This week in patterns (28-Nov-2014) (Okay, 29-Nov....)

Happy belated Thanksgiving, everyone! As you might have guessed, this post is a bit late this week because I've been spending my long weekend hanging out with my daughter and husband. We woke up to snow this morning, which made for a very happy toddler and a very happy dog.

Onto this week's patterns...

Tenterhook Patterns - Jacaranda dress

A few months ago, I was super excited to see that a new indie designer named was focusing on plus sized sewing patterns with a motto of "Plus sized sewing patterns, without the rules". You might recall my excited post about the subject. Her first pattern offering was a pencil skirt with several fun different view options. Today, Amanda released her second pattern, the Jacaranda dress, which features a sweetheart neckline, princess seams, and an option for a seamed pencil skirt with slash pockets or a half circle skirt. The dress is fully lined:

Tenterhook Jacaranda dress

If I am going to be completely honest, I'll have to admit that I'm a bit disappointed. The pattern is drafted for a C/D cup. Upon Amanda's announcement of her company's launch, my initial thought was "Yay, someone is finally looking out for us larger women!" I'd assumed that meant that she'd be drafting for a larger cup size, since many, many of us plus sized sewists have large to very large busts. Granted, a C/D cup is better than the standard B cup size used by the Big 4 and some indies, but it still means a sizable FBA for many of us. I guess I can't understand why you'd draft/design something knowing that nearly all of your customers will need an FBA. I don't expect anyone to draft anything to my G-cup sizes (unless I win the lottery, go back to school, and launch my own large-bust focused company), but can you throw us a bone and target a DD or E cup?

I'm definitely not trying to badmouth a new (plus sized) designer, but I'd really hoped that this line was going to realistically address the fitting issues of plus sized women. Unfortunately, that doesn't appear to be the case (yet).

It's a cute enough dress. I don't have the Joan Holloway confidence or lifestyle to rock the pencil skirt version, although that's the more original view. The half-circle skirt is more my style, but with a C/D cup draft, it's nothing that I can't get from a Big 4 pattern + FBA.

Blank Slate Patterns - Winter Collection 2014

I've made no secret of the fact that Blank Slate is one of my favorite indie designers for kids' patterns. I've consistently found Melissa's patterns to be cute, practical, well-drafted/consistently sized, and to have good instructions. Over the past year, she's expanded beyond kids' patterns to release several designs for adult women, and on Black Friday this year, she released three more women's patterns.

If you're looking to check out Blank Slate, she's offering 30-50% discounts on all patterns through December 1st:

• 1-3 Patterns: 30% off with code BLACK30
• 4 Patterns: 40% off with code BLACK40
• 5 Patterns: 50% off with code BLACK50

Wintersong Dress

The Wintersong Dress is a simple raglan-sleeved dress for knits or stretch wovens. There's no line drawing for this one, but it looks like it might have gathers at the neckline. This dress has an option for a lace overlay.

Blank Slate Wintersong Dress

This one doesn't really grab me, and I already own New Look 6298, which is a raglan-sleeved sweatshirt dress.

Zinnia Jacket

Remember the super-cute Zippy Jacket that I made for Eva (and loved) a little while back? The Zinnia is the grown-up version of this jacket. I'm buying this one. I love Eva's jacket and while I don't want to be "twinsies" with my 2-year-old daughter, I'd be lying if I hadn't said that I coveted a version of this with its circle pockets for myself.

Blank Slate Zinnia Jacket

Tulip Top

We've been seeing crossover tulip-style things showing up everywhere for the past few months (most commonly in sleeves, but sometimes in other places), and here's Melissa's take on a sweatshirt with a tulip crossover front:

Blank Slate Tulip Top

I love fun twists on sweatshirts, and I think that this version is really cute. It also nods to the crop top trend slightly, but without showing any actual skin. On the other hand, something is a little off with the second sample top in the listing:

2nd Tulip Top sample (sweater knit?)

I can't decide if this is a fabric issue, if it just needs a good pressing, or if the hem binding got stretched out. If you roll over the graphics on the actual website, it says that this version is a sweater knit and the first version is a sweatshirt, so maybe this pattern is best for fabrics with more body like sweatshirting or ponte knits.

