Sewing Business Blog

Look What We Found!!!

by Leave a Comment

While moving our office, we found some vintage copies of Sarah Doyle’s first book, “Sarah’s Key To Pattern Drafting”.

SKtoPDcover

 

“Sarah’s Key To Pattern Drafting” book includes step by step instructions and diagrams for custom making your entire wardrobe – slacks, shorts, skirts, blouses and dresses.  This is our original book with patterns and designs for women – whether you are tall, short, heavy or thin, this book is for you!  You can check out the table of contents here to see everything that’s in the book.

Our loss is your gain!  We’re marking these books down from the original $24.95 to $14.95.  Supplies are extremely limited and when they’re gone, there will be no more.

No coupon code is necessary – books are marked with the sale price.  Grab your copy soon as these super popular books won’t last long!

NOTE:  Because of the high cost of international shipping, this book is available only to customers within the U.S.

The Votes Are In…… And I’m AMAZED!

by 1 Comment

A few weeks ago we ran a post asking the question,  “Who do you sew more for…… plus size/full figure women or overweight/obese children”?  We have gotten a TON of emails from people answering that question and reasons WHY they do what they do.

By far the MAJORITY of people responding say they sew for full figure/plus size women.  Many of the reasons were basically the same – “I am a full figure woman, can’t find anything that fits properly, so I pretty much sew for myself, and help out a friend or two as well”.  The book/class preferred by these women with the “I sew for myself” answer is the “Sewing For Full Figure/Plus Size Women as a Home Business” because that manual contains ALL of the classes plus additional information at a reduced price than if they were to purchase “some” of the classes now, and some more later.  In reality, the idea of having all the information in one manual is more beneficial than many separate classes that they may “lose”.  I would never have thought about that answer, as I figured the “business” manual would primarily for those in a sewing business – amazing!  We did have some responders who are indeed in a sewing business, and because they themselves are in the plus size category, they prefer to sew for the same type of women, as opposed to working with overweight children.

On the other hand, those who preferred the “Sewing For Plus Size Children as a Home Business” are ones like I would have been a few years ago – had grandchildren who were very much overweight and had some friends who also had grandchildren in the overweight/obese size ranges.  These people also purchased the business manual because it contained ALL the size ranges for overweight boys/girls so the information they needed was in one manual regardless of whether the overweight child was 6 years old, 10 years old, boy or girl – everything was at their fingertips.  In addition, the business manual contained the information about how to alter store bought patterns for plus size children – so they figured they were all set regardless of who they were sewing for, what ages they were sewing for, or if they were making the patterns or starting with a store bought pattern and altering it.

Regardless of whether you’re in a sewing business or sewing for just a few people, I’m sure one of the above books will help you in getting the perfect for that full figure woman or for those overweight children.

Having Trouble Finding Patterns For Your Overweight Kids?

by 4 Comments

For those who have plus size / overweight children it sometimes can become a nightmare trying to find nice styles that actually would FIT the child.  Even the “plus” sizes don’t work because a 16 Plus would be for a somewhat overweight 16 year old, but what happens if the size range on that 16 Plus is what your child has, but he/she is only 8 or 9 years old?  An 8 or 9 year old MAY be much larger in the waist, tummy and hip area, but are NOT the 16 Plus size when it comes to shoulders, arm length, dress or pants length,  because  your child is only 8 or 9 and NOT 16.

At Plus Size Children Patterns, you’ll find patterns that are made according to ACTUAL plus size children’s measurements.  Compare the basic difference between the regular commercial patterns and the plus size children patterns:

Commercial Patterns: Size 8, Chest 27, waist 23

Plus Size Children Patterns:  Size 8, Chest 34, waist 30

Commercial Patterns:  Size 12, Chest 30, waist 25

Plus Size Children Patterns:  Size 12, Chest 38, waist 34

As you can see, there is a BIG difference between the “average” size commercial pattern measurements and the Plus Size Children pattern measurements!  We at PlusSizeChildren.com spent over 1 1/2  years accumulating the actual measurements of plus size / overweight / obese children from our readers, then put them into a data base so we could put together pattern sizes/ ages in order to make patterns that would fit those in the overweight/obese size ranges.

        

 

 

 

 

 

The above pictures are just a few of the patterns that are available from PlusSizeChildren.com  and from PatternsThatFitYou.com.   All boys and girls patterns come in size ranges of 4-5-6 or 8-10-12 or 14-16.  Each pattern has a variety of different styles such as different necklines, different sleeve styles, different pant lengths, etc.    At last you WILL be able to get patterns that fit, and you, as well as thousands of others, can say “Finally it Fits!!”

Tip Junkie handmade projects

How To Save Money On Store Bought Patterns

by Leave a Comment

Many times it takes MORE time to alter a store bought pattern so it will hopefully fit than it takes to actually SEW the pattern.  We all have our particular “adjustment” areas — hips, waistline, bust issues, etc.   How often have you FINALLY gotten a pattern to fit right and actually look good, when the next problem is that you can’t make every garment the same!  Well, I have some good news for you!  You can take that one pattern and change the neckline and/or sleeve styles so that you can have a complete wardrobe of a wide variety of styles from just that one basic dress/blouse pattern.  Check this out…….

 

 

 

ONE basic neckline on your great fitting pattern can be changed to make all these styles.  The instructions on making necessary changes for the new necklines are easy breezy!  PatternsThatFitYou.com has this pattern changing class as well as many others.

 

 

 

That SAME great fitting pattern’s basic sleeve can be changed to make all these different styles!  Easy step by step instructions for making the changes are also at PatternsThatFitYou.com.

Not only will you be saving a bunch of money by using your great fitting pattern to make all kinds of garment styles, the above pattern changing classes are NOW on a special 20% off summer sale (use the promo code SUMMER) to get a whopping 20% off everything at the PatternsThatFitYou.com website – through the end of June.

And remember, if you’re having issues with your sewing machine (tension, timing, thread knotting in the bobbin area, etc), check out the information on our Sewing Machine Repair for the Home Sewer book.  Save time and money by doing your own sewing machine repairs and adjustments instead of having to take it to a repair shop.