In my last post I mentioned the t-shirt class I took at Sew to Speak. When we started laying out the pattern pieces on the fabric there were two pieces labeled "6". At that point we should have known that the instructions might not be the best. I'm sorry but that's not an "oops" kind of mistake. One was the short sleeve and the other the 3/4 length. And there was no piece #5 as is shown in the fabric lay out.
First step is to integrate twill tape into the shoulder seam to reduce stretching. I had to do this step at home because I spent the entire first class cutting out my t-shirt (Sally & I have been known to talk too much in class - enough said). Okay, I don't want stretched out shoulders so I can figure out how to sew it in. However...here's the instruction and accompanying drawing:
Excuuuuuse me? how the h%@# are you supposed to do that? I read every inch of the pattern and there was no additional guidance. I'm an experienced sewer but ended up watching a You Tube video posted by Professor Pincushion (honest; that's the name). Thank goodness I paid for the class and Pat Wax was the instructor. She's great. Very nice and knowledgeable. The next week in class I watched as she showed Sally how to sew on the twill tape. Different from the video, but just as effective.
The rest went very well until I got to Step 9 (there are only 13 steps for all of the options with the t-shirt):
"Finish seam" Seriously?? What does that mean? Once again no additional instructions. I'm a technical writer by trade and perhaps my expectations are too high. I know at work we struggle with the level at which we write our content; should it be for a rookie or someone more seasoned. In this case, the pattern designer was definitely expecting someone with experience.
My recommendation is that pattern designers have their designs sewn by people at different experience levels so it can be determined before the pattern is published if any additional steps are needed. (In my TWIG days I made a stuffed elephant only to realize that the pattern never indicated when to insert the arms; a definite faux pas for that poor little elephant!). Okay, I'm now getting off my soap box and putting it away hopefully for a long time!
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