This Week in Patterns (And Other News) (12-Feb-2016)

So of course, the next week after I decide that I'm going to scale back my pattern roundup posts, due to releases slowing down, we actually get a fairly interesting crop of new patterns. Enjoy!

Panic on the Streets of London

Before I launch into the patterns, I just want to give a heads up that my husband and I will be taking our first child-free vacation fairly soon and staying in London for a week. We'll have TripAdvisor and Rick Steves to help us out, but we welcome any suggestions/recommendations. We're staying in the Earl's Court neighborhood ("Do you smile...when you think about Earl's Court?"), and yes, there will be fabric shopping and a trip to the V&A. I've been to London before, but it's been 15 years since my last visit, and I wasn't sewing yet on that last trip.

New Patterns

After a fairly big lull in indie releases for the past month or so, we've got five new releases this week--all indies:

• By Hand London
• Grainline Studios
• HotPatterns
• Paprika Patterns
• StyleArc

By Hand London: Sarah Shirt

I will easily admit that my personal aesthetic and By Hand London's typical party dress aesthetic are usually miles apart...but I think that this shirt is actually really cute. And it's a separate! Obviously, you'd need a really drapey fabric to avoid the tent effect on this, but overall, I think it's a cutesy shirt that isn't vomit inducingly twee.

BHL -Sarah Shirt

Grainline Studios: Archer Popover Expansion pack

I love the trend of "expansion packs" that we've been seeing recently with indie patterns. What a great way to get more mileage out of a pattern that you've already worked out the fit for, right?

Popover-style shirts have been pretty popular in women's RTW for the past few years, and I don't see any reason for them to go away any time soon, especially given the 90's influence that's been popular in fashion and will probably remain so. There have been a few tutorials floating around online on how to turn a traditional button-down shirt into a popover style, but the Archer expansion pack is reasonably priced and eliminates the drafting work of doing it yourself. Plus, it includes traditional tower-style sleeve plackets--a modification that many people ended up making to their Archers, anyway. If I had ever gotten around to fitting the Archer, I'd be all over this.

Grainline - Archer popover expansion

HotPatterns: Athleisure Layer Cake tee

HotPatterns' latest top pattern is inspired by an Anthropologie design and incorporates the draped neckline style that we're starting to see pop up a lot in RTW. It has faux layers incorporated to give a layered look without the bulk. I love the neckline on this one--I like the idea of making up the body of the shirt in a French Terry and then using lighterweight knits for the layered element.

HotPatterns - Layer Cake tee

(Psst...a little bird told me that the Curvy Sewing Collective will be running a giveaway for this pattern, starting tomorrow (Saturday) morning.)

Paprika Patterns: Opal Cardigan

Lisa from Paprika Patterns is back with another practical-basic-with-a-twist pattern. This time, it's an open-front cardigan pattern with three different length options. You know those coatigans that have been back in style for the past year-ish? Here's your pattern for one.

Paprika Patterns - Opal Cardigan

StyleArc: Beth Pants

According to StyleArc, the Beth stretch woven pants are essentially an update on StyleArc's popular Barb woven stretch pant with a few more design details. This one might be worth picking up if you don't already have the Barb in your pattern stash.

StyleArc - Beth pant

Final Thoughts

So this was a pretty nice little group of patterns this week, wasn't it? Will any of these be going into your pattern stash?

Also, if you've got recommendations/suggestions for London, please leave them. Obviously, I'll be hitting Shaukut and window shopping at Liberty of London, but I'd love to hear what your favorite fabrics stores are there. I will be accompanying DH to not one but two Premiere League Football matches while we're there, so I've got some leverage for fabric-related activities. ;)

Last Week in Patterns (5-July-2015)

I hope that those of us in the US are enjoying our weekend, and I hope that your dog has emerged from his or her hiding place where it was cowering during last night's fireworks.

This past week, the following designers released new patterns:

• By Hand London
• Cake Patterns: Tidepool Collection, Wave 2
• Colette Seamwork: July 2015
• Seamstress Erin
• StyleArc: July 2015 Release

By Hand London: Zeena Dress

By Hand London released their first pattern release since announcing that they'd be closing their studio and getting out of the paper pattern business (for now). Not surprisingly, it's a party dress, although this one looks like it could be dressed down with a more casual fabric.

