And I hate it. I am so annoyed. >:(
The pattern I eventually chose was the Woodland Stroll cape by indie designer Liesl + Co. That plaid one on the left is the company image by the way. Here's my official pattern review. I haven't taken photos yet and I don't know if I can be bothered. You can read all my problems with it on my review, but the upshot is: it's too small (even though I fit perfectly in the size range on my real, for serious measurements); it's too short; the pattern has stupid non-standard seam allowances which drove me nuts the whole time.
On the plus side, my actual sewing was awesome. Except now I have a 90% finished cape (I haven't done the buttons on) that is well-sewed but that I hate. The fact that it's too small is less of a problem than it might be since my weight is still changing -- it might fit in the spring. Maybe if I stuff this in a cupboard for now I might get over my loathing?
(I have been sitting on this post and review for a few days because I had followed the kerfuffle on Debbie Cook's blog where the indie pattern creator LOST HER SHIT over some critical comments. I don't have any reason to think the pattern-creator of this pattern is going to be running around like a 2 year old having a tantrum like the other person, but still.)
Sorry to hear that! It seems you used a nice fabric as well.. It's a shame it didn't fit you. Making a muslin would've helped, but honestly who would bother with a muslin for a cape?
ReplyDeleteI'm a bit fed-up about it :( Ah well, I will put it away and see if I start to feel more enthused by it another day.
DeleteWell that sucks. I agree with the first comment, who would muslin a cape? Don't get rid of it, you might feel differently after awhile, and when you have lost more weight, it could be perfect.
ReplyDeleteThat sure was a mess on Debbie's blog huh? I still can't believe how badly the pattern designer reacted and behaved.
It's not really warm enough to wear my cape anyway just now, so I might as well wait for spring! Sigh, though. I really wanted that cape to turn out well, especially since it's probably my last sewing project of 2013.
DeleteMy backstory with that particular pattern designer is that I once commented on her blog to let her know that her metric measurements on a proposed pattern envelope were incorrect. It looked to me like this was partly due to poor conversion or a lack of thought about the way inch and cm measures overlapped, but also because of what looked like a simple typo for one size. It was incorrect enough that it meant that if I looked at my body measurement in inches it would cause me to pick a different size than if I looked at my body measurements in cm (4-10cm out, depending on the size). I suggested this was unnecessarily confusing. Her response to me was that the measurements was kind of a defensive "I think in inches AND centimetres!" response (... I don't care what she thinks in) and then telling me she really doesn't think the accuracy of the figures was important for people picking a size, which, what? I've also seen her respond to other critical comments before in a way that I was unimpressed by. So, I was not really all that surprised by the fact that she responded the way she did. In fact, to be honest, I was more surprised that it took so long for her to respond to Debbie's blog posts. I WAS surprised by how she just couldn't leave it alone and kept replying and replying and replying. I think she did far more reputational damage to herself with her behaviour than she sustained from Debbie's review.
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DeleteBesides her basically having a tantrum on Debbie's blog (which am I ashamed to say I found incredibly entertaining), the thing I found most interesting was how many people had had issues with her as well. It doesn't matter to me at all, as I don't like her style or patterns at all, but if I did like her stuff I would never reward such bad behaviour with my business.
DeleteI don't know if that could be categorized as a flame war, but if not it was damn close, and the first one I've heard of in the sewing blogosphere. We are usually such well mannered people, at least online ;).
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Alas, I thought it was hugely entertaining as well. :D I was almost disappointed when a flame war didn't start when Debbie started posting about the pattern inadequacies. It was so clearly going to happen, though, because that designer is not someone who would let that criticism go unanswered.
DeleteI am sorry to say I have bought a couple of patterns of hers. The first one I bought, the more reviews I saw of it the more I realized that there was absolutely zero possibility that I would ever make it, so I gave it away. The second one I still have but as time goes on the likelihood I will ever make it declines. I certainly won't be buying any of her other patterns any time soon.