After much trepidation and seeing my Lutterloh pattern book going to waste, I dove in and signed up for this online class. I was remarkably surprised.
Almost immediately, I was given four jeans patterns, three jacket patterns, one coat pattern, one vest pattern, and one shirt pattern. I was also given a shirt and jeans pattern for men, and shirt and jeans pattern for children. Then came the Lessons. Most were in an Adobe format, with a few in Word. There were drawings and diagrams, very clearly spelled out. As well as an Instruction Book that this site drafted for my use.
Instructions were given to place the small pattern on top of the paper, (newsprint was suggested), about 1/3 of the way down from the top. This was something new to me, as all the videos I’d seen, and well as the presentation where I bought my book showed the pattern being underneath vellum. This new technique completely makes sense, as I’m not limited to the size of sheet I’ve cut; I simply roll out what I need first and then move the pattern up or down, depending on what I need, then cut the paper. And newsprint from your local newspaper office is basically throwaway stuff, so you’re helping the environment.
The next thing I learned was what those arrows on the crossmarks were on the patterns. Often I felt these were grainlines, but not necessarily so. They are directional arrows showing which way the numbers on the tape measure should read. An arrow going down means that you place the top of the tape measure (where you have your hip and bust measurements) in the crossmark with the numbers reading downward. Simple, but yet important because if you don’t, the lines won’t line up and you will become frustrated. (Ask me how I know :wink: )
There were email digests daily. I could ask a question and find the answer in the next day’s email.
Another thing that was the most helpful was the Instruction Booklet. Lutterloh’s original booklet, dated in the 1960's, left something to be desired. But this booklet not only was large enough to read (without my glasses), but it also contained color drawings and diagrams.
Drawbacks
Although all patterns for the classes are in a .jpg format, they will open up in your default graphics editing program. Which, in my case, they opened up to MS Paint. I had to figure out how to print the patterns in order to get them to scale, and after a few tries, managed to accomplish this: Use 0'’ margins all around, fit to one page, actual size.
The downloadable patterns aren’t quite as strong in color as the originals in the book or supplements, so bear this in mind when you are using your tissue paper. But if you use newsprint, this won’t matter.
The class files and patterns can be very large; sometimes over 2mg and come to you regularly during the three week period. For this reason, you will use up your email quota quickly if you have an email account that has one. If a file is being sent, and your email quota is close to being filled, the file will be bounced back. Also, for those of you in the dialup world (of which I am all to familiar, as I once had this), the download time will be slow, and might even time out.
For those of us who can’t give up our Lutterloh books, this site comes in handy. |
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This system has always intrigued me. Please review some of your projects! Thanks for the review.
6/17/08 6:48 PM
Is there a link to this class/website?
6/18/08 7:20 AM
Thanks for this review! I went to their web site yesterday and immediately downloaded the 2 free ebooks which I read with morning coffee - great info! I'm waiting for an answer now to query for US prices, may sign up for the style program. Have you taken any other of their programs?
6/18/08 10:17 AM
would you recommend this system to someone considering investing in it? does it really work like it seems it should?
6/18/08 1:49 PM
Christine A, do a search under the pattern reviews for Lutterloh and you'll see my name. I've reviewed two pair of pants I made with this system, although I've made more projects (and didn't review them...) But now I need to ;)
6/18/08 3:43 PM
Michelle J, I'm doing the finishing touches on a review of this website and it will be posted shortly. For some reason, the website address didn't show on this review--don't know why.
6/18/08 3:45 PM
jimsgurl, Please see my other reviews on Lutterloh patterns, dated 5/27/07 and 11/21/05, as well as my recent review for the Lutterloh NZ site dated 6/18/08 for more information. As to if it works like they say, the plus side is that you have some personalized areas on the pattern as a result of the two measurements you take. But you still need to make a muslin to fine tune the fit.
6/18/08 4:30 PM
Thanks, this was very helpful in desiding to sign up for an online class. I appriciated all the information you put into it.
6/21/08 2:17 PM
Thanks for this review. I was going to sign up for the skirt class, but had other commitments. I hope to take one of the classes the next time they are offered.
6/28/08 6:30 PM
Excellent review. I need to go look for more info on the NZ site. Free eBooks? I missed that. I did get the free brochure with the patterns in it though. Thanks for this review Beth!
7/26/08 9:51 PM