Their patterns really don't fit my style or lifestyle, and this one is no exception. However I know that they're popular among other sewists.

BHL - Zeena

Cake Patterns: Tidepool Collection (Wave 2)

I can't talk about the second batch of patterns from Cake's Tidepool collection without mentioning the elephant in the room--Steph's recent blog post: http://3hourspast.com/2015/06/29/coming-out/

I don't really feel comfortable commenting on it more than to say that I hope she's getting the help that she needs and starts to see some improvement, for the sake of her mental health and of her family.

Anyway, I'd misunderstood the initial announcement of the Tidepool collection, thinking that it would consist of 3 shells, the Endeavor pants/skirt, and a skirt with undershorts. There are actually four shells, in total, in the collection along with the aforementioned pants/shorts and skirt.

Urchin skirt

The Urchin skirt is an elastic waist skirt with a pleated waistband and pockets. The pattern includes a knit undershort pattern for modesty and chub rub prevention.

I don't ever wear my shirts untucked, so while kinda cool-looking, the pleated waistband holds no appeal to me. The knit undershorts are a nice extra, but not enough to get me to invest in a basic pattern like this.

Cake - Urchin skirt

Scallop Shell

The Scallop Shell is one of the four Tidepool shells and includes options for a sweetheart or boatneck neckline, and an option to add a pretty cool-looking sailor's knot detail in back. I like the options included with this pattern, although I think that the price is pretty steep for a shell pattern of any kind.

Cake - Scallop shell

Miter Shell

The final shell--the Miter shell--is probably my favorite. It features a square neckline and a miter weave detail on the back.

Cake - Miter shell

Overall, I quite like the three shells that clearly share the same pattern base--the Scallop, Miter, and Pipi (discussed last week). As a consumer, however, I really wish that she had released these all as part of the same pattern, even if that meant raising the price slightly from the "Riff" price that these currently have. I'd guess that most interested people would probably look at buying one shell and then look for tutorials on how to hack the other necklines and back details onto their basic shell.

Colette Seamwork: July 2015 Issue

The July issue of Seamwork has an "outdoors" theme. In line with this, the two patterns being released this month are a pair of drawstring shorts and a drawstring backpack.

Nantucket shorts

As someone who hasn't really been taken with most of the Seamwork patterns, I think that these are really cute, actually. I'm a little dubious of the fact that the pattern doesn't appear to include any elastic--I could see these coming untied and sliding off pretty easily--but outside of the somewhat similar Made with Moxy Prefontaine shorts, these shorts are a fairly unique design.

Colette Seamwork - Nantucket shorts

Seabrook bag

I think that the Seabrook bag is pretty cute, too, although you can find drawstring bag/backpack patterns like this one all over the place these days. I made up the HotPatterns version a few years ago, myself.

Colette Seamwork - Seabrook bag

Seamstress Erin: Nautilus Swimsuit

I hadn't really followed Seamstress Erin, but she recently released a swimsuit pattern that caught my attention. And why did it grab my attention? It includes cup sizes up to DD+ (I'm not sure what a "DD+" is, but typically that means that it's sized for a generous DD cup) and includes strap options beyond halter straps. And I think that the twist detail is pretty cute, too.

We've already had an early review on the Curly Sewing Collective, and it's quite positive, which is very encouraging, I think.

Seamstress Erin - Nautilus swimsuit

StyleArc: July 2015 Release

Candice Skirt

The Candice skirt is StyleArc's take on the full skirt trend. It has a pocket and stitched-down inverted pleats. It's a cute skirt, although I'm not sure what this particular pattern offers over a lot of the similar Big 4 patterns that are already out there. I do like that the pleats are stitched down, which would help minimize bulk over the hips and tummy.

StyleArc - Candice skirt

Skye Top

The Skye top is designed to be paired with the Candice skirt. Skye is drafted for stable knits or lightweight wovens. It's a pretty simple top--I find it difficult to have much of an opinion about it. I'm kind of surprised that this wasn't the freebie for the month.

