for the record
May. 12th, 2009 11:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dragonlady7So I'm sort of mid-project on all kinds of things and one of the many things is RH407, Reconstructing History's Turkish Dancer pattern.
I have all the fabric, though none of the notions, to make it. The gomlek (shirt) would be made of silk, since I have 5 yds of white habotai silk that's too sheer to use for much, except maybe linings. It seems like making a shirt from it would be nice. Though some seem to think that would be a terrible idea.
But I figure, I have it, I'll try it.
However.
The instructions gave me so much trouble I set it aside to come back to. It doesn't say how long to make the side panels, and the diagram makes it seem like the sides should be longer than the front/back (since they extend under the arms), but the cutting layout clearly shows the side to be shorter. The pattern has dashed lines that say "extend to correct length" so that's not really helpful in the slightest.
The directions are ambiguous. The directions also make reference to another page that explains the different types of caftans, but no such page exists. And then the directions say that optionally, you can join the edges of the gomlek seams with insertion stitch. There's two whole pages of stitches at the back of the packet, that are all illustrated, but no insertion stitch.
I wrote to the owner of RH about it, asking, but she only answered some of the questions, telling me to buy the Historical Notes if I wanted to know more, etc. I was really annoyed, because the pattern was $30 and the Historical Notes are an additional $15. She assured me I could use the pattern without them. But I still don't know a) how long the side panels are supposed to be relative to the main body panels-- since I haven't time and a source of free fabric, it's not like I can really make a muslin to find out; the silk was pretty cheap, but it's not in the budget to replace it-- b) don't know what insertion stitch is, and c) don't know what the hell the difference is between the yelek/enteri/caftan and since they're not standard terms can't Google it.
But insertion stitch, you can Google. It's an embroidery stitch, not normally used for sewing or seams.
Which is the point of this post.
For the record, insertion stitch is a complete bitch -- it is nearly impossible. If anyone really does use it for the long seams of the sleeves and body of this garment, I would be amazed. I just did a one-inch-long sample strip and it took me 20 minutes and came out looking like dog vomit.
I do plan on properly dress-diarying the Turkish outfit if I manage to do it. I just have to overcome the formidable obstacle of my immense frustration with the directions. I paid $30 for this dang pattern and am really struggling with the fact that I'm used to things I find free online with photos. It's probably a cultural issue. I don't want to try again to write to the owner because the conversation about my spending another $15 to buy yet another booklet didn't go so smoothly and she will undoubtedly dismiss my questions yet again as buyer's remorse.
But really, I just want the pattern to tell me what the relative sizes of the pieces are supposed to be. That's all I really want. A picture of how it's supposed to look might help. If I am going to go to all the effort to do this fiendish insertion stitch, I'd really like to have a clear idea of what effect I'm going for, precisely. But I don't know anyone who has made anything like this, and I bought the pattern because this is NOT my era or my field of interest, and don't want to do the research myself-- I just want a reasonable outfit. Doing the research I'd need to do to be sure I was achieving the proper effect would completely negate the entire point of having purchased the damn pattern.
Bleh.
I have all the fabric, though none of the notions, to make it. The gomlek (shirt) would be made of silk, since I have 5 yds of white habotai silk that's too sheer to use for much, except maybe linings. It seems like making a shirt from it would be nice. Though some seem to think that would be a terrible idea.
But I figure, I have it, I'll try it.
However.
The instructions gave me so much trouble I set it aside to come back to. It doesn't say how long to make the side panels, and the diagram makes it seem like the sides should be longer than the front/back (since they extend under the arms), but the cutting layout clearly shows the side to be shorter. The pattern has dashed lines that say "extend to correct length" so that's not really helpful in the slightest.
The directions are ambiguous. The directions also make reference to another page that explains the different types of caftans, but no such page exists. And then the directions say that optionally, you can join the edges of the gomlek seams with insertion stitch. There's two whole pages of stitches at the back of the packet, that are all illustrated, but no insertion stitch.
I wrote to the owner of RH about it, asking, but she only answered some of the questions, telling me to buy the Historical Notes if I wanted to know more, etc. I was really annoyed, because the pattern was $30 and the Historical Notes are an additional $15. She assured me I could use the pattern without them. But I still don't know a) how long the side panels are supposed to be relative to the main body panels-- since I haven't time and a source of free fabric, it's not like I can really make a muslin to find out; the silk was pretty cheap, but it's not in the budget to replace it-- b) don't know what insertion stitch is, and c) don't know what the hell the difference is between the yelek/enteri/caftan and since they're not standard terms can't Google it.
But insertion stitch, you can Google. It's an embroidery stitch, not normally used for sewing or seams.
Which is the point of this post.
For the record, insertion stitch is a complete bitch -- it is nearly impossible. If anyone really does use it for the long seams of the sleeves and body of this garment, I would be amazed. I just did a one-inch-long sample strip and it took me 20 minutes and came out looking like dog vomit.
I do plan on properly dress-diarying the Turkish outfit if I manage to do it. I just have to overcome the formidable obstacle of my immense frustration with the directions. I paid $30 for this dang pattern and am really struggling with the fact that I'm used to things I find free online with photos. It's probably a cultural issue. I don't want to try again to write to the owner because the conversation about my spending another $15 to buy yet another booklet didn't go so smoothly and she will undoubtedly dismiss my questions yet again as buyer's remorse.
But really, I just want the pattern to tell me what the relative sizes of the pieces are supposed to be. That's all I really want. A picture of how it's supposed to look might help. If I am going to go to all the effort to do this fiendish insertion stitch, I'd really like to have a clear idea of what effect I'm going for, precisely. But I don't know anyone who has made anything like this, and I bought the pattern because this is NOT my era or my field of interest, and don't want to do the research myself-- I just want a reasonable outfit. Doing the research I'd need to do to be sure I was achieving the proper effect would completely negate the entire point of having purchased the damn pattern.
Bleh.
