A Take on Cake

So, I'm actually and FINALLY mostly caught up at work and I made my hours this week, which means I could leave at 2:30. I was home today by 3. Can I get a woohooo?!

But before I left, I bought and downloaded the PDF version of Cake Patterns new Red Velvet dress. I won't say where I printed it. Ahem.

Yes, I drank the Kool-Aid. Or ate the cake. Or whatever. ;-)

What follows are my first impressions before even cutting the pattern or fabric. I still have hopes for a nice dress in the end, and I don't want to bring down the wrath of the Cake "muses" and other devotees for what I'm about to say ... but so far ... I. Am. Not. Impressed.

In no particular order:

1. Why do I have to turn page after page of instructions to find my frickin' starting size?
2. Why are the adjustments (Proportions in Cakespeak) after the sewing instructions?
3. Lightning stitch? Really? Yeah, uh, no.
4. Staystitching a KNIT neckline?
5. Instructed to finish the "raw" and interfaced edges of a knit neckline facing?
6. Wide, floppy, neckline facings in a knit to begin with? Probably not even cutting THOSE pieces. :-)
7. This pattern is NOT for the full-busted no matter what someone says. Not without alteration for extra front length ... which starts out pretty darn short IMO. Edited to add: Yes, I know about the depth alteration, and I've also been playing some more with the different sizes for the bodice. But the sizing is weird to me without some deeper studying. Not sure yet if this is good or bad. Old dog, new tricks, etc.
8. Fast, but not professional, methods ... such as hemming the sleeves before the sideseams are sewn. Eww.
9. Why no hip measurements for me to take into account when picking cutting lines? It's got a skirt section ... I want to know its finished measurement. I'm not a sheep who will just cut and believe. ;-)
10. Pattern lines and markings in bad spots for printing tiled pages, and I have a LOT of experience with printing and then lining up tiled pages.
11. Weird markings in general. Why not use standard marks? The marks don't have to be unique just because you can. Inexperienced sewists won't know the difference, but those who've been sewing more than a minute will just get frustrated.
12. I don't think the midriff band meet-up seams are the same size. Will know better when I'm cutting.

I apologize to anyone that loves this pattern. In fact, in was probably because of YOUR blog post/trial that I bought it myself. :-) I've seen some great looking dresses! I hope the above is taken as constructive criticism and I will definitely come back and eat my words on anything I've got wrong in my initial gripe list, so stay tuned.



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