Pattern Explosion!

Yesterday, both Burda and Butterick released their fall patterns.  (Or rather, the emails about their release went out.)  Both have some delicious styles, like this sheer blouse, this vintage-inspired suit, and this retro dress.  The real surprise here is this dress by Gertie.  Don't know who that is?  She runs Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing and has kept the whole project under wraps, revealing it just yesterday in this post.  If you're a fan of sewing, then this blog is absolutely for you.

This pattern would look absolutely fantastic on someone with spectacular curves!  So if that's you, sew it up, take some pictures, and then send them my way!

I Have Too Many Patterns

I have many patterns.  Boxes and boxes of them.  I'm sure this surprises no one.  Whenever new patterns are released, I cackle and immediately take note of anything I'd like to make.  I had been using a note-taking app on my phone to keep track of what I'd like to buy, but I'm still piqued by the pattern catalogues at the store.  This is the problem.

Because I spend so much time perusing the patterns online, I have a hard time remembered what I have and have not purchased.  If I have sewn a pattern, especially for myself, I can usually recall, but that is not always the case for something I haven't made yet.  As such, I've ended up with a couple of duplicates in my collection.

Knowing something had to be done, I turned to Google Documents.  Any sort of records for my patterns had to be accessible from my computers and my phone, so their spreadsheets were ideal for this task.  I created six: Butterick, McCall's, New Look, Simplicity, Patterns to Purchase, and Other (which includes Burda, Laughing Moon, Vogue, etc).  Each has four columns: pattern number, description, the fabric I made it in (blank if I hadn't sewn it yet), and notes.

While this makes me feel a little anal retentive, I feel accomplished that I managed to organize them and there will hopefully be no more mistakes.

Can you guess what I did to celebrate?  I bought more patterns!

McCall's Fall 2012

The McCall's 2012 fall collection is out.  Um, what the heck were they thinking when they put out this?  I can honestly say that is the ugliest pattern I have seen in quite some time.

Butterick Fall/Summer 2012 Collection

New summer/fall patterns by Butterick are out.  I can sum it up in one word: meh. B5767 is the only one that really appeals to me at all.  But let's be honest here: it's not like I really need more sewing patterns.

McCall's Summer 2012

As the sewing nerd that I am, it should come as no surprise that I am on the mailing list for McCall's patterns (as well as Butterick, Vogue, New Look, and Simplicity). This morning, they released their summer 2012 collection. They've got some cool new patterns, including this dress and this swim suit - but what I liked the most was this dress in view E. Too bad it's in child sizes. Though I do occasionally wear a youth large or extra large t shirt, I'm not sure I could wear something that doesn't have some stretch. I wonder if I could alter the largest child size to fit me. Hmm...

Surprise!

I had an unexpected surprise when I came home from work last night. (An aside: wouldn't all surprises be unexpected? Otherwise, they wouldn't be surprises.)



My pattern order from Simplicity! The FedEx tracking info said it wasn't supposed to arrival until today. Yay! Here's my haul:



New Look 6099: Love those lacy lapels!

New Look 6107: I like the blouse - it has a nice 1930s vintage feel. I'm thinking a nice solid in linen or cotton would rock this.

New Look 6244: I mostly wanted to try this because the seams on view D are interesting. This one doesn't recommend cotton, but watch that stop me.

New Look 6587: I recently decided that I needed a Wednesday Addams-type shirt dress. This is more fitted (as I am curvier than a six year old) and the neckline plunges a little, but this should make a nice starting point. I have a blouse pattern with French cuffs that I think would adapt nicely to the look.

New Look 6886: I liked the bolero, and of course, I could always use more Halloween-print moondresses (which are like sundresses, but I have no intention of wearing them in the sun). I particularly like views A and C - maybe in a nice subtle candy corn print? (Another aside: I don't even really like candy corn, but I love how it represents Halloween. An aside in my aside: I haven't had it in years, so maybe I'd like it now. Is candy corn vegetarian? It seems like it would have gelatin in it.)

New Look 6900: The necklace and pockets on view A are cute! It looks like the length might be too short, but that is easily adjusted. Probably in a nice bold print, with a bright color for the contrast.

Simplicity 3556: Probably my favorite of the haul. I love view D. I was thinking black velvet with navy blue satin trim! Or maybe satin with velvet trim? A nice burgundy might work too. Ideas abound!

Simplicity 3781: Eh. Not really sure why I bought this one. The keyhole in the back is interesting, but not that interesting.

Simplicity 3785: The gathering under the bust is unusual. Not sure which view I'm going to make yet, or in which fabric, but time will tell.

Simplicity 4077: I think I bought this for view A? It kind of has a neo-Victorian feel to it. I bet it would look smart with a bold vest and a solid black pencil skirt. Maybe with contrasting lace? Hmm.

I don't normally buy patterns online (I wait until they're on sale for a dollar or two at JoAnn's), but this sale included out of print items and New Look (which don't go on sale because they're only $3.99 to begin with), so I bit the bullet.

No, I didn't need more patterns.