StyleArc - Skye top

Livia Jacket

Easily my favorite pattern offering out of this batch, the Livia Jacket also happens to be the freebie pattern for July. It's basically an easy Chanel-look style jacket with a boxy cut and optionally trimmed pockets. This jacket is unlined and has a hook-and-eye closure.

StyleArc - Livia Jacket

Final Thoughts

So...my picks for the week...I don't really have any "must haves", but I do have a few that interest me and that I'll be watching for reviews.

I've been really encouraged by what I've seen from the Nautilus swimsuit so far, so that one is definitely on my radar. I actually really like some of the tank/shells from Cake, although I wish that she had packaged them all together as separate view and just charged the price of a full pattern for them. Finally, I like the Seamwork shorts, but as a non-subscriber, I'll have some time to see how they look when made up before making any decisions on whether I'd want to actually buy them.

What are your favorites out of this batch?

For whom the BHL tolls (Time marches on...)

What, you didn't think that I'd let this morning's big news from By Hand London go un-posted-about, did you?

By Hand London: Some Heavy Hearts and Big News From Us

The TL; DR summary of the BHL post is as follows:

• BHL bit off more than they could chew with their kickstarter-funded fabric printing business.
• Because of the overhead of printing/carrying paper patterns, they're doing a 180 on their paper-patterns-only post from a few months ago and will be distributing ONLY PDF patterns, once they run out of their paper pattern inventory.
• The BHL girls are going back to their day jobs, but will continue to produce new PDF patterns as a labor of love and do have a few new patterns in the works.

I admire them for being transparent with this post and admitting and taking responsibility for the business mistakes that they made. Reading between the lines, it sounds like that getting into the fabric printing business really torpedoed their finances, even with the kickstarter funding. 

I do not own nor have I have I ever made any By Hand London patterns, but I've certainly followed them. They certainly have been one of the higher profile "new indies" of the past couple of years. I'm not an expert at the pattern business, but as a software industry veteran who lived in the Bay Area during the dotcom explosion/implosion and with a resume that includes eight cumulative years at three different startups, I do know something about business failures. Here are my thoughts on where BHL made missteps:

• No clear business plan or product roadmap: We're going to start distributing PDF patterns! No, wait, PDF patterns are eating too many sales from our paper patterns, which we printed a ton of and have an overstock of! Ooh, and now we're going to print fabric, too!
  
  At best, BHL came across as indecisive. At worst, they came across as unprofessional. When you're asking customers to pay over $20 USD for a pattern (expensive, even by indie standards), you had better come across as having your shit together both creatively and professionally.
  
• Lack of marketing and manufacturing research before expanding: Clearly, the women at BHL had no idea what they were getting into when they kicked off their funding campaign for their fabric printing business.
  
  From a customer standpoint, custom-printed fabric is very expensive. With several other fabric printing vendors out there, was BHL really filling a niche that couldn't be filled by another manufacturer? From their post, I got the impression that they thought that they'd be able to hit the ground running as soon as they got their printer without accounting for the test runs and fine-tuning that would be needed to produce saleable fabric.
  
• Unrealistic sales forecasts: As BHL admitted in their post, they had overly optimistic sales forecasts (leading me to wonder how much research was done in this area) and that the slow summer months hit them hard. We also saw this point pop up with the excess of printed pattern inventory that they had.
  
• Limited target demographic: Based on their designs and size range, I can guess that the target demographic for BHL's patterns is slender, 20-something women who attend a lot of weddings and parties. And who sew. That's just not a huge customer pool for purchasing your product.
  
  While BHL isn't the worst offender of an indie with a limited size range, it's not particularly inclusive, either. And how many party dresses does one woman need? Even between the years of 27 and 32, when it seemed like I had a wedding to attend every few weeks, I rotated three different dresses among the occasions. To me, the Holly jumpsuit was the only "interesting" pattern they've released in the past year or two, and even in that case, I thought that the original bodice given to the pattern testers was better than the one that they ended up releasing.
  
• Tone-deaf marketing sense and customer service: I cringed when BHL pulled their PDF patterns from their website without any forewarning. I can't think of another pattern company that has pulled a major product line without warning.
  
