Past Indie Pattern Love

Ok, so I just found this post in my drafts folder and I swear I published it a while ago but it’s not there…so…I am hitting publish now and wondering, is this déjà vu?

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I’m going to kick off Indie Pattern Month the same way I started with Burda by first reviewing my past Indie makes.

There are only three of them because I’ve only recently discovered the joy of a prettily packaged and well drafted independent designed sewing pattern.

I will readily admit that these pattern can be quite expensive, especially when converted to NZD$ and then you add on international postage. Sheesh, how can something so small and light cos so much to send?! However, I have a strategy, and it goes like this: if you are patient and join enough mailing lists eventually one of the pattern companies you covet will do some sort of discount or free postage offer and then you can pounce, wish-list in hand, on the pretties.

Another option is to find some other local sewists and share on postage.

Loudly announcing which patterns you desire out aloud to anyone and everyone several times before your birthday and Christmas has also been known to work 😉

(EDIT 19/06/2013: And for the Kiwi’s there is this option now too!)

I’ve built up my Indie stash slowly. The Colette patterns are the oldest, Sewaholic came next, the Hollyburn and Robson coat were thank you gifts for participating in pattern testing and then I bought the other three myself.

The Papercut patterns joined my stash last Christmas and the Deer & Doe patterns are my latest additions. There are others on my wishlist but I need to sew a few of these up to justify any additions.

I love all of them, I’m not one to let the red mist descend during a sale. I am picky with my fabric and I am picky with my pattern purchases, I like to think of my entire stash (fabric, notions & patterns) as carefully curated, inspiring and there as a enabler for me to indulge my creative passion 🙂

So, my first indie make was a Colette Rooibos:

I made this dress for my 30th birthday and it was supposed to be the inaugural birthday dress but the next few birthday dresses have not gone so smoothly and now I just think I’ll make pretty dresses, who needs an excuse to make a pretty dress?!

Despite being totally in love with the finished dress I didn’t wear it very often after making it and at first I couldn’t work out why. I think the fabric has a winter look about it but then the lack of sleeves and shorter hem makes me think of summer…so a few months ago I dug it out and had a think of how I can wear it more often. A cute black shrug helps, as well as tights and some vintage-look boots. It takes me a while to get things mentally into my wardrobe rotation but I think this dress deserves to get out more often!

Writing this post makes me want to make another version now, this patten is really versatile. Patterned fabric and plain piping, plain fabric and patterned piping, to pipe or not to pipe or where to pipe is all up to you.

I used Photoshop to help me decide on my piping colour and location:

This is a really fun way to visualise the finished garment and get you really excited to sew. I have written two tutorials to show you how it’s done, one for Photoshop and one for Gimp (a free alternative). Click on the thumbnails below to go to each tutorial.

My Rooibos stitched up like a dream, the instructions were fabulously illustrated and clear and I even learnt a new clean look bodice lining technique. I took it in a little bit at the waist and nothing else, so easy, so gratifying.

A Sewaholic Hollyburn was next and showed me that a style of skirt I had previously discounted didn’t look so bad on me at all!

This also stitched up super easy and I think if you were looking to add a few skirts quickly to your wardrobe you could probably whip up one of these up in a couple of hours and have two more complete before dinner. And it’s another really versatile pattern, add some piping at the waist, contrast pockets, different lengths, you could even add a lining too.

I was hooked and added 3 more Sewaholics to my stash and now we come to my most recent 100% complete project, a Sewaholic Robson Coat. I really enjoyed making this coat and I am super happy with the final result.

I’ve wore it to work earlier in the month during a bitterly cold winter-is-here-week, it kept me very warm and every time I took it off the lining made me smile.

And now I am back at the Colette Lady Grey. I think the black wool will make this coat really versatile and easy to wear and I love the slightly vintage look and big collar.

I’m excited to finally get back to it but it was a hard decision. I was so tempted to leave it a little bit longer and jump onto Papercut’s Watson or Deer & Doe’s Belladone, I even have fabric in my stash especially picked out…but it’s OK, they’ll happen eventually and until then I’ll have another super warm coat to keep me warm this winter.

Which indie patterns have you previously sewn up and what are you planning to sew this month?