Still Needs Some Work

I get the sense that the Big 4/Big 7/whatever they are calling themselves these days are trying very hard to play catch-up. Abbie Small—with her 30+ years of experience at Simplicity—knows her stuff. I suspect she understands that the sewing world is shifting away from printed patterns and toward PDF files and even projector files. Many of the patterns on the Simplicity website now come in PDF format. There are some bugs to work out, however.

I purchased McCall’s 8636 as a PDF file from the Simplicity website because I need to get this class sample made ASAP. I took the A0 file to the local blueprint shop yesterday to have it printed on their large-format machine. They know me there. They’ve printed hundreds of pages of patterns for me over the last several years.

The owner took my thumb drive, popped it into the computer, and pulled up the file. He always looks at the patterns before he prints them, and he immediately spotted an issue. After asking me if it looked correct—it didn’t—he rotated a few pages and we checked again. The pattern appeared to be oriented properly, so he printed it.

I didn’t look at it again until I got home. I am not sure who is laying out the A0 files, but they need to spend some time with an indie pattern designer to learn how to do it properly. (I have never had an issue with printing an A0 file from an indie pattern.)

There was this:

And then there was this:

I almost missed these smaller pieces and would have thrown them into the recycling bin. And they were literally the only pieces printed on their large sheets.

The other issue was that the pants pattern pieces were too long for one sheet, so they spanned two sheets. I had to cut and tape those pattern pieces together. That’s not unusual; I have had to do that with a few other patterns. When that happens, the pattern designer usually puts some kind of alphanumeric marking on both pieces to show that they match and get taped together. It looked like whoever made this layout started to do that—one of the pattern pieces had such a marking—but forgot to do the remainder of them.

This is part of why I make up patterns before I teach them. I spotted these issues right away. A student probably wouldn’t recognize them or know how to fix them.

These pants are a bit more complicated than I anticipated—there are several panels to the pants—but we are making muslins in class and if nothing else, the students will get lots of practice making long, straight seams. I am going to recommend, though, that the students order paper copies of this pattern from the Simplicity website rather than going the PDF route.

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I ordered some Jalie patterns from the Fabric Fairy website, as well as a few swatches of athletic fabrics. Fabric Fairy carries a polyester/spandex fabric that I think will make good work pants for DD#2’s boyfriend. It matches the fiber content on a pair of pants he gave me to mend that were a bit too far gone to fix. I will check with him before I order any. The reason I am making some is 1) I can make them more cheaply than he can purchase them and 2) I am going to make them with a crotch gusset.

I ordered the Karine Cardigan, the Frederic Zip-Up Hoodie—I suspect that would make another good men’s class at the store—and the Gerald Underwear pattern. I still have this idea that I am going to make underwear for the husband. The model on the front of the pattern is wearing some in a pink flowered knit and I had to promise not to use a similar fabric. 🤓

I am getting close to planning a sewing staycation for myself. I need a week where I don’t have to do paperwork or cook and I can just lock myself in my sewing room and sew all day. I could get a lot done.