Wow. I cannot thank you enough for all of the constructive criticism I received on my first pattern, Amerson, yesterday. For the entire day, I was moving about nervously. “Please don’t receive a comment saying it sucks, please don’t receive a comments saying it sucks.” You put a lot of faith in me for my pattern making skills and if I didn’t create the pattern correctly, I was worried that you would doubt all the tips, tricks, and insider info I have given you thus far.
If I had to grade myself, I would have received a C, which, if you have seen the movie Perks Of A Wallflower (it’s been playing on repeat in Chateu Madalynne), I’m above average. Hey, that’s pretty damn good! I have many updates to make but I am confident that with the release of my next pattern, I will receive an A+. I hope that you will be continue along for the ride until then.
I wanted to address some of the comments, tips, suggestions I received yesterday.
Misprint: There was a misprint on the pattern that was initially released. Both front and back patterns were labeled “front.” The pattern was updated as of 02/11/13.
Summary of terms/glossary: Because the pattern was so simple and straightforward, I did not include a glossary or summary of terms. But I realized words that are everyday jargon to me are not to you (i.e. yield). I will add a glossary/summary of terms, which will be a great addition because it will refresh my memory of the definition of basic terms and it will teach you industry terms.
Different line strokes: Again, because of the simplicity of the pattern, I did not vary the line/dash thickness or spacing from size to size. I halfway credit this to my tendency/weakness to favor the design over the function. I like the look of a graded/nested pattern that has the same line/dash thickness and spacing. It’s clean. Going forward, I will vary line/dash thickness and spacing to make it easier to cut and to decipher between sizes.
Hip measurement: Many commenters said that they couldn’t make Amerson because their hip measurements exceeded the hip measurement of the largest size – XL, which on my measurement sheet, is speced at 40”. I was afraid of this. Because the shirring ratio is so high, the finished measurement and measurement chart are smaller than normal (the finished waist spec for a size XL is 16 ½”). This needs further explanation. When I worked in technical design, a lot of the tops and dresses had smocked panels. These types of garments always made us nervous because the finished measurements would measure smaller than a normal garment and if there was a problem with the fit when the garment hit the stores, we were tied to those number and could get in big trouble (i.e. “You approved the garment for production with those measurements!”). We could be blamed for a 10,000+ piece order not selling. No pressure or anything. To put this into perspective, if the chest spec of our sample size was between 17” and 18,” then the chest spec on a garment that had smocking at the chest could be as low as 13”-14.” But this is because when the garment was worn, the smocking panel would allow the garment to stretch out and “meet spec.” So if you’re worried that this pattern won’t fit you because it’s too small, try tying ¼” elastic around your low hip and leg opening and sewing Amerson with that elastic measurement. Your pair of undies might not be as ruched as mine (it’s shirring ratio won’t be as high), but the pattern itself is big enough to fit bigger sizes. Does this make sense?
Metric Measurements: Duh Maddie! Why didn’t you include this? Noted for all future patterns.
