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Simplicity New Look One Hour Patterns pounds 4

Thousands of people around the country make their own clothes, but many of them make their own patterns rather than buying paper patterns from department stores. Clare Lazaro, a dressmaker, finds shop-bought patterns almost impossible to understand, "I would much rather use my own modified patterns, paper patterns always rip, and they take hours to make up," she says.

To prove her wrong, Simplicity has launched a New Look Easy One Hour pattern series of dresses and sarong skirts. But is it really is possible to make a Simplicity skirt in 60 minutes? The Independent asked Nora Doerfel, a dressmaker who runs her own classes, and one of her students, Jean Solomans, to try out the patterns.

Nora Doerfel made a checked short sarong skirt from a wool-viscose mix fabric, and completed the garment in one hour and 20 minutes. "It was a very easy pattern to follow, but one hour? For an experienced dressmaker maybe, but a beginner? No," she says. Nora also used an overlocker on the hem which increases finish time on a garment.

Jean Solomans has been making clothes since she was 12, and is now a grandmother. Her response to the one-hour theory was to time herself after the pattern had been cut out, (which took half an hour) rather than from the outset. She found the pattern for a basic sleeveless loose vest-dress easy to understand and fairly explicit, and made it using black wool jersey. "It explained the type of stitches needed and was very basic," she says. "It took me an hour and a quarter to make up. My niece has already asked for it." Clare Lazaro found the pattern infuriating, and gave up after an hour.

If running up a party outfit in one hour is your idea of heaven, then Simplicity one-hour patterns may not be for you. If you want easy-to-wear clothes and have a spare morning, then give them a try. You could be a dressmaker in no-time

Melanie Rickey

Available from department stores