Monday 24 August 2015

HTTP NP 404 - or "the shortcut is never the shortest way" - a pattern review

This is a short review of the pattern NP 404.

I had fallen in love with this Dress from the Danish National Museum in Copenhagen a loooong time ago... and dreamt about making my own version of it.


picture from here: http://natmus.dk/historisk-viden/temaer/modens-historie/1790-1840/hvid-brudekjole/

Because I had a sort of lazy phase I thought I'd spare myself the tiresome enlarging and printing and cutting and thinking and I just get the pattern NeheleniaPatterns NP404 which claims to be based on the exact robe. Too good to be true. That lovely gown without the work. Yep. And so it is.

The pattern is inspired by the above dress, but not the actual pattern of that dress.
The bodice and collar construction are quite different, in fact. (and as it is a chemise dress, that's all there is, really... so... )
Also the marks for folding the back/front piece are wrong and after figuring out that I had to look at the museum's pattern to know how to pleat it I've had enough, chucked that pattern into the next corner (which is what I would recommend to you, if you own it...) and used the free pdf from the museum (which I recommend to do).

Don't get me wrong, the pattern is usable, if you don't want exactly THAT Danish Dress but something that looks like it, and if you don't mind that some things are simply wrong (like the pleating guide for that pleated collar-thingy). But as I put quite a bit of effort into fitting my stuff (even if it doesn't show, but that's a completely different story) I find it annoying if a pattern 1. isn't what it claims to be and 2. causes more work than neccessary.
I even tried to get in touch with the pattern people, but after weeks without reply I presume there is no interest in an honest opinion. Which is quite a shame. But like friend said "HTTP404 - that should have made you think about it twice". Listen to your friends! ;)

And as we all know : the longest way between 2 points is the shortcut.

If you you want to know how the Original Danish Chemise Dress turn out... I am going to post about it soon here ----> http://hertzwerk-freiburg.blogspot.de/2015/09/danish-chemise-dress-1790s.html

Lots of love, beware of shortcuts, Hertzwerk



3 comments:

  1. Danke für diesen Bericht. Ich finde es immer großartig, wenn Museen so großzügig Schnitte von Originalen bereitstellen, das ist einfach der beste Weg, wenn man nah am Original arbeiten will.
    Ich bin schon außerordentlich gespannt auf Dein Ergebnis - sicher wird es zauberhaft!

    Sabine

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    1. Ich habe mich auch gefreut, wie viele Schnitte das Museum online gestellt hat, das ist wirklich schön. Ich habe das Probeexemplar des Leibchens schon fertig, den Schnitt verstanden, den Stoff vorgewaschen... bald geht es los. :) Ich freu mich schon richtig auf die Konstruktion, die ist sehr süss.

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  2. Gerade erst kürzlich bin ich wieder bei diesem Chemiesekleid hängengeblieben. Bin gespannt was Du zauberst. Das mit dem Schnitt tut mir leid. Das ist wirklich frustrierend.

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