Just Patterns - Moodboard #1

Dear readers,

After a period of involuntary hiatus and regrouping we are gearing up to our next pattern releases! It's been great to interact with our customers on Instagram and by email the mean time. We also received great feedback from our development group and other members of the sewing community so you can expect to see some changes around here in the coming months.But before we go more into all of that, we thought we would share some of the visuals that drive our aesthetics these days and the direction we are taking!

We hope that some of those inspire your sewing as much as does for us! If you want more Ready-to-Wear inspiration for each our patterns, you can follow us on Pinterest where we keep a board for each of them!

2017 Review: Just Patterns first year!

Happy New Year!

2017 was our first year of releasing sewing patterns to meet your high-end handmade wardrobe needs. We have learned a lot already and we are so grateful for your patience and your support while we keep figuring things out! In this post we are sharing a quick recap of each month main happenings and we will be back next week to talk about our inspiration and plans for 2018!

January

Just Patterns Layered PDF

At the beginning of the year we mostly spent our time trying to figure out how to get from a digitized paper pattern to a PDF that would include all the information you needed. We also spent time figuring out  our approach to selling sewing patterns and how it would be different/similar to what is currently available in the sewing world. You can read our thoughts in this post: Why we are Just Patterns?

February

We released 3 patterns that month! The Kate Bias Top, the Christy Bias Slipdress and the Stephanie Skirt. We didn't have names initially for your patterns but we then realized that Christy was a lot easier to refer to than 2101.

March

Just Patterns Christy Slipdress by Beautyfull Handmade

While we worked on preparing the release of the Linda Wrap dress, we saw the first versions of our patterns appearing on blogs and Instagram. Here is the first Christy, made by Beautyfull_Handmade

April

Having three patterns in the wild brings a lot of self-doubt, no matter how much you believe in your product. This is why having a blogger whom we love the work praise our Stephanie Skirt meant so much to us! If you missed it, go check out the blogposts of Leisa at A Challenging Sew!

May

It was all about getting the Linda Wrap Dress ready, as our most involved pattern to date, we absolutely wanted to get it right. It took several sewing sessions to figure out the all the steps that needed to be explained.

June

But our efforts finally paid off and we released the Linda Wrap Dress. We were really happy to see that you loved the design as much as we did. It's truly a big favorite in both our closets!

July

We created a couple of tutorials on how to use our PDF patterns and how to make a "real" spaghetti strap. Many of the tutorials you will find online produce a flat strap. If you wanted a rounded strap that keeps it shape, the secret is to not trim the seam allowances!

August

We were able to share the versions of Kate and Christy sewn by the members of our Pattern Development Group. We are super thankful to this group of talented ladies for dedicated their precious sewing time to helping us make better patterns! This Kate Bias Top was sewn by the lovely Anneloes...

September

We decided to redesign our pattern covers, and provide more information in the information file. For each of our patterns we now include more details on fabric recommendations, picking your size and printing layouts. The first pattern we updated was the Stephanie Skirt but since then we managed to go through all of them!

October

We spent a good part of the month working on compiling the feedback we had received on our Linda Wrap Dress, updating the grading for a truer-to-size fit and creating illustrations for the trickiest part of the pattern. You can review them on Linda's resource page!

November

While most of our time was dedicated to working behind the scenes on our next pattern release (and more one of us, moving overseas!!), we had fun taking part in #sewphotohop on Instagram. It was a great opportunity to connect with others and a reminder of how great the sewing community is!

December

We released our latest pattern to date, the Yasmeen skirt. We loved to see all the different versions sewn by our testers and our customers. It's a dramatic design that can be enhanced with precious fabrics or played down with more casual ones. Having released 5 patterns is a great achievement for us, considering that we have both demanding day jobs and other side projects/life commitments, and we couldn't have done it without your support and encouragement. And for that we want to say THANK YOU!

We look forward to hearing what you thought about this first year of Just Patterns since your feedback is crucial for us to make 2018 an even better year!

Getting started with Just Patterns

The information we include with our patterns may be less detailed than what you are accustomed to, but they should provide enough information for an intermediate sewer or an adventurous beginner to complete the garment. In this post we'll show you where to locate the most important elements and use the layered PDF functionality. When you buy a pattern in our store, you receive a link to a zip file containing the following :

• The information file

• The pattern in print-at-home format (A4 and Letter)

• The pattern in copyshop format (A0 and US Copyshop 36”x48”)

Below is the cover of our Christy Slip Dress:

In the following pages you will find information about the style, fabric recommendations and the cutters must. It summarizes how many of each pattern pieces you need to cut in each fabric (self, lining, fusible, etc.). As well as other pieces for which paper pieces are not provided, such as bias strips. It also includes the technical drawing of the garment and an estimation of fabric requirements. We currently do not include cutting layouts because of how much they can vary  depending on the size you are cutting and the width of your fabric.

