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Clock-blocked: 1910s Peplum skirt #2

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It’s starting to look like I’ll be avoiding buying any more Reconstructing History patterns…

I bought 5, and so far have made up the following:

#1014 Riding breeches/jodhpurs, which were fine, if  over-sized, and the pattern instructions had a big bit missing,  Kass [the owner] was very helpful and sent me extra photos of the original garment [I gather she mostly drafts from extant items], and eventually I sussed it out.

#951 Equestrian skirt.  Oversized again, but fine, no issues with that one.

#950 Edwardian shirtwaists.  the black-and-white striped trainwreck.  Kass was again very helpful, but couldn’t work out what was wrong.  Eventually I found that the sleeve pieces were mislabelled, making them actually end up sideways.  Also there was no way the cuffs could have gone round anyone above child sized.  I abandoned that one, and binned the pattern, buying the Truly Victorian counterpart.

#1031 1910s peplum skirt.  Cut out, peplum pieces bagged out, skirt [again over-sized] has been fitted to my corseted shape, which removed nearly 4″ from the waistline.  On trying to attach the peplum however, problems.

The instructions say to catch the short front edge into the long darts, which I’d read, so didn’t do anything beyond overlocking to stop the fraying.

The back edge however is much longer, and it just says to ‘catch into the back opening’.  This opening, for the placket, is only 6″ long, so I assumed that they would be caught entirely into the CB seam, and again, just overlocked to neaten.

First problem:  the dotted line on the pattern for placing the lower peplum…not long enough [or peplum too short, either way.  I dealt with this by raising the peplum so that the dotted line matched to the stitching line, and got a reasonable match.  Fudgeable.

Then the top peplum, which matches to the waistline [remember, I’d removed 4″ here, so expected to cut some away from the peplum].  Er.  No.  The edges come nowhere near the CB opening.  Like, there’s a 5″ GAP between the raw edges.

This skirt should have been a breeze.  I rarely make toiles, and certainly not for skirts, just opting for a slightly larger size to allow for twiddling.  This skirt was fabric hungry, as the peplum pieces are pretty much quarter circles, and you have to get the skirt semi-assembled to check size before attaching them.

Not a happy Fairy.

I have contacted Kass again, and await a response.  This fabric was NOT CHEAP and I will be spitting if it’s wasted!

Also, what the flying fook is this extra line on the pattern piece?

23 thoughts on “Clock-blocked: 1910s Peplum skirt #2”

  1. Åiaiaiai…not good. Doesn’t help much if she’s helpful, but her patterns are crap. I hope you’ll be able to save it. Could you add to the peplum? Is its length the only problem with this skirt now? Anyway, sounds like those patterns need to be both redrafted and properly tested. Honestly, with all the feedback you give, you should be rewarded.

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    1. I just took the tape measure to the pieces. Waist quoted, 38″. Main pattern pieces more like 48″, peplum top edge under 30″ [fast measuring] Jesus wept

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      1. Wow. That’s rather serious. You paid for these patterns, the least you can expect is that they go together like supposed! I mean, the fit may be off, they might be drafted for a body very different to yours, but this… One good thing comes from this, though: I’ll never buy one of those patterns! So you’ve saved me, and I bet a few others who’ve read about your woes, from spending our money on patterns that don’t work. It feels like there’s a really good idea there, but not enough knowledge and/or craftmanship to bring it to fruition.

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      2. Since I boufght these, I’ve read a lot of negative comments invaious costume/historical groups, most saying ‘steer clear’. As I’d already got them, and the first two were OK, I thought I’d give the benefit of the doubt. Now I’ll be adding my voice to the rest. Better customer service than Hot Patterns, but no better drafting or quality control!

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    1. Yep. there’s plenty of negative comment about them, but having had two successes I thought it was a reasonable gamble. And who toiles skirts? 10″ excess in the drafting is way beyond ‘poor’ though. I let the last one go, but not this time. My only save will be to patch pieces into the back, and that pisses me off with pricey fabric. I’m certainly not buying more!

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  3. Not good! It’s gorgeous fabric too, hope you can rescue something from it. I rarely make toiles, the most I do is to make the lining first for a bodice occaisionally.

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  4. May I put in a plea for doing something other than bin lining with the clock fabric pieces if you can’t save the original idea? Too nice to chuck.

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    1. No way I chuck any fabric, and I can’t abandon this. I’m going to try to pattern match and piece extensions into the back, although I’m not happy about it. If not feasible, I’ll recut one peplum in contrast. I was going to do that originally, but spent the cash and bought extra instead…I’d hate to waste that!

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  5. I was going to suggest a contrast peplum, I see you’ve thought of that already. Ever the optimist, I would’ve assumed if the pattern was a bit off I’d be able to fudge it, but there’s fudging and fudging and this is a major cock up, you should ask for a refund and definitely leave a review. We live and learn.

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  6. Oh nooooo 😦 That’s so frustrating. Especially so as you’ve cut in to the good fabric. I’d ask for compensation for the cost of the fabric too! What’s the plan – just fudge as much as possible? Or will you have to abandon and make something else from the fabric?

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  7. Oh, that’s so frustrating! I had been considering those patterns, but found copies of the original cutting/drafting guides online, and thought I’d try drafting it up myself someday. Unfortunately I’m having little luck finding the source now; if your Google fu is stronger than mine, maybe you’d have luck with ‘thortons international cutting peplum skirt’. I’m sure you’d do well with it; my husband said it was the first logical pattern drafting he’d ever seen. 🙂

    I suspect that Reconstructing History is simply taking those (very ‘mathy’) instructions and just bodging something together instead of doing proper pattern grading and testing.

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    1. They definitely don’t test properly, no way this could have passed. And I’ve looked at the grading- as this is their ‘I’, the 9th size up the scale, and is a hobble skirt, slightly restricting my stride, I dread to think what the smallest size would do- the grading is equal all down each pattern piece. I’ll try finding that guide, thanks!

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      1. Glad I could help! I’m interested to see your results.

        I hope it does work out for you. There seems to be lots of styles of all sorts of different garments using Thornton’s International System. If the drafting instructions are accurate, you could make up all sorts of lovely things.

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      2. I e tried a dummy run, scaled down, and t’s OK but really you need the main instruction page as there seem to be gaps in the directions. I assume some measurements are taken as standard, and not repeated. I haven’t managed to find a copy of that section yet though. Thanks again!

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  8. That is bloody awful about your pattern. You kind of expect too much ease in places with the Big 4 but (usually) all their bits go together. You would think that patterns would be tested on at least a couple of sizes before being released. I sincerely hope that you can save your good fabric. This skirt looks like it will be wonderful and I am sure that you will be able to piece it no problem. Still, Grrrrrrrrrrr. 😦 Xx

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  9. I hope the cat (and Dawn) have come out of hiding. I imagine you were spitting tacks after this. It’s one thing if a pattern doesn’t fit a particular body BUT THE PIECES SHOULD AT LEAST FIT IN PLACE WITH EACH OTHER!
    I will certainly avoid this brand if I ever need historical patterns.

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