Sharing Other People’s Work …..

I. Am. Back. With apologies for not posting (again) on a regular schedule. Today, I’ll be nice and share links from other people’s work for you to enjoy.

BREAKING: Big 4 Patterns Sold to Liquidator. What now??

Should we save all our patterns?

“Legacy” pattern companies, a.k.a. the Big 4, a.k.a. Butterick-Simpilcity-Vogue-McCalls have been sold to a liquidator! Here’s a link from the Craft and Industry Alliance for an expanded story.

Big 4 Pattern Companies Sold to Liquidator

What are your thoughts, besides varying degrees of shock, ranging from “what-took-so-long” to “I’m-heartbroken” to “what-now”? This seems to be a complicated, fluid situation. Sad, but there are always independent companies to satisfy our pattern acquisition instincts. Here’s the caveat, though; if you did not yet know, many, many independent pattern companies depended on the McCall’s pattern-printing facility in Manhattan (Kansas) to actually print their patterns — so again, what now? Is this an opportunity for some entrepreneurial folks with relevant expertise, to jump into the resulting void? I hope so. Is this beneficial to the copy shop businesses who have already grabbed a business opportunity for printing full size patterns at user’s expense, for users who do NOT want to spend time taping together 60 – 100 pages of printed out digital patterns? All I can say is, change happens; let’s relax and sew up something from an existing pattern.

Then, there’s Joann’s closing down ….. here, my thoughts are in the “what-took-so-long” category. I wish Joann’s employees the best and wish it were still a thriving emporium, but from what I saw in my local store in the past few years, I foresaw this end — and I’m no economic forecaster. This matter is also fluid, with Michael’s in the mix.

Whew. Let’s move on to pleasant stuff.

Young Sewing Peeps are My Favorites….

….because they are carrying forward the sewing torch to inspire future generations. I wish them much success. There’s a very young lady with a YouTube channel who is a fashion designer with a sustainable sewing mindset, who refashions items that she wore previously , or had originally made herself. Here are a couple of links for you to enjoy Eleanor’s work.

She displays her skill on YouTube and I am so inspired that I went into my closet and stared at the contents for a long while. There were many candidates just hanging there; I even looked at some items that I wear a lot; so what’s with altering them, Samina?? Weeell, not alter them that much; maybe just do something to make them new? I thought about adding embroidery or decorative machine stitching to a high-rotation white linen top. I’m still mulling. Besides, I can almost hear annoyed rustling sounds from the fabric stash. Fear not, my beauties, I still love you.

Consistency is Better Than Perfection…

… in the blogging world, at least. One of my must-reads is a weekly post from custom designer/clothier Claire Kennedy. Claire sends her newsletter every Friday without fail — as a blog writer myself, the regularity alone makes her my hero; and I aspire to her blog processes, and the inspired writing; today, I read somewhere that “consistency is better than perfection” in blog writing. That ought to be embroidered and framed; or printed on a t-shirt. As well, Claire’s subject matter is detailed, nerdy and philosophical, although there are occasional typos and minor grammatical errors; but the wonderful thought and analysis is very much there. Us sewing magicians understand the philosophy and engineering behind creating fashion, as does Claire Kennedy.

Top Secret Project.

At this time, I just completed a top secret project. Will share in a few months 🙂

I’ll check in later with another imperfect blog post. Can you believe that I have made myself just two items so far in 2025? The jean jacket (love it) and the daffodil tunic (meh). Now, am getting very itchy to add things to my closet — it’s looking rather old. Nothing more joyous than completing a successful apparel piece that is pure bliss to wear; the purchased fabric pile is getting bigger, though, and I hear some rustling and whining from the stash pile…

That’s my imperfect blog post for now; join me again when I post the next bit of fashion and sewing stuff. I have more things to share even if I did not make them.

Samina

8 thoughts on “Sharing Other People’s Work …..”

  1. Many of the independent pattern companies are acquiring wide format printers (plotters). When ordering patterns printed on tissue paper, the minimum order was 1,000 patterns. That’s a big commitment for a small company. By owning a plotter, they can print as many as they need to fill their orders. It might work out better for them. I worked in the print industry for 55 years. For better or worse, things are always changing.

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    1. Pattern developers are a creative, ingenious group; of course they are investing in plotters. More power to them. Thank you for your comment, Cathy.

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  2. 60-100 pages for a pdf pattern?!? Let’s not exaggerate, please. Most patterns come in around 20-30 pages. If you have much more it’s because you’re counting instructions, which you shouldn’t be printing, and which you wouldn’t be taping anyways. There might be the very occasional huge long coat or wedding dress with a train but how often do most peiple take on anything like that? It’s not helping the discussion to inflate numbers like that and make people feel like a fairly simple task is going to be overwhelming

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    1. Marie-Christine, thank you for reading my post, and for your feedback! I have been away, so could not respond to your comment earlier. I have personally had to tape together a 60 page pattern, NOT including instructions. So, I am not inflating numbers. I have done it, and wasn’t happy about it.
      Again, I so appreciate that you expressed your thoughts here; I love it when my written words spark a discussion.

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      1. Well, my condolences on the 60 pages. That’d make me hesitate too. I think if I were to contemplate a huge project (and I’m a big tall person..) I’d try a zero-waste concept pattern first, measure pieces directly on the fabric and get my whooshy jollies that way instead. Anyways, as someone else mentioned plotters are getting more affordable and designers are acquiring a lot of them, that might help the problem too. No doubt the whole industry is evolving rapidly following the Joann/Big 4 crash

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  3. The sale of the pattern companies to liquidators is concerning. I’m one who’s not interested in fighting with printing a pattern so it comes out the right size, let alone taping it all together. I don’t care if it’s a big-4 or independent pattern. And I don’t have the space to set up a projector system.

    And where’s the outcry over the other DGA sewing-related brands? Of equal concern to me is Offray, Boye, Wrights, La Petite, La Mode, Le Bouton, EZ Quilting, etc are also in danger. The woven ribbons operations are being shut down. What will happen to the other trims & buttons availability if those operations are shut down instead of sold to another owner who will keep them going?

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