Would you..

[Efemera]

I agree.. there’s no substitute for having a good fondle!.. I scrunch stuff to see how it creases and if it has any recovery. Novice sewers probably have little experience of the vast array of fabrics. Even with years of sewing experience I still get stuff wrong, I’d love to give her some guidance.

[UttaRetch]

I agree.. there’s no substitute for having a good fondle!..

Which is why I don't shop online.

[BrendaP]

Probably it would be an impossibly lengthy process to photograph everything draped, and close up over something to see how opaque it was. These things are quickly established in a real shop.

The Textile Place is pretty good about putting good photos up; close up and draped on a dummy, but they are very vague on the weight of the fabric

[Nevis5]

Some online shops are beyond vague; very annoying.  I spent some time on the phone yesterday to one trying to establish whether the colour of a fabric was in fact black or navy; it read black on my monitor but is in fact blue.  Don't usually have that problem with my monitor so assume it's their bad photograph.  Also I wish websites would specify fabric content better, especially knits and jerseys.  I'm at that age where I won't wear synthetics so poly anything is out.  Just describing something as 'jersey' or 'knit' doesn't help, so they don't get my pennies.

I'm assuming that blogger is very inexperienced in choosing the correct fabric for a project.  I've certainly done that but wouldn't post pictures on the WWW for everyone to see. 

[UttaRetch]

Apart from the bad sewing, a mid-weight woven would have been much better as would interfacing the button and buttonhole facings.

[Samantha]

I've just looked at her Instagram account and the other stuff looks ok to me. 

I can forgive the fitting issues as it's hard to get that right but the wonky front buttons and the horrible unpressed hem are definitely avoidable - beginner or not (which I don't think she is).

I think she mis-heard her husband when he said it was the nicest thing she'd ever made - he actually said it was the 'nastiest' thing she'd ever made.

[annieg]

Agree with all the comments (that HEM !! Its the Pits!!).
Can't understand how the commercial blog sponsor (Minerva?) can have authorised that to appear on their site - the implications are they don't care about the quality of the finished product... they just want to sell the fabric and pattern!
 
Anniegg

[wrenkins]

To get a complete non-sewist's view, I asked a man with an eye for detail. He took one look at it and said "wind-up". I assured him it wasn't and asked why he thought that. By the time he had pointed out all the bits that he thought could do with 'refining' the tears were running down my face. I think the only sewing term he got right was 'buttons'. His suggestion for those was "if you're going to make such a b***s of doing them, at least use less obvious ones!".
As for "the bit round the bottom" (that would be hem) his reply was unprintable.