The Summit Dress is out (and on sale for just two days more) and that means it’s time show off the gorgeous versions the testers made!
Testers help ensure that a pattern fits just right on a wide range of bodies. They follow the instructions and let me know if they are clear, and will make sense to the average sewist across the world. They point out all the bits I could make better . The final patterns are definitely better for all their input.
And they provide lots of inspiration of fabrics and notions! (so dangerous – I go away wanting a half dozen more versions to use all their ideas!)
Here is the first of two blog posts of the tester makes!
Sonya of @sonya_is_sewing
I had the hardest time choosing which photos of Sonya’s View B Summit Dress to show you. Her dress is so gorgeous and her photos are all so pretty!
She used a cotton lawn for her dress, and the weight is just perfect for a summer version that will flutter in the breeze. I love the way the print shows the seaming and grainlines of the dress.
She says “This is a pattern I can make again and again. It went together quickly and quite easily. The sleeves went in like butter! I don’t think I’ve ever been able to set in sleeves so easily. Great work!”
Sonya made a Size 40. Her eye for detail as a tester is just as good as her eye for design as a maker – she’s the one who noticed that I forgot to put the little tiny lines that indicate that the pattern has pockets. (and they are awesome pockets!)
Carmen of @IdleHabitat
Carmen has the most fantastic instagram page, full of her colourful, imaginative, fun makes.
Her Summit dress is everything I hoped it would be! Colourful, imaginative, and fun!
She made View A in Size 54 out of a cotton-linen blend. It has just enough stiffness to give the dress a slightly sculptural quality.
Carmen wove her belt herself on her inkle loom (goals!) and added embroidered details to her dress – head over to her instagram to see the it. (and the rest of her gorgeous makes).
She gave really helpful feedback on the dress too. You can thank her for the suggestion to add bicep measures to the final measurements chart for the View A sleeves!
Pat
It’s a bit of a cliché that French women always look chic, but here is Pat proving that sometimes clichés have their basis in truth, because this is a very chic version of the Summit Dress.
I love blue and black together. I’m trying to think of a word to describe the combination that isn’t chic, so shall we say that it’s sophisticated? Both!
Her red belted version is equally delightful!
She made View B in Size 38 out of double cotton gauze. She shortened the pattern 12cm, to match her height.
Jessi of @mezzo.jessi
I like to have a mix of experienced testers, and people who are new to testing, and testers I’ve worked with before, and testers I’ve never worked with, for every pattern. It ensures that I get a range of viewpoints and perspectives on the pattern, and that some of those viewpoints are familiar with my usual fit and instructions, and can point out if I’m doing something really differently to what I usually do.
Jessi has tested for me a couple of times previously, and I know it will always be delightful to have her as a tester. She provides excellent, helpful, feedback, and chooses such fun fabrics for her makes!
She made View B of the Summit Dress in Size 48. Her scrolls and florals cotton print is giving me serious fabric envy. I would be her dress twin in a heartbeat!
And you know what the fabric is? SHEETS!
Brilliant! How much do we love creative fabric usage?
She says “I really enjoy how quickly it went together, and I like the overall loose fit! I love the sleeves, pockets!!!!, and the swoosh factor! I didn’t have anything medieval inspired in my wardrobe yet, so this is a welcome addition for historybounders!”
Belen of @walkthethread
Belen’s version of the Summit Dress looks like she should be holidaying on some glorious Greek Island. Can’t you just imagine her lounging by the Aegean Sea in this white muslin confection?
She made View B in the View A length in Size 32.
The lantern sleeves might not be as structural in her light cotton muslin, but the overall effect is so dreamy! The fabric did make sewing this dress tricky, but the final look is worth it.
She says: “I really enjoyed learning (despite the frustration with the fabric) to sew a godet. And these were my first lantern sleeves! Love them!”