  What's worse, if you poke around the blogosphere and GOMI, you'll find numerous stories from customers who had paid for PDF patterns but had not downloaded them yet when the patterns got pulled from their website. These paying customers had to fight to get their money refunded, even though a number of them would have been perfectly happy to have just been emailed the PDF that they had previously paid for. A 14 or 30 day grace period or "last call on PDFs" would have saved BHL a lot of bad publicity and angry customers.
  
• Ignoring what your customers want: To me, this is probably one of the biggest contributors to BHL's woes.
  
  If your customers are telling you (via sales) that they prefer PDF patterns, then you don't pull PDF patterns from distribution just because you have an excess of inventory of paper patterns. You put those paper patterns on sale, perhaps write off some losses and lick your wounds, and you focus MORE energy on PDFs, not less. On a positive note, this appears to be what BHL's plan is for the future.

What's your take on By Hand London's big announcement? Were you at all surprised by the news?

My life is starting to return to normal after my father's recent passing. Cancer sucks. I'm back in Seattle and back at work.

I did sew that Simplicity raglan sweatshirt (the one that looks like the Grainline Linden) as a quick sewjo-boosting project, and it's cute even with a few fit issues, so I'll be blogging that soon.  And I want to get back to my pattern release recaps! I've missed writing those! However, I'm not sure that I'll continue post them on an weekly-basis. Like BHL, that turned out to be more work than I anticipated. But I will get back to them, and I will be doing them on a regular basis, maybe just not as tight of a schedule as before.

This Week in Patterns (20-Feb-2015)

I'll be blunt. I'm still down in the dumps mentally/emotionally and not quite up for writing my usual weekly pattern round-up yet. I try to keep personal stuff (outside of kid/cat/dog pictures) mostly out of this blog, but on top of losing my cat, my dad has been dealing with some serious health issues for the past few months, and he had a major setback yesterday.

If that weren't enough, my team's office moved to a different neighborhood in downtown Seattle last week, so I'm still getting used to a new commute and a tougher parking situation (on days when I don't take the commuter bus). The upside to that is that we're now in a much cooler neighborhood (we're a block away from SubPop records, for example) that should allow me to easily reach a few of Seattle's best indie fabric stores (Nancy's Sewing Basket, Drygood Designs, and District Fabrics) with a short bus trip on my lunch break. So, um, lookout fabric stash?

Basically, I'm still not in the mood to snark or gush about anything. However, we've had a ton of new pattern releases over the past two weeks, and while I'm not doing a full write-up this week, I did compile a list of links and jotted down a few notes, if you'd like to click through and check them out yourselves. The New Looks and Simplicities came out yesterday, and while they're both mostly "meh", they did each have a couple of noteworthy designs (IMO), and I might very well cover those in more depth next week.

Anyway, here's an abbreviated round-up of new pattern releases for the past two weeks:

• Bluegingerdoll: A-clan collection: Warm-weather collection of four patterns that coordinate with each other.
  
