Lolita patterns launched their "Gunmetal" dress/top pattern last week and I was lucky enough to be one of those involved in testing the pattern.
While not a style that I would usually wear (anyone who knows me would not class me as "Goth" or "Lolita style" in any way - my wardrobe is more "simple stuff that I can do mum stuff in") I do think this is a pretty nifty little pattern, one that has the potential for many more "looks" (as evident from other testers interpretations which you can read about here).
To my "amateur" home sewist eye it appears well drafted - seamlines matched up where they should and the fit was pretty spot on for my chosen size (a 16 which corresponded with my measurements).
The fact that the pattern is offered in TWO size ranges ( 2 -14 and 16 -24) is a nice change for independent patterns. With a lot of other indie pattern companies only offering a "standard " sizing range (often petering out at the 14/16 mark) and others specialising in mainly in plus sized ranges (leaving out the lower end of sizes), its nice to see an company that is trying to be more inclusive, catering to women of all shapes and sizes in the one pattern.
The only thing I would wonder about is what would happen if you were in between sizes- or had wild variances between your upper and lower body sizes. This issue could also easily happen with the "Big Four" commercial patterns who sometimes spread their patterns over both a "plus" and "regular" size range- the difference here is you wouldn't be forking out again for a second size range if you decided that you needed it.
The instructions are well explained and illustrated. This pattern was described as "easy" for skill level but it's has a lot more detail than standard commercial "easy" patterns- so expect to be committing a fair bit more time to your project, but then again that's how you end up with all the lovely details ;)
That said the actual steps themselves are pretty straightforward, you are just working with many pattern pieces.
The hardest step I found was gathering the ruched panels, the pattern suggest sewing one continuous line of stitching to gather three separate areas of stitching.
If I made this pattern again I would sew individual gathering stitch lines for each separate area - with breaks in between each area- as I found that in pulling the thread to gather one area I would often distort previously gathered sections on the same fabric piece.
I would also sew two lines of gathering stitching next time, as quite often my fabric would "catch" on the gathering thread and I couldn't gather beyond that point.
I actually quite liked the look of the bodice before the sleeves were set in and am thinking that a sleeveless version might be on the cards next time and would work in with my wardrobe/lifestyle.
One of the features I LOVED most about this pattern are the gathered panels down the sides . I think the bodice could be lengthened and the peplum/skirt left off to make more of this feature as a top or even carried on down the sides of a straight skirt addition, turning it into a figure hugging style dress.
The fact that you can change the look of this pattern by overlaying different fabrics is an interesting option giving lots of scope for creativity- and is great for those of us who shop mainly in the thrift/fabric sale section! What was originally an offcut too small to make anything from suddenly becomes a feature panel :D
In case you missed the links above you can read more about the Gunmetal pattern (and follow the sew along) here at Lolita Patterns.
After the Sugar Plum dress and Fuschia skirt I'll be intrigued as to what they'll come up with next ;)
Definitely one to keep an eye on !
Happy Sewing!
Kate x
I'm on holidays at the moment (hooray working in a school environment!) and on my sewing table is a garment I have just finished as part of pattern testing for Lolita Patterns.
After putting my hand up here and there over the last 8 months for pattern testing I've been forced to reassess how I spend my sewing time, after all there is still only so much sewing one can do when raising little ones (well at least for me). As a result I have stepped back from pattern testing somewhat(some of my reasoning for it can be found in this post here), mostly to enable me to work on projects which need completing in order for me to have a [semi-somewhat] functioning wardrobe. This time however conditions have coincided (mainly that I had two weeks off work at the same time as the window of testing) to allow me to put myself forward for testing!!!
This project -while not exactly falling into my current rule of "super fast and easy" - is a design that's intriguing and unusual enough to make me want to give it a go....something completely different from what I usually would wear :D
Another reason why I signed up for this one was that I like the ethos behind Lolita Patterns- in that they decided to make their patterns in a wider range of sizes (up to a size 24 ) right from the get go! You can read about it here and here on the Lolita Patterns blog, posts which coincidentally helped me greatly in understanding better the dynamics of pattern drafting.
I can't wait to show you what I made from this latest pattern test. Submittal date is tomorrow so hopefully I will be able to post up pics of it soon, once the pattern is officially launched!
Stay tuned and...
Happy Sewing!
Kate :)
Late the other night (never a good time to sew) I was getting frustrated by my machine constantly pulling fabric down into the throat plate as I tried to hem my "Staple" dress (started during the May sewing Weekend Away).
After changing the bobbin, needle and rethreading twice I decided to give it away for the evening and try again later.
The next morning I woke up and remembered this post by Lolita Patterns on how to make a temporary straight stitch plate. Before reading this post I never even knew such a thing as a plate exclusively for straight stitching existed but now I do I'm wondering why all machines don't come with one...
Anyway as I do not have said plate for straight stitching - or any painters tape as was suggested in the post- I layered together some masking tape (for low tack) and cello tape (to add a bit more strength), and stuck it over the wide all-purpose (all stitch widths) hole on the throat plate.
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| Before taping |
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| After taping |
AND guess what? It worked!!!! I was able to sew the whole hem around without any of the slightly stretchy synthetic dress fabric getting drawn down or gnarls of thread catching.
Yay for using something I read on a sewing blog within 2 weeks of reading it! Usually this sort of stuff gets saved in my "favourites" folder and never looked at again.
I think I might go back and check out some of those old saved post links...you never know what awesome nuggets of sewing information you may have stumbled upon while browsing the web.
Happy sewing!
Kate :)
I am amazed by the amount of new independent pattern designers that are currently popping up all over the web - it seems like every other day I am finding or being referred links to new ones through social media such as facebook, Pinterest and Bloglovin.
Lolita Patterns is one such venture, a quick look at their site states their starting date as 2013 but already they have a very nicely designed brand logo and website.
At the moment they only have one pattern (The Fushia skirt) in their repertoire but it's a FREEBIE and covers sizes 0-26 (yes they sure do know how to grade up!), so I am thinking that this little number is going to be very popular!
They also have a sew along section with step-by-step instructions for sewing the pattern, so if you're new to dressmaking this might be the [free] pattern for you.
In the meantime...
Happy sewing all (and let me know if any of you make this skirt up!!!)
Kate :)