Her favourite part of the pattern is the option to sew the front and back godets with and without seams – an option that is based on the extant Medieval examples, which often have seams because the fabric wasn’t wide enough to cut pieces like the godet on the fold. “I love when design decisions are rooted in legacy. It’s funny how I first I disliked it because it was an added seam that felt unnecessary, and now it’s my favourite part of the design! I love when our garments tell stories.“
Erin of @ZeniaMoon
Erin’s instagram is an eternal source of joy to me, for her fun sewing adventures, gorgeous makes, and delightful smile.
I suspected that anyone who thinks that much about how to tell an interesting story visually and in an efficient number of words would be great at pattern testing. Her feedback was just as much of a joy as her instagram. She really thought about the pattern, and what makes using a pattern easy and fun for her. The pattern will be easier and more fun for you to use thanks to her suggestions!
She made a View B in Size 56, in a beautifully drapey poly-crepe. She would like to try going down a few sizes and using the add a dart and FBA tutorial I posted. You can thank her for prompting me to write that!
Madame Grimm of @loiseaudelapluie
Finishing up with one last gorgeous View A version of the Summit Dress, modelled against the backdrop of a Swedish summer.
Madame Grimm was anything but grim to have as a tester! The only thing about her feedback and stunning Summit that make me even the littlest bit sad is that it isn’t in my wardrobe.
This patterned weave is so pretty, and so evocative of the medieval aesthetic.
The drape of the fabric is just as beautiful as the patterning on it!
As someone who is a visual learner, Madame Grimm says that she particularly appreciated the clear diagrams in the instructions.
As someone who always wants to make my patterns better, I can’t say enough about how fantastic this group of testers was, and how much I appreciate their feedback. It was really, really useful.
And there are even more gorgeous makes to show you in the next post…
Get your Summit Dress pattern now!
I love seeing all the patterned fabrics that the testers used. I was a bit worried that it would look bad with pattern, unless you had crazy pattern matching skills, but this post definitely inspired me to maybe try the Summit (I have already bought it) with some kind of patterned fabric.
They are great aren’t they! I love the little prints, but really want to make a version in a huge statement print, and not worry about pattern matching at all, just to see what it looks like. I saw a ridiculous linen with a tropical print with cockatoo earlier this year, and am sad that I didn’t buy some.
Hope you enjoy the pattern!
Embellished neckline. Knee-length hem, maybe *mildly* shaped. Tulip salwar.
Just sayin’.
Wasn’t the post for testers five minutes ago? This must come together very quickly, indeed!
That’s what I love about this kind of pattern! They are so universal and turn up all over the world.
Call for testers post was 5 weeks ago. That gave one week for notifying/prepping, three for testing, and one for checking and launching 🙂 Checking and launching week is, admittedly, crazy. I pull some wild hours to get samples sewn and everything put together, but when I get that close I’m just too impatient not too!
I can hardly imagine the amount of work to produce these things, but I fully appreciate a new kurti style!
I’m as firmly convinced as a layperson can be that the qamiz and the chemise started in the same place and just went haring off in different directions, so I have fun qamiz-ifying this and dress-ifying that. I recognize no limits!
Such a great range of fabrics used and different resulting arsthetics!
People, my first Scroop pattern was the mantle bundle. I didn’t realize until I bought my Summit-as-kurti. The size selections OVERLAP. I’m almost always between size selections, sometimes needing the largest size in one selection, sometimes the smallest in the next, and I’m just accustomed to guessing which will work best and being satisfied. But the size selections for Scroop overlap by a fair margin and it’s the loveliest detail!
If anyone else is wondering, with such a marvelously voluminous dress, and worried that you might choose the wrong size too close to the edge of a size selection, only take a look and observe the wiggle room in sizing.
To everyone who already knew about this detail, carry on and apologies for my excitement!
Oh yay! I’m so pleased that feature is a hit with you. It was brought to you by someone (me!) also frustrated that she always seemed to end up at the division line of size packs! I figured, why not just make ones that overlap by 3+ sizes, so no matter what you can buy a pack where you have a few sizes up and down.