  • Abby singlet top
  : Cute woven, button-down tank. Easily my favorite piece out of this collection.
  • Alicia shorts
  Shorts with front pleats. There's something odd going on with the crotch on these in the pattern photo, which would make me wary of buying them.
  • Anne peek-a-boo knit top: Knit top with peek-a-boo cutout. Yeah, that's not going to work with my ginormous bust. I remember there being a similar Big 4 pattern to this in recent years, too, but wasn't able to find it quickly.
  • April gathered skirt: Basic, but cute skirt. If I wanted to make this, I'd probably opt for a Big 4 equivalent.
• BurdaStyle Plus: Modern Museum Collection (02/2015) : Not as fug as last month, but nothing I'd want to sew or wear, either.
  • Day Dress : Dress with pleats over the boobs. Not going to work on the uber busty unless those pleats are stitched down, and then, what's the point?
  • Silk BlouseAnother boxy blouse from Burda Plus (ABBFBP).
  • Hi-Lo Plus size shirt: Meh.
  • Fringe Trim CoatA nice-looking coat, and it's actually not double-breasted.
  • Star JacketCute, if boxy, jacket. Not sure what's up with the giant star applique thingy.
  • Bootcut pantsTurkey-eatin' pants. They should have released these back in November. (Or maybe this is Burda's consession that plus sized women DO actually have sex and get pregnant--because these look an awful lot like my old maternity pants.)
  • Fold blouse: Blouse version of that same pleated dress.
  • Cargo pants: I like these (in a drapey fabric). I probably shouldn't, but hey, they look comfortable and POCKETS.
• By Hand London: Sophia Dress (presale): The latest party dress from BHL. There are some interesting darts there--I'll be curious to see what this looks like on a curvy figure.
• Jennifer Lauren Vintage: Felicity Dress: Cute, vintage-style dress.
• New Look: Spring 2015: Mostly boring basics, but there's a casual wardrobe pattern in here that caught my eye.
• Paprika Patterns: Jade skirt (re-release): The re-released Jade skirt now includes sizes 7-10 and a few other updates. Based on the fact that I flat-out like the skirt and my positive experience with the Jasper sweater, I've already purchased this.
• Simplicity: Spring 2015: More mostly boring basics, but I liked one of the knit skirt patterns and the jumpsuit pattern. Because apparently I hoard (but don't sew) jumpsuit patterns.
• StyleArc: Toni designer dress: Interesting dress, but not my style, and I'm not sure that I'd like the look on my figure, anyway.

This week in patterns (31-Oct-2014)

Happy Halloween!

This post is a bit late in the day because I've been crazy busy at work this past week and haven't been able to have my usual lunchtime writing sessions. And, uh, there's been more interesting happenings in the sewing blog world this week than my little pattern recap posts. ;)

Onto the new patterns...

Simplicity - more Frozen costumes

Someone at Simplicity must have missed a big deadline because four days before Halloween, a new set of Frozen costumes appeared on the Simplicity website. These were not part of the set that showed up early in the app or on PatternReview. When Simplicity released the initial set, I was really surprised that they didn't include a pattern or views for Anna and Elsa's coronation dresses or adult versions of the costumes. Now I know why--they were simply still on their way. There's also a pattern for 18" doll (e.g. American Girl) costumes in this bunch, too. Still missing from this collection are costumes for Olaf and Kristoff, and in my mine, there should be a dog costume for Sven, too.

S0747 - Frozen Costumes for 18" dolls

Eva doesn't have any American Girl dolls yet but, I'm going to buy this pattern and stash it for when one or both of her grandmothers inevitably buy her an American Girl doll.

S0747

S0748 - Frozen costumes for girls - Coronation Day

I'm buying and stashing this one, too because I've always liked Anna's coronation dress. Plus, you never now when your daughter might want another dress from Frozen, right?

S0748

S0746 - Frozen costumes for women - Elsa's Snow Queen and Anna's Coronation dresses

So these are my two favorite dresses from the movie. I should own this pattern for that reason, right? Because I wear costumes so often, too.

S0746

S0745 - Frozen costumes for women - Anna's day dress and Elsa's coronation dress

At this point, I might as well buy this one to complete the set, right?

S0745

McCall's - Holiday collection 2014

M7058 - Misses' jackets and coats

This is a great-looking basic jacket pattern with the option of a hood! And you know that I'm all over anything with a hood.

M7058

M7057 - Misses' Vests, Jacket and Belt

Annnnnd here's a shall-collar coat that looks promising from the line drawing, but ugh, the styling for the photo shoot! This looks like a bathrobe in this fabric.

M7057

M7055 - Learn to Sew for Fun Misses' Vest and Cardigan

M7055 is a kinda cute easy cardigan pattern. I'm only pointing it out here because the illustration for View C (pictured below) reminds me an awful lot of Anna's cape from Frozen. Sure, it's not an exact copy, but I could see it as an "interpretation". Or maybe I just have Frozen on the brain.

M7055

M7045 - Misses' skirts

I predict that we'll see View D (the maxi skirt view) in Pattern Review's fabric stash contest next year at least once. Why? Because if you're using 45" wide fabric, this skirt will eat nearly freakin' 10 yards!