Final Thoughts

Since this was a short week/long weekend, in the US, I wasn't expecting to write about many new patterns this week. I'm kind of surprised that we have four new ones. Of the four, I want that Zinnia jacket after loving how the child version that I made turned out so much. I just received a bunch lightweight of polartec fleece that I got for $5.99/yard from FabricMart, and I think that would be a perfect match for that pattern. I think that the Tulip top is cute/unique, but I'm iffy on that lighterweight version. In theory, I like the idea behind the Jacaranda dress, but with a C-cup draft, I know that I can get closer to the draft that I need for my figure using one of the A/B, C, D cup size patterns from the Big 4. And the Big 4 offer plenty of princess seamed dresses with cup sizes.

New plus-sized indie pattern company: Tenterhook Patterns

By way of a post on Pattern Review, I learned about a new indie pattern company that just launched its first pattern this morning: Tenterhook Patterns. Now, as I mentioned, I only learned about them this morning and have no affiliation with them, nor have I tried their first (and only, so far) pattern. However I know that many of you are interested in indie patterns for curvy and plus sized sewists, so I wanted to share this info with you so that you can keep an eye on them, if you'd like.

I found the Tenderhook website to be a little difficult to navigate (I figure that just goes along with them just getting started), so here are the highlights that I gleaned from poking around a bit:

About Tenterhook

Tenterhook is a one-woman shop run by a lovely Australian woman named Amanda. She's working with Bestsy (of SBCC and who grades for Seamster Patterns) for her pattern grading. As an SBCC fan, I'm happy to read this, and I know that other plus sized sewists have commented on the great fit they've gotten from Seamster Patterns. I love what Amanda says on her company's About page:

Tenterhook Patterns is all for rejecting the fashion “rules” often applied to plus-sized women: this is not the place to find exclusively loose fitting, tent like patterns. Some patterns will be fitted. Some will be sleeveless. Some will fall above the knee. There may eventually be a playsuit. That’s not to say that no patterns will be loose fitting, sleeved, or long, as each of those things can be fun to sew and wear, and they can also have a place in a well-balanced, stylish wardrobe. However, Tenterhook Patterns encourage you to try sewing the types of clothes you’ve been told don’t “suit” you or your body type – it’s amazing what a well-fitted pencil skirt can do for your body image.

Sizing

Tenterhook uses an A-G sizing scheme and designs for an hourglass figure. The initial pattern (the Snapdragon pencil skirt) fits hip sizes from 42"-56 1/2" (109cm - 143cm). By link surfing through blog posts, it appears that Amanda put out a call for pattern testers a while back for women with bust measurements ranging from 41 5/8" - 55 1/4" (104cm - 138 cm), so while the first pattern is a skirt, that should give us an idea of what her overall size range will look like. I'll be curious to hear what bust cup size she drafts for. I know that Betsy, who does Amanda's grading, uses a DD cup size as the starting point for SBCC's patterns. Why is bust cup size so important? The larger the bust size that these patterns are drafted for, the more likely that many of us will be able to avoid doing an FBA or will be able to get away with a smaller FBA.

The Patterns

So far, Tenterhook has just released one pattern--a basic pencil skirt with some cute variations. Here's the line drawing, which I screen grabbed off of their Etsy shop page:

Snapdragon skirt from Tenterhook Patterns

Amazingly, they don't have a tap linking to their Etsy shop on their main web site, but I was able to get their via link surfing. Here's the direct link, if you'd like to check it out:

Snapdragon skirt on Etsy

The pattern is available as a PDF download and sells for $11 (US).

I did see on her pattern testing post that she had two patterns that are nearly finished, so I'll be curious to see what the second one is and if it's available soon.

Final thoughts

I wasn't planning to post anything on this blog today, but I was really excited to read this news and thought that others might be, as well. (Full disclosure: I have not even proofread this post because I threw it together so quickly.) I absolutely LOVE Tenterhook's motto: "Plus size sewing patterns, without the rules." That's right up my alley, and I know that it's right up the alley of a lot of other curvy sewists, like the women over at the Curvy Sewing Collective. I'm looking forward to seeing what this company does going forward.

What are your thoughts? Are you happy to see a company that's specifically focusing on curvy and plus sized sewists? Or is this just another indie pattern company in the recent indie pattern company explosion?