On Inna's recommendation I decided to test Ralph Pink Patterns for the month of April. (I know it's no longer April :). I have written about him on my blog before and had been wanting to try his patterns for some time. Enter A Year in Indie Pattens and I finally get around to trying one of his patterns.
At first it was difficult to find a pattern I liked in my size, but eventually I settled on this shirt dress from the Catwalk/Trend Collection from 2012.
The style of this shirt dress is a little more body conscious and fashion forward than my usual style, but I enjoyed the idea of trying something new - something I would ordinarily not sew for myself. But that's all part of the point of a challenge, I guess.
After some FBA-ing and resizing, the dress came together nicely, but read more on my experience with this pattern in my little review below.
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| Source |
The style of this shirt dress is a little more body conscious and fashion forward than my usual style, but I enjoyed the idea of trying something new - something I would ordinarily not sew for myself. But that's all part of the point of a challenge, I guess.
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| Two back darts create nice waist shaping |
After some FBA-ing and resizing, the dress came together nicely, but read more on my experience with this pattern in my little review below.
REVIEW: Ralph Pink Patterns
PATTERN TESTED:
Shirt Dress RP049, PDF Pattern, £ 9.99
ABOUT THE PATTERNS:
The UK based Ralph Pink Patterns offer patterns with a completely different style than the usual vintage-inspired ranges of other independent pattern companies. The patterns seem more contemporary and fashion forward, and there are also a lot of corset and unusual undergarment patterns on offer, which can otherwise be difficult to find. All his patterns are available in PDF format only.
MY NOTES:
SIZING - The sizing of Ralph Pink Patterns is more limited than with other independent pattern companies I have tried so far. I have to sew a size 14 at the top with FBA, and a 16 from the waist down - and that's the biggest size there is. If you are any bigger than me, these patterns won't work for you. Also, most patterns from the Couture collection come only in a very limited number of sizes, few of which fit me. That's a shame, because I'd really like to try his tights or girdle.
PATTERN SHEET - The pattern sheet was great to print and put together. I love that each size comes in a separate PDF file. This makes the file you end up printing smaller, the sticking together easier and because there aren't too many lines, both seam and seam allowance lines are included, so it's easy to see what's going on and how to alter it. Seam allowances were 1cm throughout for this pattern.
Also, no matter what size you buy, you get all sizes for that pattern in separate PDF files, so if you needed a different size for top and bottom, you can still print both.
Full print outs for printing at a copy shop are also provided for each size, which is a great extra, and nice for those who don't like to stick together A4 pages.
INSTRUCTIONS - The instructions come in a separate PDF file and are illustrated throughout but have no photos.
The illustrations were very clear but some vital information was left out.
For example, there is no reference to sewing on buttons or making buttonholes on either the instructions or the pattern, hence I just guessed where to put my buttons. I know where buttonholes and buttons are meant to go from experience and had no problem doing this without help from the instruction or pattern, but if you were less experienced, you would want that information to be there. After all, this pattern is rated with a difficulty of 2 out of 5 and should therefore be suitable for relative beginners.
I would not recommend this pattern to beginners. Too much is implied in the instructions and necessitates a lot more prior knowledge than a beginner would have.
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The illustrations were very clear but some vital information was left out.
For example, there is no reference to sewing on buttons or making buttonholes on either the instructions or the pattern, hence I just guessed where to put my buttons. I know where buttonholes and buttons are meant to go from experience and had no problem doing this without help from the instruction or pattern, but if you were less experienced, you would want that information to be there. After all, this pattern is rated with a difficulty of 2 out of 5 and should therefore be suitable for relative beginners.
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| I could use another button at the top to make this less revealing. |
I would not recommend this pattern to beginners. Too much is implied in the instructions and necessitates a lot more prior knowledge than a beginner would have.
LACK OF PHOTOS - Only the corsets in Ralph Pink's pattern shop have recently had photos added along with pattern illustrations. None of the other patterns have photos of finished sample garments. Despite the nice illustrations, this makes it a little harder to visualize each pattern.
These are the only "previews" or images you get if you were interested in making this jumpsuit pattern:
These are the only "previews" or images you get if you were interested in making this jumpsuit pattern:
FOCUS ON "HIGH" FASHION - I can easily see how bigger, or "non-standard" (for lack of a better word), sizes may feel alienated by Ralph Pink Patterns. The illustrations show the clothes on traditionally skinny and elongated figurines and the corset samples were photographed on an equally ideal model size. There is nothing wrong with that - and Ralph Pink clearly comes from a fashion design background. However, I can see how some sewers might be put off by both the lack of realistic illustrations/sample photos and bigger sizes.
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| The corset model |
CONCLUSION:
All in all I was happy enough working with these patterns, but can unfortunately not find another pattern I like in my size. A lot of his patterns seem more suitable for slimmer, younger figures with a tendency for more figure-hugging and skin-revealing patterns. That's not really my cup of tea. Perhaps I would wear these types of clothes if I had more occasions for glamorous outfits, but in my day to day, my clothes need to be pretty functional with no wardrobe malfunctions guaranteed.
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JOIN IN!
If you have made up a pattern by Ralph Pink Patterns, share your review and/or project via the A-Year-in-Indie-Patterns Pinterest Board. Just drop me a line via email or in the comments with your e-mail address, so I can add you as a pinner to the board. Would love to see other people's results with these patterns!