Giveaway: Wellington Pattern Pyramid

This post is well overdue, I actually recieved this prize back in December, I've just been tragically unorganised lately! Anyway, better late than never, right?

I was the lucky recipient of one of the Wellington Pattern Pyramid Parcels, one from Kat of Modern Vintage Cupcakes infact. My beautifully wrapped parcel (that I was too excited to open than take a picture of, whoops!) contained the following patterns:

It took me a while to decide which pattern to keep, as quite a few of them have serious potential (if you look past the styling for some of them). It came down between the two on the left for me, but I've decided to keep the top left pattern (although find the concept of a pattern for a scarf mildly hillarious).

Despite it not being a requirement, I have decided to replenish the pyramid with another pattern or two, so now the selection looks like this:

And part of the rules, says I need to pass them on to another lucky blogger! The only condition is that you take one, and giveaway the rest yourself. Adding in any extras is completely optional. I'm willing to send the parcel anywhere that Australia Post lets me.

Just comment below to enter the giveaway, one entry per person.

The giveaway will be open for one week, so until Saturday the 2nd of February.

Patterns: Taking Stock...

Inspired by Mel I decided to count my patterns. Unsurprisingly really, I had more than I would have guessed. There are 69 envelopes in my pattern box, of which 15 of those are 'self drafted' patterns* which I decided to exclude - leaving 54 patterns in my pattern stash.

36 of 53 patterns have been used!

Before starting I hazarded a guess on twitter that I'd used more than half of them - and I was correct! In fact I have used 36 of the 54 patterns, so a whopping 2/3 of them! Even when you factor patterns that yielded unsuccessful garments for one reason or another, I'm still doing alright, with 83% of tried patterns giving successful garments, which is over 50% of all of the patterns:

29 Patterns have yielded successful results!

I own patterns from 14 different companies/designers. The company I have by far the most of is Simplicity! 31 of my patterns are 'contemporary' (big 4 etc), 13 independent, 7 vintage and 3 from books.

Number of patterns from different companies/designers

By far the most numerous type of pattern I have is dresses, followed by tops, and then skirts. However I have only used just over half of the dress patterns, but all of the jacket, trousers/shorts and costumes patterns.

The types of patterns I own and how many have been used

Of the patterns that I've used, most of them (23) have been used once, 10 have been used twice, but two stand out as being used over and over; with 5 uses the second most used pattern is the Jenny skirt by Burdastyle. But a clear winner the most used pattern I own, with 7 uses, is the Wizard of Oz pattern (Simplicity 7808), which has been used to make a Dorothy costume, a Snow White costume and 5 Sailor Scout costumes.

How many times I've used the patterns

I could go on, but I won't bore you anymore! Have you ever taken inventory of the patterns you own and which ones you've used?


*self-drafted is in quotes as though some actually are self-drafted, some are heavy alterations of other patterns, or have been traced off dead or existing garments

Pretty Colette

I went in with some friends to get some Colette patterns, which arrived while I was away over Christmas. We got the Lady Grey, Crepe, Beignet, Jasmine and Rooibos:

I got the Beignet, Jasmine and Rooibos, and have actually already got fabric for them. This is what I got:

The Beignet is a grey drill, the Jasmine a voile/lawn and the Rooibos a poplin (all from Spotlight)

I can't wait to get started on them!

Great Op-Shop Find

While I was in Perth for Christmas I snagged this pattern in an op-shop for only 50c!! Isn't it great! It's about one size too small for me, but surely it can't be too hard to make it a bit bigger.

The envelope back suggests to make it in "Garbadines, Linens, Piques, Poplins, Denims, Twills". What fabric would you use to make it up?

Re-organised Patterns

I'm trying to give my space a little bit of a sort out before I start sewing again for the new year, and I decided to start with my patterns.  As you can see below they'd gotten in a bit of an unmanagable mess.

I went to Officeworks and bought a pack of B5 envelopes (a bit bigger than A5 sized). I also remembered just as I started that my printer can print on envelopes!

So I sorted out all the patterns that were in plastic wallets and printed out nicely uniformed labelled envelopes. As well as any notes I had, for printed out or traced commercial patterns I included the line drawings of the patterns, and for self-drafted or highly modified patterns I included photos.

Now my pattern stash is much more organised and easier to look through for either specific patterns or just for inspiration.

How do you organise your patterns?

Op-shop find

In an op-shop a while back I found this gorgeous dress pattern (which is impressive in itself, as I never find nice patterns in op-shops). Even more conveniently, it is the right size for my friend Mindy, and exactly her style.

And even better, it was only 50c!

Pendrell blouse pattern

I had an exciting parcel waiting for me when I got home last Wednesday; the Pendrell blouse pattern from sewaholic.net. This is the first pattern for sale from Tasia, and after seeing the gorgeous versions she's made combined with the free shipping she offered if you pre-ordered it I couldn't resist getting it.

The blouse has three variations, the pattern is printed on recycled paper and having skimmed over them the instructions are clear but concise with some helpful tips along the way.

She is hosting a sew-a-long in January... The only question is which view to make first???

New Pattern Delivered!

As part of my BurdaStyle Sewing Club we are having a wardrobe sew along. I have my plan and will post about it soon, but I wanted to share with you this little bit of excitement that is related to the sew along - my new Sencha Pattern from Colette patterns:

I bought it online for a steal from Modern Retro Textiles, who sent it out to me super quick as I only ordered it Monday night and it arrived in the post yesterday (Wednesday). Incase you hadn't seen elsewhere on the internets, the Colette patterns are super cute in format as they come with the pattern 'envelope' being a little booklet with the intructions on, with a pocket in the back for the pattern pieces.

I'm very excited about this pattern; I think I've even picked out the fabric I want to make it out of; a gorgeous silk crepe that's white with tiny black spots from Tessuti. The plan is to make a muslin of this on the weekend to take along to sewing club next Thursday and buy the fabric. I have some fabric already that I inherited that would be gorgeous for this but i don't think i have enough. Once I have the pattern pieces cut out i'll have a go at laying them out on the fabric just to make sure though!