The Lakeshore Dress by Birdsong Patterns
/Yesterday we were at the Seaside, and today we are at the Lakeshore... I love all of these names, they just make me think of summer vacation and amazing memories! Today we are sharing a review of the Lakeshore Halter Dress by Birdsong Patterns. This is a wonderfully twirly number made with knit so that your girls can comfortably dance the day away. And Birdsong is graciously offering all of our readers 15% off with the code: Revolution15 in her Etsy Shop today through 7/18. She is also placing 3 of these PDF's up for you to win, how great is that (*and if anyone purchases the pattern and wins, she will extend a full refund - talk about customer service!)
- This review was completed by a 3rd party objective reviewer who received a complimentary copy of the pattern in order to complete the review. Neither Pattern Revolution nor the reviewer received any additional compensation for this review.
Now take it away Jessica....
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Hi! My name is Jessica and I'm the owner of a little shop called Snickerdoodle Stew. I've done pattern tests and contests, but never a pattern review! So pull up a seat, grab a cup of coffee and join me as I tell you all about the Lakeshore Halter Dress from Birdsong Patterns!
I have not done many patterns with knits, so in the excitement of grabbing my first pattern review, I kind of overlooked that fact that it was made out of knit and later thought, "What did I get myself into?!?!" I was quickly comforted by the amount of information that Deanna gives you for working with knits for this pattern. Some people don't like a lot of information in their patterns and they like them short and sweet. For me, I needed as much information as possible in this area! Not only does she give you the ins and outs of sewing with knits, but she also gives you a list of resources for purchasing the materials mentioned in the tutorial. I don't have to go around searching for everything and it's all in one place!
The pattern was very easy to read and the pictures were a great visual aid. I would say that this is a great pattern for someone who is comfortable in their sewing skills but new to dabbling in knits. There is a lot of information, so I would recommend reading it through at least once to familiarize yourself with all of the techniques. This will help you to not skip over something that might be unexpected and then have to start over or waste materials.
Which reminds me of a funny story! I'm usually a pattern nerd and read patterns on my Nook Tablet before bed to kind of walk through what I'll be doing when I sew. I did NOT take my own advice this time! I ended up cutting the skirt on TWO folds so that there was one huge circle instead of 2 half circles to sew together. It worked out fine, but it could have been a disaster! I think you can tell from the amazing photos that it would matter either way.
The best part about this dress was that the lines are simple and classic...nothing uber trendy that will be out of style next week. It's also a very quick sew. I think the actual sewing time was less than 2 hours, and I'm pretty slow and don't have a serger- which is another perk- you can sew on any machine! There are not many downsides to this pattern, with the exception of the fact that there is a block of 18 pages to print, cut, tape and cut again. I don't know if you can even call that a downside, though, since that's just life with PDF patterns that have a defined shape to them. This is also a dress that might not be ideal for school dress codes, but I can see this being totally cute paired with a simple, lettuce-edge sleeved tee. Also, a lot of knits seem to have a striped pattern on them and I'm not a huge fan of stripes on a circle skirt, so for me, finding a knit in a local shop (because of time constraints) was sort of hard. I did end up finding this gorgeous heathered fabric on the clearance rack at JoAnn. It was 50% off last week and I loved it so much that I went back and bought the rest of the bolt. (Sorry, Clarksville!) It turned out perfect, so I guess it was meant to be!
After this first-time experience with Birdsong patterns, I am definitely checking out the other patterns in her shop! If you're new to knits or scared of them, take the leap, buy this dress, and sew something fabulous! I'd also like to give a huge thanks and shout out to my photographer, Rebecca Cummings, from Prima Luce Photography, for the amazing images!
I have not done many patterns with knits, so in the excitement of grabbing my first pattern review, I kind of overlooked that fact that it was made out of knit and later thought, "What did I get myself into?!?!" I was quickly comforted by the amount of information that Deanna gives you for working with knits for this pattern. Some people don't like a lot of information in their patterns and they like them short and sweet. For me, I needed as much information as possible in this area! Not only does she give you the ins and outs of sewing with knits, but she also gives you a list of resources for purchasing the materials mentioned in the tutorial. I don't have to go around searching for everything and it's all in one place!
The pattern was very easy to read and the pictures were a great visual aid. I would say that this is a great pattern for someone who is comfortable in their sewing skills but new to dabbling in knits. There is a lot of information, so I would recommend reading it through at least once to familiarize yourself with all of the techniques. This will help you to not skip over something that might be unexpected and then have to start over or waste materials.
Which reminds me of a funny story! I'm usually a pattern nerd and read patterns on my Nook Tablet before bed to kind of walk through what I'll be doing when I sew. I did NOT take my own advice this time! I ended up cutting the skirt on TWO folds so that there was one huge circle instead of 2 half circles to sew together. It worked out fine, but it could have been a disaster! I think you can tell from the amazing photos that it would matter either way.
The best part about this dress was that the lines are simple and classic...nothing uber trendy that will be out of style next week. It's also a very quick sew. I think the actual sewing time was less than 2 hours, and I'm pretty slow and don't have a serger- which is another perk- you can sew on any machine! There are not many downsides to this pattern, with the exception of the fact that there is a block of 18 pages to print, cut, tape and cut again. I don't know if you can even call that a downside, though, since that's just life with PDF patterns that have a defined shape to them. This is also a dress that might not be ideal for school dress codes, but I can see this being totally cute paired with a simple, lettuce-edge sleeved tee. Also, a lot of knits seem to have a striped pattern on them and I'm not a huge fan of stripes on a circle skirt, so for me, finding a knit in a local shop (because of time constraints) was sort of hard. I did end up finding this gorgeous heathered fabric on the clearance rack at JoAnn. It was 50% off last week and I loved it so much that I went back and bought the rest of the bolt. (Sorry, Clarksville!) It turned out perfect, so I guess it was meant to be!
After this first-time experience with Birdsong patterns, I am definitely checking out the other patterns in her shop! If you're new to knits or scared of them, take the leap, buy this dress, and sew something fabulous! I'd also like to give a huge thanks and shout out to my photographer, Rebecca Cummings, from Prima Luce Photography, for the amazing images!
