Sense and Sensibility Patterns

Sense and Sensibility is a company that sells original patterns for "vintage" dresses. They offer patterns for dresses from the Regency, Romantic, Edwardian, Titanic, and Swing eras. Many of the patterns are available in both ladies’ and girls’ sizes and in printed or e-pattern format.

I received both the Girls’ Edwardian Apron pattern in the e-pattern format and the Apron e-class to review.

E-class
My daughter is 9-1/2 years old and has been interested in learning to sew for a while, but I haven’t made the time to teach her. I have been sewing for many years, but I don’t sew very often, so I would not consider myself an expert. I decided this was a perfect opportunity to teach her some of the basics. The first thing we did was take the e-class. I found that the class provided good explanations for all the steps in making the apron. There are clear pictures and audio instruction to follow. For some of the more complicated steps, there is also short video to demonstrate. I appreciated seeing all the steps presented before I actually started cutting or sewing anything myself, because it provided me with the big picture of what I was going to do before I got lost in the details. My daughter also found the class helpful in defining a few key terms and providing the big picture.

E-pattern

After watching the class, the next step was to print out the pattern. The printing instructions were very clear and we had no trouble printing the pattern and laying it out correctly.

Before trimming and taping.

We did have some difficulty in lining each of the pages up and taping them together. The printing doesn’t go all the way to the edge of the page, so the pages either have to be trimmed before taping, or held up to the light to overlap the pages correctly. We also discovered that the printer had not printed the pages exactly straight, so we had to make some slight adjustments.

Making the Aprons

After putting together the pattern, the pieces can be cut out like a standard pattern. I let my daughter cut out the pattern pieces. The instructions recommend to trace the pieces on interfacing. I didn’t heed that recommendation but pinned the paper to the fabric and cut first the bigger size and then the smaller one. (Actually I had my daughter do most of the cutting.) If I thought that I would be making more aprons, then tracing the pattern probably would have been a better idea than using the paper. But since it is an e-pattern, I can reprint if I do decide to make more aprons.

The sewing of the pieces to make the apron went reasonably well. There were the inevitable sewing machine problems. (At least it always happens to me.) This time I actually had to have the machine serviced midway through the project. Of course, that has absolutely nothing to do with this particular pattern. The instructions were understandable and I let my daughter use the sewing machine for the first time. She has a lead foot. I’m really scared of what kind of driver she will be!

One thing to note about this pattern is that it uses a lot of binding. There are great instructions for making your own binding, but since I don’t like ironing I decided to go with purchased binding. I don’t know that I have ever actually used binding before, and I had a little trouble sewing it on. It was very narrow (1/4") so there were a few places where I let the binding slip off the fabric as I was sewing. That made for rather tedious fixing. But I did manage to fix it (mostly) and I think the final aprons turned out quite well.

Here’s my lovely little model.

And my lovely seamstress who was upset when I was taking the picture for some reason.

Here’s the back of the apron. You can see how the ties cross. You can also see all the binding!

Here are my girls together in their new aprons.

Summary
I really love many of the patterns designed by Sense and Sensibility and am interested in purchasing some of the dress patterns. I think the aprons are lovely and very feminine. I thought the instructions were clear in both the pattern and the e-class. The e-class would be especially helpful for an inexperienced seamstress. I don’t think that an absolute beginner could make this apron successfully without a lot of assistance though because sewing binding is not a beginner skill.

Order  Information
The Girls’ Edwardian Apron pattern is available printed for $12.95 (plus shipping) or as an e-pattern for $7.95 (no shipping and instant download). The e-class is $19.95, or you can purchase both the e-class and the e-pattern for $24.95.

For more reviews of Sense and Sensibility visit the Homeschool Crew Blog.

Disclosure: This product was provided to our family for free as members of the 2009-2010 Old Schoolhouse Magazine Homeschool Crew. Reviews and opinions expressed in this blog are our own.