTERFACING, which, no.

      I love the colour as well, and it's actually held up to wear today pretty well, but the waist and hip shaping is really not great overall.

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  6. It is lovely fabric so I hope you get some wear. Cake patterns are from Brisbane in Queensland Australia. I would find the different seam allowances annoying because I don't think my machine has a 12mm marking on it. I think there is a good reason why so many people advocate interfacing after sooooo many years too.

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    1. I wore my skirt yesterday and it was OK! I desperately wish the waistband was interfaced, but other than that it actually wore quite well. :D

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  7. Hi I'm late to this discussion but had to comment because the failure of many indie pattern companies to include metric measurements is one of my bugbears with them. Seeing as pretty much the rest of the world, apart from the US, is metric, would it be too difficult to include? I wouldn't have thought so!

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    1. You wouldn't think so, but honestly a lot of Americans who haven't done much travel would literally never have met a metric measurement. I imagine it doesn't even occur to them that other people consider them the norm. That said, I've been working on the Lady Skater dress today and that pattern author is British and uses nothing but inches and yards in the pattern, which is completely ridiculous. We can't even buy in yards in our shops in the UK!

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  8. Silly Americans ;) I'm an American but I am a chemist and I get annoyed everyday at the use of the imperial system. It's just silly. SILLY!!!

    Glad you found the skirt more wearable than you hoped.

    ((Why do reviews for Indie patterns have to be crafted and apologetic if they aren't favorable; yet it's totally okay to completely blast the Big 4. I'm seriously trying to understand!! I almost always just avoid opining on indie patterns 'cause...WOAH))

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    1. Ha, yes, American scientist friends of mine have the same frustration with inches and feet. Metric is just so much EASIER!

      After a few weeks of wear, I have to report this skirt is not my favourite make at all but it is just about wearable for a season. Not sure it will survive the post-winter seasonal cull though -- that is a few weeks off since it's still pretty much wintry here in Ireland.

      I have such a problem with the online sewing community acting like you can't criticize the indies. The worst is if you say ANYTHING about Colette, because their fans just dogpile anyone who dares to point out that their prices are insane for their beginner-level patterns. I'm already rolling my eyes over the swooning over the new Colette knit patterns due out next month, when people don't even know what they are going to release.

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    2. Oh my gosh I would come and hug you right now.

      I have spent the last year confused. CONFUSED. I am never ever mean like how people rag on the Big 4. But you cannot even say, "I don't like it". You can't say it!!!

      At least I know it isn't just me! Hahahahaha!

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    3. Oh, I have a HISTORY of bitching about the attitude toward the indies, especially Colette (see here: http://sewingnovice.blogspot.ie/2013/06/on-independent-envelope-pattern-makers.html). You are SO not alone. As much as I rag on Burda for being hilarious (and Burda is objectively hilarious sometimes) I will ALWAYS take the three issues of Burda I get for the same price as one Colette pattern because I just don't LIKE Colette patterns. Let me tell you as well, if one of their new knit pattern releases is a $20 basic t-shirt pattern that everyone greets like the pinnacle of sewing perfection I will not be AT ALL surprised.

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    4. Hahahaha!!!!!!! I needed that laugh!! There will be massive quantities of 'oohs and ahhs' no matter what.

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    5. There will! Like when the Laurel pattern came out and everyone LOST THEIR SHIT over it, even though wow, there's like twenty near identical New Look patterns available for a tenth of the price. Still, who knows! Give them the benefit of the doubt: they might do something interesting. It's just that when I see that they're doing it as a sort of introduction to sewing knits that my heart sinks, because that definitely suggests to me that it really is just going to be the world's most boring knit top.

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    6. I got "tsk tsk'd" at saying the coco was snoozeworthy. And it is $20 plus shipping. And was told the pdf is cheaper. Uhmm, $12 to print it myself, tape it together, trace it and I can do that with the Deer & Doe plaintain for free??

      But, shhhhhhhh. And everyone swears it is *the* knit top/dress that they have been longing for since forever and ever. I am always baffled.

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    7. I am baffled too. Actually, quite a lot of people are baffled, I think. My personal favourite was when the Colette Zinnia skirt came out and I, and other people, were all ARE YOU KIDDING ME about the price of the pattern vs. what was actually on offer. And all the Colette apologists come out of the woodwork to (a) tell me that we're not allowed to be critical, which, good luck with that; and (b) started going on about all the AMAZING EXTRAS the pattern has like a PATTERN FOR BELTLOOPS (I am not even joking, someone tried to tell me this was a MAJOR SELLING POINT for her).

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    8. Stop! I need these laughs!!!

      I quickly backed out of that thread. ::nothing to see here folks::

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    9. I always tell myself I will stay out of those threads. I don't always succeed!

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