The Christy Slip Dress is currently available in size 34 to 46 and the pattern includes negative ease. We recommend choosing your size based on your bust measurement for this pattern.

Next is the printing layout that will help you put together the pattern after printing it.

The following table is a suggested order of operations. This is the order we used to sew the samples shown on the cover. But if you are making changes to the pattern, for instance you decided to make the pattern single layer and finish the edges with bias binding, then these operations will be quite different. The table is designed for you to check at a glance the width of the seam allowances and type so you don't have to rummage through pages of text to find it.

In case you need more help, links to tutorials, videos, etc. are available in the resource page of each pattern. Finally, you'll find the hashtags to share your work on social media. For the slip dress it's #christyslipdress and for the camisole it's #katebiastop (there is another Kate Top sewing pattern out there by Tessuti, so don't forget to add the bias!).

Now let's have a look at the pattern files! The layers are enabled in every printing format. When you open your pattern in the Adobe Acrobat Reader, use the layers tab on the left of the screen and select only the size you need but keep "print marks" and "all sizes" activated. As you can see above, the pattern pieces extend beyond the cutting marks. This should make it easier for you to put it together. You will also notice that the seam lines are printed on all pieces. This is why we strongly recommend you use the layer function. Otherwise it can get quite busy, even for a simple pattern.

We hope that this post was useful and we will be back soon for some actual sewing posts! Don't hesitate to reach out in the comments or anywhere else if you would like more information! Do you see a Christy or a Kate in your near future?

New Named patterns!!!

I have no idea why my blogroll is not full of them already but FYI the new Named patterns are out!!I never tried them before, mostly because I believe that they are designed with tall (Finnish) people in mind. And obviously 5'3 dark hair me does not qualify (not because of the hair). But I love that we have more edgy pattern designers around. Honestly, I am not a retro girl, so even if I find a lot of indie designs cute, I will never wear them. Unfortunately for me, a lot of the designs don't fit my lifestyle. I don't know winter, or even fall (Yes you can hate me now), and I have very little activities that require wearing overalls or fringed sweaters... So I had to go with a basic design.Even though I could have found it in a burda magazine/hacked my nettie/drafted it, I decided to give the company a try with the Shadi Knit Skirt pattern.It was just bought and printed, I will report back asap!
You can see the whole collection on the Named website.
What do you think? Do you plan on making some of the designs?

Franken-Pattern Making for faster/better sewing

If you are not familiar with the concept of Franken-Pattern Making (you can read about it here and here, unfortunately the original post from Sew-4-fun is no longer accessible), it consists of using sewing patterns for the design details only and mix them with a pattern you already know fits well (your personal blocks/TNT patterns if you want). It's actually very close (if not the same) to what Carolyn does with her Pattern Sandwich method. It particularly suits my sewing style because 1/ my sewing time is limited and 2/ I don't always have the courage to make a muslin. I also tend to spend a lot of time on the pattern. Taking classes at FIT (draping and patternmaking) really taught me patience when it comes to working on the pattern.  I remember reading one day on Fashion Incubator that you could break up time like this :

1 hour of pattern making, 1/2 hour of cutting, 1/4 hour of actual sewing.

It was enlightening! I drafted blocks in the past, trust me! I started early, by the time I was 15 I decided that pattern companies had it all wrong (haha, teenage overconfidence... I also thought that sleeves were stupid because they could not fit in armholes, STUPID SLEEVES!). As a result I got books and I started drafting, some of the result were TERRIBLE (this was my first book, not good...), some were good (with this book, this one, or this one). But at the end of the day, where are those drafts ? I DON'T EVEN KNOW!! I spent looooong  hours making them and turning them into usable patterns. I want to start from something that is already a pattern!

I said it before, I believe that Lekala patterns are particularly suited to play the role of starting blocks (haha, pun intended) or be used for a Focus on Fit approach, because :

1. I'm very happy with the fit of the made to measure feature. It fits almost perfectly without alterations
2. They have a wide range of styles, so I can start from something already close to what I want
3. They are relatively cheap, they don't add much to the overall cost of the project.
4. I can print them with or without seam allowances. If I'm going to do a lot of changes I prefer to have none.

