And the winner is...

Hello lovely readers. Today is Monday, and you know what that means. It's time to announce the winner of the giveaway for my new sewing pattern!

And the lucky winner is: JacieKakes! You can email me afewthreadsloose@gmail.com and I'll send you your pattern! Jacie also happens to have started writing a blog recently and I found myself giggling at the clever way she describes things. You should really check it out! Jacie also commented that the next pattern she would like to see from Mrs. Depew Vintage would be a Geisha style robe like the one in this picture:

And I have to say, you're totally right! This is gorgeous and I've been wanting to do a robe pattern for the longest time! Wow, Lana turner... what a babe.

On my last visit home I recently acquired a beautiful cream silk charmeuse robe almost exactly like this. The lovely thing was coming apart at the seams and I spent most of the last two days carefully hand stitching it back together. Now it's soaking in my laundry room sink and I'm hoping some old stains will work their way out (any tips?)

I'm thinking about starting with a pattern from one of my old German pattern magazines and working my way out from there. What do you think of this one? (robe/ nightgown on the left)

Which leads me to a very important question that I would really like your input on. A robe pattern would be a great deal larger to print out as a digital pattern than what I've done thus far. To save paper and ink for the seamstress using it, I could overlap pattern pieces onto the same sheet (much like a Burda pattern sheet, only with one pattern). My question is, if you've already gone to the trouble of printing it out, is too inconvenient to also have to trace a few pattern pieces off? Or is the right pattern worth all the trouble?

And in other news, here's a quick sneak peak at what I'm working on right now:

If you didn't win the bathing suit pattern and would still like a copy, you can download it directly from my Craftsy shop, (yay instant download!) or you can find it in my Artfire shop, and my Etsy shop.

And don't forget to stop by Ohhh Lulu... to enter the giveaway to win her beautiful new Betty High Waist Panties pattern (yay Sarah!). I've already got my pattern and I'm off to the fabric shop (I've nickname the place, 'the mess') tomorrow to get supplies!

How about you? What are you working on this week?

All about pdf patterns

The new frontier of sewing patterns is digital. Everything seams to turn to digital at some point and sewing patterns are no exception. E patterns are now being offered by the big four (Simplicity, Butterick, McCall's and Vogue) as well as a dozen websites including Etsy.com.

The great thing about digital patterns is that you can buy them and print for a fraction of the cost. There's no waiting for the mail to come, as most are emailed to you within 24 hours, or better, directly downloaded. I highly recommend Burdastyle.com for downloading patterns. Here's my favorite:

That's right,  you click download, and this pattern (which is free, by the way) is on your computer. You hit print, tape the pieces together, and start sewing.

Now, my very favorite thing about digital patterns is that some enterprising individuals, (yes, including myself) have started taking rare, expensive, hard to find patterns and making them available for download. Most of these are vintage originals whose copyrights have expired. Some are just used as inspiration to create an original pattern that still reflects the style and design so sought after in certain digital patterns.

Mary Anne Bandeau Pattern

Now there are some drawbacks to print at home patterns. They can be bulky and hard to store. There are two ways I store my larger printed patterns. One solution is to store them in a labelled file folder. My favorite way to store them though, is to print the pattern picture out and tape it to an envelope. I use the 6" x 9" manilla envelopes so they fit right in with my other regular patterns.

Marilynn Apron Pattern

Another great thing about pdf patterns is that once you buy them, they are saved on your computer. If you rip a piece, or lose one, or want to make it in a different size, you can just print again.
Some pdf patterns are larger and more complicated to put together. Many buyers are put off by the paper and ink they'll have to use up on their home printer. An easy way to get around this is to save the pattern to a cd or small thumb drive, take it to your local print shop (xerox, staples, they all do it) and have them print it for you.

So just in case you're interested, and so you know I'm not just plugging my shop, here are a few of my favorite pattern pdfs:

LaPrairieLady

Also from LaPrairieLady

From PatternRunway

From BettieMarie

Any questions?