Review on McCall Patterns M7439A50 Misses Gathered by Jennifer Roberts

This pattern was for my first sewing project. I watched a few YT videos and used to help my mom with hems/cuts so I had some sewing skills. This review not only affects this pattern, but perhaps most likely this type of pattern. First, this is a simple pattern. If you choose option A, then the simplest, there are only four of them. However, you'll also need things like fusible padding and a 7-inch zipper. Second, tissue paper is REALLY THIN. You must be very careful when tacking and cutting. Third, pay attention to the size in inches. You can customize it, but the size is usually different from American commercial clothing. I ended up with a size 14, although I usually wear medium/large (10) dresses. Fourth, and perhaps most importantly, these patterns are NOT made for sewing beginners. They expect you to already understand the basic techniques. For example, at a certain point the instruction tells you to "gather your skirt." That's all. Reminds me of a cookbook recipe that started with "make a simple béchamel first". The instructions are very difficult to interpret, even after reading them several times. The writing is very small and the patterns are difficult to understand if you are unfamiliar with tailoring tradition. For example, in order to figure out how the instructions wanted my mom and I to sew a belt onto a skirt, it took my mom and I. One thing that will be very helpful is to watch a YouTube video of someone doing the exact same pattern. I went and looked and there is actually a very helpful video of a girl making a steampunk skirt with this pattern. I used this to understand most of what is going on with this template.