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Love To Sew Studio
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PATTERN CRITIQUE &
REVIEW for VOGUE 8498 |
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An analysis of patterns by Simplicity,
Butterick, McCall's, Vogue, and more. |
Vogue 8498
Misses and Misses Petite Pants, Claire Schaeffer
The Good:
The thing I like most
about this pattern is how personable the directions feel. The
pattern designer wrote an introduction and gave many hints about
what works for her when making trousers that were dispersed
throughout. She explained not only how to do the step, but
why--something I feel is sorely missed in most pattern
directions. The directions also include explanations of how to
execute couture techniques--like hand-sewn buttonholes and making
a French fly.
This is a perfect pattern
for a more experienced home sewer who is interested in taking on a
challenge and learning a few new techniques. And while the results
are satisfying, they’re more of a secret, subtle satisfaction than
an obvious shout-out. The details are inside--they’re in the
carefully constructed lining, the French fly, and the
near-invisible pockets.
The Bad:
Don’t be fooled by Vogue’s
difficulty guidelines. As most experienced sewers already know,
Vogue’s Easy, Average, and Advanced levels are not the equivalent of
the other pattern companies--they’re much more difficult! This project
is rated Average, but it’s much more advanced than your average
Simplicity, Butterick, or McCall’s. Take that into consideration when
tackling this project.
My Project:
I have always been
deterred from making trousers because of how difficult they are to
make. I’ve been told many times to not even bother. For many
women, finding pants with the perfect fit is nearly impossible,
and that is true for me as well. I decided to attempt it “just to
see,” not expecting the outcome to be a good one. In this case, I
didn’t even make it in muslin first--which was highly encouraged
in the directions (so that I could know ahead of time if I would
need to adjust the rise, etc). Luckily for me, it worked out just
fine. (But I would still recommend not being so lazy and making it
in muslin first.) I would say that the trousers were very
time-consuming and required thought, but they weren’t necessary
difficult.
Even though I was
reluctant to, I decided to follow the directions exactly, and do
even the steps that seemed unnecessary, like thread-tracing (using
a machine baste stitch) all the seamlines and other markings with
white thread. This turned out to be incredibly helpful when
aligning the fly, crotch, and figuring out the different pleats
across the waistline. Chalk would just not have done the job. It
was rather useless for the long side seams and inner legs seams
(as I know where the 5/8” is), but in general, I’m glad I did it,
and I would likely have not finished the pants if I had not.
I made my pants out of a
brown-colored tweed. They have an old-school feel and remind me of
an English scholar, as well as (for some reason) the Frog
and Toad books that
I loved as a child. This may sound like a bad thing, but it’s
really, really not. I’m happy with them.
If you’ve made this project and would like to share your work, send
us pictures! We will be happy to post them here. Also, if you have
anything else to add in regards to the critique of this pattern, we
would love to hear. For both pictures and comments,
email us
Thanks for reading.
:-) Jessica
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