Angela – Recommended (with caution)
This Rocking Horse Farm Regency riding habit pattern includes the jumper, the Spencer, and a shirt – for $14.00, that’s a lot of pattern for your money. But, before you get too excited, note that this pattern is not for the novice sewer – you will need to have intermediate skills to construct this pattern.
While the pattern is structured well enough to put together without complication and minimal adjustment, if you are a sewer that has difficulty visualizing the construction or mechanics of a garment, their instructions will not assist you in the least – there are no process illustrations; however, their instructions are very carefully worded, easy to read, and concise (they do not overly explain things). If you have general garment construction knowledge, you should be okay.
I constructed the jumper (the pattern only includes the bodice of the jumper and instructions on how to construct the jumper’s skirt, which is all you really need – skirts are easily draped) and found that it ran a bit large; rather than a large (16-18), I should have constructed a medium (12-14). Further, the side front and side back armscyes were far wider than normal. Now, RHF may have intentionally designed the pattern this way since the jumper is a side closing garment and the overlap is needed on one side (or both if you want to get creative and have both sides open) – they just failed to mention this on the bodice pattern (where they do mention this on the jacket pattern where plackets are needed) – appropriate adjustments will be needed here, depending on your side closing preference.
Finally, and yes, to nitpick a bit, I was disappointed that the neckline of the jumper was round rather than square (as it shows on the pattern’s illustration). The garment illustration should always match the garment’s pattern design – it’s a matter of accurately representing a product. So, the neckline in my garment, which indeed matches the pattern’s illustration, is my own creation and not that of the pattern’s design.
TIP: If you need illustrations to assist you in the proper construction of this pattern, I recommend that you use the instructions for Simplicity’s Regency pattern #4055 (licensed by Sense & Sensibility Patterns) – it offers a good general guide.
