Hi Guys! In this post I am going to discus my experience with the Penny dress pattern released this month (June 2017) by
Sew Over It! I also made a
video.
First impression
Lets start with my first impression, I saw this pattern first in my email box as I am a Sew Over It
PDF club member. Which if you don’t know, is where you pay I around 5 pounds once and you get one PDF pattern, you get access to purchase the new PDF patterns a week in advance plus 10% off if you do. Hence, I saw this, and I bought it straight away, it looks beautiful. I had plans (which I was about to start) to Sew the Alex shirt dress from the City Break Ebook from Sew Over It, BUT I saw this and changed my mind.
Fabric
So lets talk fabric. I had 3 meters of a black floral rayon fabric which I bought for the Alex Shirt dress from Spotlight (
Fabric), so it was plenty for this dress, but it was only 135cm wide and the pattern called for 140cm wide fabric. Somehow I managed to fit the pattern pieces on anyway. I love rayon fabric for this pattern because it has such a lovely drape. This particular rayon did not seem to crease as easily as some of the other rayons I have bought before. It still creases as you would expect from a rayon but not as dramatic as this for instance (
Crane Rayon).
Instructions
The instructions were pretty great as you would expect from Sew Over It patterns. There were two steps where I got a little confused, but that probably has more to do with me than the pattern.
I got confused at step 12 (Very neatly, understitch the facing to the seam allowance, 2-3mm away from the seam. Then, to create the button placket, fold the facing to the inside of the bodice at the center front notch. Press in place). I have put the line that confused me in bold.
So I understood what was being asked, to fold the facing over to create the button placket, but I didn’t know where the ‘center front notch’ was, so I thought maybe I just didn’t mark all the notches, but I went back and looked at the pattern pieces and couldn’t see anything. So after about 15 minutes staring at the picture of this step, the photos of the dress and trying to decide how wide the button placket looked I decided it looked about 1.5cm wide and winged it (By that I mean I totally guessed.) Lucky it all worked out and everything fit.
There was only one other part where I got a bit confused. I have never sewn a collar before so this could be why I got confused. Step 16 (Matching the notches on the collar and neckline, align the right side of the bodice with the underside of the collar. Note that the collar will not meet the front edges of the bodice. ) I just was not sure where the notches on the neckline were. So I looked at my pattern pieces and couldn’t see them. So I lined the notches on the collar up with the seams of the shoulder panels and it seemed to work. I am pretty new to sewing so this is probably more me not understanding rather than the pattern itself.
PDF
The pattern is only available in a PDF form. I love PDF patterns. I love that I can download them straight away. I read a lot of comments of people saying they loved the pattern but not PDF’s. Now I understand at first its seems daunting to have to stick 30 or 40 pages together but once you’ve done it once or twice its very easy and actual becomes quite quick. I usually stitch mine together while watching Television and sitting by the heater.
Opening yourself up to the world of PDF patterns is great, it gives you more choice and accessibility. You do not have to pay for postage and, it is usually priced lower than the printed versions (when available)
If you still just do not want to assemble the pattern Sew Over It have made their patterns available in A0 or copy shop format. I personally have not printed my PDF patterns as copy shop format because it would cost me $8-9 per A0 and I am completely okay with sticking 40 pages together. I also prefer them, because it is printed on normal paper not tissue type paper (which many commercial patterns use) its a lot more durable.
Do not be afraid of the 30 or so pages in a PDF its a lot quicker and easier than it seems, and it opens a whole world of patterns you could not have made otherwise.
Thanks for reading my thoughts on this beautiful pattern. Here’s some photos of my finished dress
