Tuesday, January 17, 2012

133 Sewing Patterns - I Better Get On It!

I don't really have a problem with fabric. I could tell you exactly what my stash contains at the moment and what I intend to do with almost everything in it. Want proof? You can scroll all the way to the bottom of this post, where I've made a list, just to show that I can. :)

What I do have a problem with is patterns. I have an extensive stash. 133 patterns, all but one of which I took photos of over the weekend (I forgot the one...I'm working on it right now, so it was in a bag with the rest of the stuff for that dress). I uploaded all the photos to Flikr, inspired by Lauren at Lladybird to take stock of what I've got. It's insane. I bought most of these as a lot, which explains the mysterious presence of children's patterns in spite of the lack of children in my life. And also explains all the 70s patterns, which I will probably never, ever sew up. It's definitely time to sort and purge. Maybe Etsy?

Anyway, I thought I'd share some of my favorites with you. These are all patterns I'm hoping to sew up this year, since I love them all so much. They do actually include a couple of tops that may or may not be 70s-ish (late 60s? early 80s? I'm terrible at dating patterns!).







This is what I'm working on right now. I'll be tracing tonight. Yay!





If you're interested in seeing the rest of my extensive pattern collection, you can check it out here. :) I know I enjoyed drooling over Lauren's. I'm also thinking this will help immensely when I'm thinking about buying something new, so I don't come home with something similar (or identical).

Question of the day: Do you keep patterns you don't really like on the off-chance that maybe someone you  know will someday want to make them? What if your (hypothetical future) kid wants to be a hippie for Halloween one year, and you have the perfect dress/pants/tunic pattern? Or do you just get rid of them to make room for other things that you truly love?

And the (considerably shorter) list of fabrics in my stash:
  1. Navy polyester chiffon with blue dots - sheer collared shirt (Butterick 4042)
  2. Dusty rose crinkled polyester chiffon - sheer shirt (either Butterick 4042 or Simplicity 9559)
  3. Teal cotton with dark green pattern - sun dress (undecided on pattern, but it's mid winter, so I have time...Maybe Anne Adams 4543?)
  4. Gold poly satin - overskirt for Renaissance costume
  5. Pale lavendar linen - shirtdress
  6. Cream silk with pink and red flowers - blouse (Colette Jasmine)
  7. Multi-colored rayon - sundress (Simplicity 2145)
  8. Pink cotton - top based on Gertie's bombshell class
  9. Blue and tan check mystery fabric - winter something: coat, dress, skirt
  10. Lavender, pink, and gray plaid seersucker - sun dress
  11. Pink, gray, and white firework polyester - Simplicity 3562
  12. White embroidered cotton - Simplicity 3562
  13. Tan and brown twill from Grandma's stash - undecided

5 comments:

  1. I keep everything that I have! I already lost several issues of Burda when I moved from US to Russia, and I still MISS them! (They were in English, not in Russian). Having electronic patterns help with not-having-enough-space-issue. A little more time of consuming paper magazines, and I will move to electronic-only issues, I think

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  2. Ooh I really like your choice of patterns! I use the Vintage Patterns Wiki to date patterns but it can be hard to tell with some - particularly the mail order patterns. Last year on my blog I interviewed a woman who worked for the Mail Order Pattern company that produced pattern ranges including Marion Martin and Anne Adams. She said that the house illustration style was very specific and old fashioned so that 70s and 80s patterns often looked much older.

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  3. 133 patterns, wow! I'm totally in love with that very first dress!
    I'm the other way around, I own a total of 15 patterns (plus 5 Burdastyle magazines and two Ottobre magazines) and about 70 pieces/lengths of fabric...

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  4. Wow. Love that Anne Adams shirt!! Can't wait to see it done up. I have a lot of patterns, but definitely not 133. I have purged a bit along the way (I get more buyers on eBay than Etsy) while trying to keep only what I'm fairly certain I will make someday.

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