Okay, lesson officially learned. DOWNLOADABLE PATTERNS: NOT EVEN ONCE.
Especially not from the big three. Oy vey. Even before the horrendous, soul-sucking jigsaw puzzle that is assembling your pattern pieces from about a jillion pieces of 8.5×11″ paper, the PrintSew user experience is NOT one to write home about. Unless you really like to convey a sense of desperation and rage to the people at home, I guess.
Anywho, I downloaded and put together the pattern pieces (10! Oof!) for the bathrobe portion of this jammies set, and cut the size small (it’s a unisex pattern). The pattern is drafted for a woven flannel/fleece-type fabric, but because I am a wack job, I decided to stitch it up in a super-soft and cuddly rayon doubleknit.
Surprisingly, this didn’t wind up being too much of a PITA except for attaching the collar facing portions. The weird angles at which they were cut made no sense, so I just stitched them as best I could and got a sort of weird, ripply, collar-thing.
But the nice part? I picked this project to be my veritable “intro to knits” because I didn’t really care if it came out looking like a beauty queen, so long as it was wearable. And you know what? It is. It’s precisely what I wanted… a big, cozy blanket of a garment that covers all the pertinent bits when I’m going from shower to bedroom. It has pockets, and I put in a locker loop (though since it’s also rayon doubleknit, it’s usefulness is somewhat truncated), and the sleeves and bottom hem hit me exactly where I want them to. As much as it looks like a big sloppy mess, I am happy with it. And it also taught me that sewing seams with knits is not that scary. Which was vital for the second project I managed to turn out this past weekend… but more on that tomorrow.
9 Comments
Colleen
I am in the process of making the same robe, from the packaged pattern, and have the sane comment about the fitting of the collar to the robe. In fact I was searching to find someone else who has made this robe to see if it was me, since I am a beginner. I was dismayed at the straight edges moving into corners, and curves, and even with a woven fabric (satin brocade, but satin was on the recommended list), how impossible it was to get everything to fit together. Certainly was not easy, and I hope mine turns out, as I am making it as a gift for my mom.
Audrey
Yeah, those pieces did NOT make any sense to me. How did your mom’s end up turning out?
Sharon
Agree. I’m looking for advice on how to do the collar as I’m making several for a show’s costumes.
Miss Audrey
I’m not sure I really have much help to offer. š Other than, it felt like that pattern piece was backwards to me.
Sheryl Carls
Yeah, I am getting back into sewing after several years and chose this pattern. NOT LIKING the collar at all and the pictures are worthless! Any suggestions?
Miss Audrey
Given all the trouble people have been having with this, I wonder if either a) the collar piece is oriented backwards, so the “pointy bits” should NOT be sewn to the fronts of the robe as described, or b) it might just be drafted totally wrong. I’d almost recommend using a French curve to just draft all those points into a smooth curve and call it a day. At least then you’ll end up with something easier to stitch that will just look like a normal shawl/rolled collar.
Ruth
I am in the process of making this robe and have had exactly the same experience with the collar as you all. I kept second guessing myself thinking “I must have gone wrong somewhere because it just doesn’t look right”. Anyway, I have persevered and found it helped me to put the gown on my tailor’s dummy and have a play with how the color should sit. I then figured out that it needs to be folded back on itself towards the inside behind the neck and the square cut out shape meets up with the inside hem which you then need to sew together. I’m now stuck again on the sleeves, I’ve only ever made sleeves when the side seams were already sewn up before so this is making my head hurt. Any tips gratefully received!
Miss Audrey
Honestly it’s been such an age since I made this robe (and it’s been sitting in the cabbage patch for almost as long, quite honestly!) that I can’t remember too much more about its construction. But I’m hoping you have better luck!
Theresa Kiefer
I have made this pattern 5 times now and still donāt understand the collar. The sleeves donāt appear to line up (the diamonds never do) but I have made the work by starting to pin at each end toward the middle, it always appears as though there is too much sleeve for the armhole but I always manage to stretch/ease them together. Probably this advice is too late, but maybe not for the next hapless sewer.