Well...

As you know, I usually draft my own patterns. I love to be able to make whatever I like, I love the technical challenge and I love to know what I'm dealing with. When you draft your own patterns, there are not that many nasty surprises, cases in which the ease is way more than you expected or where you have no way to determine the height of the bust point before sewing up the whole thing...
Yes, pattern making is rather time-consuming. And it takes time and effort to get the practise that makes sort of perfect. Effort which needs to be repeated for any new element you try to master... To me, it's been well worth it but I always considered it very understandable that ladies with busy lives would prefer to just buy a pattern they like and get sewing. 


That's where I stand. Or, where I thought I stood. The truth is I don't usually look back to sewing from patterns. Yes, I made a dress from a Marion pattern, but that pattern was over 50 years old. Somehow, that makes a difference.
Last week, I decided to do what I've announced before and sew a dress from one of the last patterns I bought a few years ago, when I was just starting to learn pattern making.

The pattern in question was this lovely Vogue reproduction (still for sale, I believe) and I was going to make it in the home-dyed crepe. I did make it. It's almost finished. I hope I will be able to take a picture tomorrow. When I do, I will do another blog post to tell you how I got on. 
For now, let's just say I really don't want to go back to using commercial patterns. Any time I spend fitting slopers and planning designs is won back by not having to second-guess the oddities of someone else's pattern and being assured of a decent fit.