But let's take a practical case so that I can explain myself better!For Thanksgiving, amazing Jen of Grainline Studio organized a sale. I really admire the level of professionalism she brings to home-sewing patterns but I only made the Scout tee in the past. After seeing all the praise on her work (specially Archer), I decided to go ahead and purchase the Portside Travel Set, the Archer shirt, the Maritime shorts and the Moss mini skirt. Over the last few weeks I came to the conclusion that a short chambray skirt was THE basic that I was missing. To be with fair, I have this type of thoughts quite often, sometimes it's legitimate (a white shirtdess, black slacks, a pencil skirt, etc.), sometimes it's more questionable (a shiny midi skirt, leather shorts...). Anyway, my heart is currently set on a chambray mini skirt so I. NEED. ONE. NOW. The technical drawing of the Moss skirt is exactly what I want, but after looking at the size chart and Pattern Review, I know that there are very little chances that this pattern fits me right out of the enveloppe printer. My hips are size 4 and my waist is size 0...So I  went on a search on the Lekala website, looking for something as close as possible. I set my heart on number 5430.A comparison of the 2 drawings shows the design changes that I'm going to make to the Lekala pattern. But in addition, I like to embed construction in my pattern as much as possible. This means often changing the zipper parts, reducing seam allowances, etc. For this case, I settled on the following changes:Design :

1. eliminate the back dart for a yoke
2. chop off the top of the waistband
3. and add a back seam

Construction

1. The Seam Allowances are dependent on the type of Seam Finish. I will serge and topstitche all visible seams on the inside. This means 1/2". The seam between the skirt and the waistband will be encased so I will use 3/8". But the top seam of the waistband will be only 1/4 to eliminate the need for grading it later. Hem will be double-folder : 3/4"and 1/2".
2. Pockets : i read how pleased people were with the pockets being attached to CF on the Moss skirt and how deep they are so I want to keep this feature BUT I also liked the 1 piece pocket bag from the Jedediah shorts by Thread Theory I just completed so I will incorporate that too!
3. Fly zipper : I know everybody has it's favorite technique, and people seems to feel very strongly about them. My best fly zipper of all times (and it was not only luck since I used it several times) was completed using this amazing book : Design Room Techniques by Laurel Hoffman. I know it's pricey but it's worth every penny. I promise!! Otherwise, I think this one by Notes from a Mad Housewife looks great too!

Now for the visual people out there, I took pictures of the process. First this is what a Lekala sheet looks like for a pattern without seam allowances :I started by drafting the yoke and closing the dart (TIP: close the dart first, which is not what I did on the picture below so I had to redraw my curve completely...)Then I added seam allowances on the back pieces and compared with the Moss pattern :My yoke is a lot curvier than the Moss one, which makes sense since I have a bigger hips/waist differential (please not that I should have aligned the straight grains before taking this picture)The Waistband pieces have been modified to be thinner and to have the extension needed for the fly zipper. There for there are 2 pieces fro the front and one is longer than the other.For the front, I added seam allowances and drafted the zipper pieces from Laurel Hoffman's book, using a 5" zipper instead of 7".Interstingly enough, it seams that although the back are almost exactly the same width, my Lekala is considerably larger in the front.The key of this zipper method is that right side and left side are NOT identical pattern pieces. I will remove 1/4" on the one of the sides but only after cutting since I'm cutting double layer this time.A better view of the zipper set :Now the pockets : I did not change the pocket shape from the Lekala pattern as I find it close enough.But I redrafted the pocket bag, so that it's deeper, it reachs the middle (Grainline Instructions) but it's 1 full piece of contrasting fabric (I like to use muslin) to be folded and with "facings"  of self fabric (Thread Theory Style). The result is this :An essential step after all this work is to WALK ALL THE SEAMS and check/correct the notches. This is what will make your sewing really fast because everything will match seamlessly (haha, again).For the fabric I had a very small leftover of chambray from an old old UFO (which I think I finally tossed). The limited amount of fabric will not allow extra for mistakes, all the more reasons to be extra careful with the pattern.As you can see on the picture below, I like to cut my waistbands with the grain parallel to the longer side. I think it makes them more stable. You can see all the fabric I have... It's not much!!I hope this process post was helpful, as I said in my blog anniversary post, I'm trying to bring more substantial content and not only final results pictures. So I would love to hear your thoughts about franken-patterns, fly zippers, etc. !!