I Answered The Pattern Tester Call

Daniela Gutierrez-Diaz of On the Cutting Floor wanted testers for the "Adeline Dress and Shirt" pattern and I answered the call.  I have to say I had no idea what I was getting myself into but I can say I enjoyed the ride once I was done.

Okay I admit the back yoke had me ready to quit only because I forgot operative word "pattern tester".  After a couple of suggestions I made my way through it.

View A

View B

View C

View D

How I Did It

Testers were given the pattern with the option of printing on a standard home printer or having it printed at a copy shop.  The last time I had a pattern printed it cost me about $20 dollars so as much as I hate piecing patterns together I decided to print at home.

I chose to make View C in a size 22 using a cotton print that I had in my stash.  There were 33,  8 1/2 by 11 sheets of paper.  My first pleasant surprise was how easy it was to piece the pattern together.  The pattern contained half diamonds that you placed together and all I can say is soooooooo easy.

Once I got all the pieces taped I was somewhat intimidated by the sharp angles on the pattern.  My mind went back to a pattern from one of the big 4 pattern companies that had somewhat similar pieces and it did not go well with that pattern (I tossed it in the trash).

Back Side Panel from Printed Pattern

As I looked at the pattern what struck me was the unique (to me) shape of the pattern pieces.  Instead darts in the front/back the pattern designer use sharp angles.  The sleeve had 2 pieces with a dart in the "middle" of it.  The collar was also unique.

Most of the feedback I gave to the pattern designer consisted of missing grain lines.  The biggest issue I ran into was the back and back yoke - the pieces did not fit and she was made aware and I believe adjustments have already been made to the pattern.

I chose not to make any adjustments to the pattern because I wanted to focus solely on testing the pattern and the sewing tutorial.  The sewing tutorial were well written but the tutorial was not designed for a beginning sewer.  Some things like darts and easing weren't even covered and you had to know how to sew it.  That said I thought the pattern was pretty simple.

After all pattern pieces taped together I traced the size 22 onto pattern paper.

I started working on the front bodice and experienced no real issues with it.  My only real deviation was I used my serger as much as possible when sewing all the pieces.

Center Front and Front Side Panel

I sewed the center back and the 2 side panels and experience no real issues with it.

Center Back and Back Side Panel

Now the back yoke made me want to call it quits but then I remembered I made a commitment to test this pattern.

When I tried to put the back yoke onto the back bodice I realized the back bodice was about 1 1/4" bigger the the back yoke.After messaging with the pattern designer she realized there was a problem and made notes to adjust the pattern.

One of the other tester said she stretched the back bodice and back yoke to fit. She cut the back yoke on the bias to get maximum stretch.  I did not cut my back yoke on the bias but the way it is designed it gives you pretty good stretch so I stretched my pieces to fit and afterwards decided I did not like the look.  But now the fabric for both the back yoke and back bodice was stretched out of shape.

After several very frustrating tries I finally ended up starting with a new back yoke, removing about 2" from the back bodice (divided it up between the 2 back side panel seams that connected with the center back), and trimming about 3/8" from the top of the center back.  After these modifications I was able to get the back yoke to lay relatively straight on the back bodice.

Back Yoke, Center Back, and Back Side Panel

The sleeves were pretty easy.  I did not realize that I sewed the upper sleeve to the wrong edge of the bottom sleeve on one of them until I got ready to attach it to the shirt bodice.  The picture below shows this mistake.  The other deviation I took here was to sew in the sleeves before I attached the front to the back at the side seams.  It is much easier sewing in the sleeve flat then when you have to sew in a "circle".

Upper and Bottom Sleeve

I did not experience any issues with the collar.

Collar and Under Collar

To make my life easier I traced the seam with a heat removable marker on the sharp collar angles before sewing the seam.

The pattern only showed 3 buttonholes.  I added one at the very top (this was mentioned in the sewing tutorial) and an additional buttonhole at the bottom.

I used Sulky's 30 weight cotton thread to do all my top stitching.  The stitching on the collar is good but the top stitching on the rest of the shirt is a hot mess.  It is a good thing the print makes it hard to see the top stitching otherwise I would have had to remove it.  Actually the fabric makes it hard to see most of the detail of the shirt.

Conclusion

This was my very first experience testing a pattern and I was extremely nervous.  Overall I am glad I answered the call.  Although I did not make any adjustments because I wanted to focus on the pattern, I still have a wearable shirt.  It is not a perfect fit but it is still wearable for me.

The next time I test a pattern I will make all my normal adjustments so it fits me like it should.