M7045

M7070 - Handmade Appliques, Trims & Instructions For Purchased Sweatshirts

 Ugh. And here's a pattern to re-fashion a couple of your old sweatshirts into a coat that Dr. Evil would wear, and then applique flowers all over it. This is why home sewing has an unfashionable reputation to many outsiders:

M7070

M7065 - Frozen costumes for 18" dolls

If you don't have access to Simplicity patterns but still want to make a Frozen costume for the American Girl doll in your life, McCall's can help you out:

M7065

By Hand London - Kim dress

So By Hand London pre-released another party dress, the Kim dress:

BHL - Kim dress

As I've mentioned before, I have zero need for party dresses these days, but in my younger, single life, I could see the appeal of this. I do have to wonder, though, should BHL maybe bite the bullet and just re-brand themselves as the "party dress indie"? Outside of the jumpsuit and the blazer, haven't all of the rest of their patterns been party dresses? I'm not trying to be bitchy, I'm just wondering why they don't just go ahead and embrace the niche that they're clearly leaning towards being.

Final Thoughts

My own picks out of this group are the new batch of Frozen patterns and McCall's 7058 (the hooded jacket/coat).

BTW, feel free to snark or gush over any of the patterns discussed in these posts in the comment section. And just because I happen to like or dislike a particular pattern doesn't mean that I expect everyone else to feel the same way. ;)

This week in patterns (3-Oct-2014)

You haven't heard from me yet this week because I took a few days off from work/sewing/blogging to hang out with my mom while she was in town visiting. While not actively sewing (although I do have two just-finished projects for Eva to photograph and post about), I spent some time thinking about what I enjoy reading and writing about, sewing-wise.

If you haven't already figured it out, I'm completely obsessed with sewing patterns, and I miss the days when a new pattern release would spark its own thread and discussion on Pattern Review. (These days, it seems like whenever someone starts a thread for a new indie pattern release, it either sits there silently with very few responses or re-launches the whole indie vs. Big 4 debate again.) I want to be able to talk about pattern releases and other pattern news, and I hope you do, too, so I'm starting a new weekly post on this blog where I recap the new releases and any interesting news in the pattern world.

I'm under no illusion that with all of the new indie pattern companies out there that this will be a comprehensive recap of ALL of the new releases for the week; I'll be focusing on the companies who I'm familiar with and who have a decent size range. However, if I do leave off an exciting new release, please post about it in the comments!

By Hand London

Let's start off with a company that had a LOT going on this past week: By Hand London.

Saying goodbye to (most) PDF patterns

If you are a fan of PDF patterns and of By Hand London patterns, you probably already know and are disappointed to hear that they announced this week that they will no longer sell PDF versions of most of their paper patterns. Coinciding with this announcement, they pulled all of the PDF versions of their paper patterns from their site.

I'm disappointed both in the announcement itself and that BHL gave no warning that this was going to happen. I like PDF patterns because I like to forgo shipping costs when I can, and the fact that I can just print off another copy if I need another size. I have to trace patterns on the floor of my sewing room, which is much more cumbersome than just taping pages together. Not surprisingly, I wasn't alone in expressing my disappointment, if you read through the comments responding to the announcement. In response, BHL posted that they want to focus mostly on their printed paper patterns and basically, that PDFs were cutting into this business:

Response from the BHL blog

To be blunt, the logic here doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Now, I'm not a pattern maker, so I could be way off base, but I'd think that after the initial cost of digitizing a pattern, the maintenance cost of offering a PDF for sale would amount largely to download bandwidth, digital storage, and possibly some web maintenance. I'm obviously not privy to BHL's sales numbers, but I'd think that they sold a number of PDF patterns that they flat-out wouldn't have sold, period, in paper format, especially to their international customers. I'm really surprised that the profit margin is apparently higher on printed paper patterns than PDFs; I would have bet money that it would have been the other way around.

I respect their decision, but truly feel that they should have given at least a few days warning for PDF fans before yanking this option.

