Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Sewing DVD Reviews.....

Ok, I've been promising to review these Silhouette Pattern DVD's, I bought a couple of months ago, for quite some time now. I took a few notes on these a while back and lost my notes. But because I love you guys so much I re-watched them again (sorta skimming through the materials) to give you my honest opinions/ratings. I bought these during a sales event so that was an added plus. I kinda knew their quality would be good given the fact that I own majority of Peggy's videos. Ok, enough about that...the reviews are below.....



Darts are a Girl's Best Friend
Grade A+++

Pros: Lots of demonstrations of various dart manipulations on the flat pattern level.
Cons: No sewing/draping. Only flat pattern manipulation.

This is an excellent video!!! Peggy really shows dart manipulation in an easy and unintimidating way. She uses ample examples and demonstrates changing the darts to mimic those styles. I love that she shows the flat pattern work using poster board and features dart manipulations on a bodice, skirt, pant and sleeve. She even shows how to convert darts to other design features such as gathers, etc. And in typical Peggy fashion she  This is great for me since I'm slowly teaching myself draping and trying to better understand pattern drafting. I definitely recommend this for anyone wanting to gain a better understanding on how important darts are for shaping and creating different designs.


Leather is for Everybody
Grade A
 
Pros: Lots of basic introductory information on the world of leathers. Mostly in a lecture format.
Cons: Not many demos.

This is actually a very cool DVD. I really did open my mind to the world of leathers and the varieties that exists out there. I received a serious education!!! Very intriguing. I had no idea there were so many varieties! The most exotic one I thought was cool was stingray!!!! Peggy gave great hints on how to calculate the amount of leather needed for your projects. Since it doesn't have a grain you can lay pattern pieces every which way. She also gives tips on needles and stitch lengths to use. She demonstrates by partially sewing up a jacket. She also showed how to finish seams to. This DVD was very informative.


Yoga Pants
Grade B-

 Pros: Great if you want to change up basic yoga pants pattern.
Cons: No pants fitting!!! Not really useful if you don't want to change up the basic pattern.

Yoga pants are all the rave!!!! So in addition to purchasing the pattern I thought I'd get the accompanying DVD. I would've loved for this to be a fitting DVD but these pants are SO easy to fit that there really is no need to. I also think Peggy may have done a webcast on the fitting part. So DVD just shows how to change the pattern up a bit. I have yet to make my first pair of Yoga pants (it's in my sewing queue)---I can't wait. Then I can look into possibly making changes to the pattern. Not certain. I personally never show my waistbands so a shirred waist won't make a difference. But for those of you who do then this would be good for you.

6 comments:

  1. I bought the leather DVD and thought it had had some good information, But it contained a lot of talk. I really expected more demo's, like actually sewing different types of leather. Because I have sewn several leather garments and read a lot on the subject, I thought the DVD was a bit light on subject matter. And boy does she like the exotic, expensive leathers. I do appreciate that she provides free webcasts on many different sewing related topics and will probably stick with them, rather than buy her DVD's, in the future.

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    1. I totally agree with you Audrey. The Leather DVD is definitely moreso on the introductory level. It's great you've had so much experience. I've been a bit intimidated and don't really have any leather shops locally. I think I'll definitely give it a go. You're right, I was shocked to find out how expensive exotic leathers were. Wow!

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  2. I'm not quite sold on Peggy Sagers or Silhoutte patterns yet. I tried a Silhouette pattern years ago. I understand the premise about selecting a pattern based on finished garment measurements. But, I think I'm bigger than the woman Silhouette had in mind when they drafted the patterns. The top I made needed lots of tweaking and I'm not up for lots of tweaking.

    I bought a DVD - Basic Pattern Making - and it does provided lots of good information. I watched a few of the webcasts, not live but from the website. Sagers has lots of information to give, but the questions that come in during the webcast are distracting to me. People ask about her accessories and other off-topic questions. That's why I bought the DVD. If I continue to do business with Silhouette, it will probably be through the DVDs.

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  3. I find it interesting that we sewers often complain about the Big 4 not providing finished measurements on their pattern envelopes. Peggy provides the finished measurements, and folks complain there are no body measurements........go figure! I have the Darts DVD, but not the two others. Thanks for the review. I have made up the yoga pants and Love, love them.

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  4. Thanks to you, Victoria, I watched lots of Peggy's webcasts. Thank you!
    And I also purchased a few patterns - Sweater set, yoga pants,... and the DVD set - Little Black Dress Book of Sewing. Not sewn yet, but want to! As for videos - I agree, she talks a lot. There are 3 Techniques videos in the set are filmed when she was young and I am not "in love" with them Even though I could pick a few good ideas from there.

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  5. Good luck on your sewing que! I almost wet my pants laughing about your mix matched shoe issue! That truly was funny and glad you were able to laugh at yourself too! How hilarious!

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Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment and for following me on my 10,000 Hour Sewing Challenge:)

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