I can only address the striping issue, but it is a feature that evolved from Simplicity's patented deck mounting system... the "free floating" mower deck. It has the deck attached only to the front of the tractor and "floating" at the rear, riding on the rollers. It's been on Simplicities since the 50's and has been able to make stripes since then. Only in the last few years has Simplicity been pointing this out as lawn striping became more popular led by the professional lawn care guys and of course, baseball parks. Striping is simply the result of a roller pushing the grass down in one direction as it's cut; a pass next to it in the opposite direction will lay the grass in the other direction and the difference will appear as a stripe. Stripes going away from you will appear lighter,stripes toward you will appear darker. You could actually stripe your lawn with just a lawn roller, it has nothing to do with the lawn being cut. Although the floating deck was developed to deliver a smooth lawn appearance, when striping began to gain popularity, this unintented feature started to appear in Simplicity's marketing efforts. Some people like it and show off their striped lawns, others don't particularly care about it and cut their lawns without regard to a striping pattern. Most folks usually cut their laws in a circle, going around the outside and moving toward the center with each pass. I guess if you looked at the lawn when they're done, one side of the lawn may look darker than the other with the most noticible difference where one pass is next to another in the opposite direction. The Regent used to have a "hybrid" mower mount in the rear that didn't put the full weight of the deck on the rollers, but it still striped pretty well. That may have changed by now. Don't rule out Simplicity just because you don't intend to stripe your lawn. FJ

Thanks for the tips... Speaking of sandpaper, I have seen people who have stuck velcro circles to the bottoms for their rulers to prevent slippage.... My rotary cutters are pretty good.... I have a Fiskars, a Dritz, and an OLFA that I can't find, not to mention a Fiskars one that is attached on a rail to an acrylic ruler and I do buy and change the blades when necessary. I still only cut one layer at a time so that if I mess up, I won't ruin too much. Nana, it is really nice to hear from someone who has also had experience with this thing. I bought a few extra 99 cent fat quarters because I wanted to play with this machine so I didn't ruin anything terribly expensive, but from now on, I'm only going to play with ugly scrap material! I did get a glimmer of hope... I found that when I starch the fabric (spray starch, then iron), it works MUCH better, so I'm going to play with that for a while before I decide whether or not to return it....

We just recently did beauty and the beast on the cheap at our local elementary school. Currently disney has a contract with simplicity and the costume for belle is pretty good but I had trouble finding the beast costume. I ended up just using the turn of the century boys pattern in apropriate colors for beasts outfit. For mrs.potts I got lucky and found and inflatable costume for the Cool-ade guy at a yard sale and simply covered it in fabric to match her "dress". For chip we had a girl who's mom makes piñatas and she did a paper mâché pair of overalls for the actor. We also picked a really small boy to play that part so the costume looked much bigger. I hope this helps I also found a fabric by the pound store about ten miles from my house that made everything cheaper and I bought my patters through ebay and Pinterest. Always remember that Joann's excepts coupons from hancock fabrics, hobby lobby and micheals and you can use four coupons at a time. Good luck and have fun.

Thanks everyone... sorry I've taken so long to get back. My brain has been on some kind of weird vacation lately I was having issues remember how to refresh vs. maximizing windows yesterday! I was really concerned about the draping which in this case would actually amount to the gathering huh? LOL Thanks so much Dawn for the photo...duh...never occured to me! (BTW...do you actually have the pattern?) Although I am in the process of scanning front of each pattern to tape to the manilla envelope I keep directions and pattern pieces in AND front & back in color to insert into a 3 ring binder (with pertinent notes like in this case...too much gathering for heavy...or the shirt I'm just finishing...doesn't require full stretch knit, but some stretch required...and front of fabric MUST be tolerable against skin for this yoke version to work) for friends, etc to look through if they decide they want me to make them something! I personally love this style in general, but right now my budget is limited and I have a ToN of poly/cotton blends and knits (some double, some single, some I still haven't figured out) that I received for free from Freecycle. Most of the lengths are too short for me to make pants out of (the previous owner must have been shorter than me...LOL) So I'm digging thorough trying to figure out what I can/can't make out of my patterns. Is there a version of a tiered type skirt style that wouldn't involve so much gathering? I figure that it's pretty much out for the knits...they really don't "gather/drape" the way you would want. But maybe for a poly/cotton blend that is too heavy for this pattern? I have several great dress/skirt patterns that are just basic full flowing styles or a little more slim lined. I guess I'm just hoping for a little variety.