Sabrina dress release

In less controversial news, By Hand London released a new beginner dress pattern last week. The Sabrina dress has princess seams and an A-line shape. Ironically, this particular pattern is available ONLY as a PDF download right now. The Sabrina has two views, one with a bateau neckline, and the other with spaghetti straps and a button-up front:

By Hand London - Sabrina dress, view 1

By Hand London - Sabrina dress, view 2

These are cute enough basic dresses. Version 1 has many equivalent patterns out there in Big 4 land. View 2 is a bit more unique, although I remember owning versions of this dress back in the early/mid-90's. Granted, back then, I wore this type of dress layered over a baby doll t-shirt and was probably chanting "Donna Martin graduates!" in a dorm room in Santa Cruz.

StyleArc - New October patterns and freebies

One thing that I look forward to at the beginning of every month is seeing what new patterns StyleArc releases. Not only do we find out what new patterns are available, we also find out what the monthly "freebie" pattern options are for the month. (Every month, StyleArc offers a new free pattern with any pattern purchase.)

The non-freebies

First up is what I consider to be the "star" piece of October's group, the Jett Biker Jacket:

StyleArc Jett Biker Jacket

The Jett looks like a bit more sophisticated look on the moto/biker jackets that we've been seeing all over for the past few years. My guess is that it will also be a slightly easier sew than StyleArc's other biker jacket, the Ziggi. I'm kind of on the fence with this one. I like the biker jacket look, but I feel like (along with peplums), we've been seeing a lot of them for quite a while now.

Also new this month is the Eddie Vest:

StyleArc Eddie Vest

The Eddie is pretty similar to the Jett, although the Eddie is a vest and not a raglan-sleeved jacket. The Eddie has a few different style details, too. Since I'm not a vest person, I'm not tempted by this one, but it's a cute pattern if this is your style.

The freebies

As they've done several times in recent months, StyleArc is offering a choice between two different freebie patterns with a purchase during the month of October.

One choice is the Fleur Tunic, a woven tunic with an inset detail:

StyleArc Fleur Tunic

This tunic would be a nice pattern if you've got a special small piece or remnant of silk that you want to show off but not make a whole garment with. It's not a terribly exciting pattern, but I could see it being a wardrobe workhorse.

The other free pattern this month is the Ginger Top:

StyleArc Ginger Top

The Ginger is a knit (and clearly simplified) version of the twisted wrap blouses that we've been seeing everywhere for the past few months. For a similar look, also see the StyleArc Dotty Blouse or the HotPatterns Aqualina shirt. McCall's has a similar pattern, too. What I like about the Ginger, though, is that it looks like a quick and easy way to add a piece like this to your wardrobe. Even though I already own (but haven't made) the HotPatterns version, this is the freebie that I'd be going for this month if I were to place an order.

Colette Patterns

If you follow Colette Patterns blog, you know that the Colette team focused on hems for the month of September, culminating with the release of a free e-book on hems at the end of the month. In one of her posts discussing the new book, Sarai teased that she'd include a special treat for those who signed up for the e-book. All I'll say about that is that if you've had your eye on a Colette pattern or two, it would be well worth your time to sign up for the free e-book. Here's where you can sign up for the book:

Colette Guide to Sewing Hems

Liesl + Co

For fans of Liesl + Co, the line of women's patterns created by the founder of Oliver + S patterns, I'm sure you've been loving that Liesl Gibson has been releasing a new women's pattern every Thursday for the past four weeks, not to mention that these releases include an expanded size range. This week's new release was the Digital Bistro Dress pattern:

Liesl + Co Bistro dress

The Bistro dress is described as being a semi-fitted sheath. To me, it looks like a chic shift dress with a couple of neckline/collar options and the option of long or short sleeves. It's cute, and it looks like it has a bit more waist shaping (via front waist darts and belt) than the similar Colette Laurel dress. As is the case with anything that Liesl does, I'm sure that the instructions for this pattern will be fantastic and that this dress will be a great choice for beginning sewists looking for a versatile pattern that can be dressed up or down.

Closing thoughts and questions

So that's my take on this past week in pattern land. I figure that these days, there are enough new patterns being released to easily give me enough to talk about in a weekly post. Plus, if you're a pattern junkie like me, hopefully between my posts and the gems that you discover, as my readers, we can all learn about a few new pattern companies this way.

