Simplicity 8193 Pattern Review

I've decided to get into historical costuming. I'm not particularly worried about historical accuracy so maybe I should say I'm interested in history bounding and wearing historically inspired clothing. I have a lot to say about it and more to write about it, but I think I'll save that for another blog post.Today I'm going to talk about my experience sewing the Simplicity 8193 pattern, in the hope that other people who want to make this pattern feel more confident to do so.

This isn't the first time I've tried to sew apparel clothing, but it is the first time I've sewn from a clothing pattern.The first times I've tried to make clothing were... less than successful. I also wanted to try learning to sew from patterns because I want to learn the sewing intuition that goes into sewing different types of garments. For example: which pattern pieces to sew first and what parts can be guessed at and which need to be exact. 

For this garment, I saw that it's a loose fitting skirt everywhere but the waist, so I only took my waist measurement and the length measurement when selecting the pattern size. I also didn't make a muslin because I assumed if the waist fit, everything else would be fine. In this case, I was right. 

For this outfit, I chose a cotton broadcloth in a dark green. The color was very different than the image at Fabric.com which just shows the importance of buying swatches. Lesson definitely learned for next time. I chose cotton broadcloth because if I drastically mess up this skirt I can always use the fabric to make a quilt lol.

 So without further ado, here is my result: 

Overall, I'm very happy with this final result. I think it's a very cute pattern and will fit my future historically inspired wardrobe quite nicely.  It goes well with boxy tops.

My bottom ruffles are less messy than they appear here, but they are not perfect. I did mess them up a little but I don't think it was worth it to go back and fix it. Especially with all the hemming I've already done.

The pattern itself was easy to follow. I had some trouble with the zipper but that could be due to my lack of experience. If I were writing this pattern I would tell sewers to sew each ruffle by sections and to mark the halfway and the quarter points on the skirt and the ruffle to more evenly distribute the ruffle. 

Second, I found that one hook closure was not enough and I needed to use 2 to make the waistband look nice. But it could be that my hook closures were too small (1/2 inch).

One thing I did not like was the lack of pockets in the pattern. I ended up adding a pocket but  did not add another to the opposite side. I thought it would add too much bulk as I added the pocket after sewing together the entire garment. For my next skirt I think it'll be fine if I add the pocket during construction.

Finally, one thing I didn't expect was how cool the skirt was. It is a heavy skirt and I expected it to be warm but the ruffles keep the fabric away from the body so it is surprisingly cool. 

Once the weather warms up I'll try to add more photos! Overall 8/10