Sense and Sensibility: Girls Edwardian Apron E-pattern

Being a "Sometimes" sewer, with very little formal instruction beyond one year of 4-H when I was about 12 or 13.... I jumped at the opportunity to review Sense and Sensibility's e-pattern/e-class bundle for a Girls' Edwardian Apron.



I figured that it would be mostly simple lines, and not too many pieces to put together, so worth a shot.

Here's how it went:

• We watched the instructional slide-show (PDF "Slides" that follow an MP3 audio)I didn't get to watch it all, because "dinner" called, but DD watched while I was cooking.... she found it helpful to have everything described, and commented "We can watch it again, if we need to, right?" Yup!
  
• Printed up the pattern (25 sheets of regular 8.5X11 paper... I recommend printing on the "Economy setting" if your printer has one. Here's a tip.... we used "Scrap" paper to print the pattern on... that is, paper on which we've already used one side. Rather than throwing it out, I have a drawer for "Recycling" the paper, and using the back-side as well.. so "Scrap" paper)
• Read the e-pattern instructions.

Time to put the e-pattern together: 40 minutes

• We laid it out on the floor

• Taped it together using our storm door as a "light-box" to match up the lines on each page. DH came home to the "Apron sides" on the door, and was wondering what "THAT" was.... hoping it wasn't a broken window... ;)

• Cut out the individual pieces(15 minutes), and on to cutting the material(45 minutes to iron and cut)!

All told, it took about 4 hours to sew and 6 hours total to put it together, but keep in mind that some of that time was "instructional", since DD hasn't used a machine much... so between using pins, 1/4" bias tape, and hopping up to iron pieces, the amount of time wasn't unreasonable(Although a bit longer than I had planned).

Keep in mind, if you are planning to use the pattern more than once, the 4o minutes or so of piecing the paper together only need to be done once.

Here are some pics of how it turned out... We chose to make the size 14, so that DD can wear it for a number of years... and hey, Mom can even grab it quick if she needs to... ;)

Here are my thoughts regarding an e-pattern:
Pros:

• You can keep it on your computer, or a zip drive, storage is a snap!
• You can scale it to size for doll patterns
• You can transfer it easily to interfacing for a more durable pattern if you plan to make more than one or two aprons

Cons:

• It takes awhile to piece the paper pattern together, but considering that it really only took about 40 minutes, it wasn't that bad
• There were a few places where one has to use common sense to make the pieces line up, possibly due to printer vagaries....

Finally, the cost:
$24.95 for the bundle of the e-class and e-pattern, they are available seperately:
e-pattern $7.95
e-class $19.95
and for those who don't want to think about the pros and cons of an e-pattern, there is a hard copy version available for $12.95

One of *my* favorite things about doing this review: Because I had a deadline, my daughter now has a new apron... I have to work on "Getting around to" more things like this... what a lovely sense of accomplishment!

To see what other TOS reviewers had to say about their experiences with Sense and Sensibility's Girls' Edwardian Apron, please visit the TOS Crew Blog

Blessings~