What's your take on the BHL PDF announcement? Did it leave you scratching your head, too, or was that just me? Or do you just not care? How about the new StyleArc patterns? Are you tempted to make a purchase this month, and if so, which freebie do you prefer?

Stuff I want to sew for fall (2014), Part 1

My whole sewing-with-a-plan thing seems to be flying out the window, as I feel completely overwhelmed with all of the new(ish) pattern releases that I want to sew for fall. Of course, I'll be lucky if I sew more than one or two of these, and at some point, I'm going to need to put aside my Want To Sew All The Things mentality and concentrate on sewing myself a rain jacket and a winter coat, both of which I sorely need and already purchased the fabric/lining/notions/patterns for. Not to mention needing to sew a few things for my daughter who went from wearing a size 18M to a 3T over the summer. My fall sewing ideas are running so crazily around my head that I'll need two posts to cover them.

HotPatterns Essential Shift Dress

First up, I'd like to sew both the women's and girl's version of the HotPatterns Essential Shift Dress. I have a lightweight, drapey denim in my stash that I'm looking at using for this, and I'll do contrast top-stitching.

The women's version of this has been out for a while (and is very well-reviewed):

HotPatterns Essential Shift Dress

The girl's version, however is a new release and re-ignited my interest in the original pattern:

HP Mini-Me Essential Shift Dress

I'd like to get started on both of these dresses when I finish with the polo dress that I'm currently working on for Eva.

Wrap Dress (pattern undecided)

I'll be sewing along with the Curvy Sewing Collective's Wrapalong/Wrap Dress Sewalong, which kicks off in a few weeks. I'm still undecided about my pattern, but have two faux-wrap dress patterns on hand and one on the way from Australia.

Here are the three that I'm looking at:

New Look 6301

This dress is pretty much your standard faux/fixed wrap dress, but it has several sleeve and skirt options. I like how fuller or A-line skirts look on me better than pencil skirts, so I'd probably go with one of the fuller skirt views and either the short or long sleeves. I'll need to FBA the bodice for this and grade the skirt up a size, most likely.

New Look 6301 line drawings

StyleArc Slip-on Suzie

A well-reviewed faux wrap dress that should go together in a snap. I bought a large-scale print specifically for this dress, and both fabric and pattern are sitting in my stash:

StyleArc Slip-on Suzie

StyleArc Trixi

I've had my eye on this pattern for a while, but I finally pulled the trigger because I liked the freebie Molly knit top for the month. I like the neckline and side detail on this one.

StyleArc Trixi Dress

Holly Jumpsuit

I hate myself for loving this, and I haven't bought the pattern (yet), but against every ounce of better judgment in my body, I love the new Holly Jumpsuit from By Hand London.

Now, a little background, I've been loving all of the rompers that I've seen around Seattle all summer long. I wanted to make one but couldn't find a pattern that offered enough upper body coverage for me to feel comfortable. I know that the fashion police would probably say that I'm a little old for this look, but I think that with the shorts lengthened and in a more sophisticated print, it could be a fun and age appropriate look. In any case, the shorts version of this pattern is exactly what I was looking for, but it's getting too late in the season to sew a romper for this year.

By Hand London Holly Romper

There's a full-length jumpsuit view with flowing trousers, and I'm thinking that for fall, I'd combine the romper top with the full-length trousers. There was a princess-seamed top view to the full-length jumpsuit that the pattern testers got that I really liked, but for reasons having to do with another pattern release, didn't make it into the final pattern. I'm not a fan of the bodice view that made it in since it looks to be completely un-bra-strap friendly.

By Hand London Holly Jumpsuit

The me-in-my-head would get the fit and proportions right on this, and sew it in a drapey solid woven and would look oh-so-sophisticated in it. We'll see how that works out.

HotPatterns Refined Peasant Blouse

I still haven't sewn this release from HotPatterns from last spring, but I still really, really want a few of these in my wardrobe. It's pretty and it would go with a lot of things. I've got probably about a half dozen fabrics in my stash that would work well for this blouse.

HotPatterns Refined Peasant Blouse