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Transcript:

Caroline: We are recording today on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Coast Salish and Kwakwaka’wakw peoples, including Tsleil-Waututh, Squamish, Musqueam, and K’ómoks first nations.

Helen: Hello, and welcome to Love to Sew. I’m Helen, the designer behind Helen’s Closet Patterns.

Caroline: And I’m Caroline, the owner of Blackbird Fabrics.

Helen: We’re two sewing buds who love to sew our own clothes and want to encourage you on your sewing journey, too.

Caroline: Join us for today’s topic: the history of sewing patterns.

Helen: Hi, Caroline.

Caroline: Hi, Helen.

Helen: I beat you to it. I beat you to it.

Caroline: We’re both just too excited to talk about the history of sewing patterns.

Helen: I really am. This has been such an interesting journey, learning a little bit more about this, and we’re so excited to share everything that we’ve learned. But to kick us off, we have a really great question here from Rosie. Caroline, do you wanna read it?

Caroline: “I am conflicted about how sewing plays a role in my future. It’s not something I plan on giving up; it can always be a hobby, and I know it always will be. Then again, for so long I have dreamed of going to fashion school but never had the guts to look more into it. I think—as many people probably do—that it’s impossible to create something original in today’s world.

“Furthermore, I am worried about not being good enough. After listening to some old and new episodes, I learned that both of you went to school for fashion. I would love to hear more about your experiences and how it led you to where you are today. Would you do anything different? If so, what? Do you have any advice for someone like me who is stuck on what to do?

“One of my favourite subjects in school has always been math. When Helen mentioned in one episode (I believe the pattern drafting one) that pattern drafting is a lot of math, that honestly made me feel a little bit better. I have always been scared to try drafting my own patterns. Although, I think entering the world of fashion and leaving the comfort of my basement where my machine lives is always going to be a scary thought.

“If you have any advice for someone who is considering a career in fashion, I would love to hear more! Thank you so much for being a sewing support system for me! Sewing was a love I formed on my own—no family members were there to answer my questions or help me when I broke a needle the first time I sewed leather (there were many tears). Cannot wait for Monday (said no one ever…unless they are listeners to your podcast)!! Thank you so much! – Rosie, 19, from Chicago”

Helen: Ooh, thank you so much for this question, Rosie. I can relate to this so much. I mean, reading this email was like taking a trip back in time to when I was your age at 19 and struggling to decide what to do next. I really wanted to go to fashion school, but ultimately I ended up taking a general design program in college instead. It was more of a broad design education. And it covered things like interior design, graphic design, display, and more, but there was no fashion specifically.

And I chose this path because I was worried that I wouldn’t succeed in the fashion industry. And to be honest, I was afraid I wasn’t good enough at sewing or stylish enough to go into fashion. I can also relate to what you said about not creating anything original. That’s such a real feeling that you’re just not there, but that’s, kind of, the whole point of school. So I do want to encourage you to think of it that way, that you’re going to learn. You don’t already need to be good at things to go.

The other design program that I ended up taking felt like it offered a bit of a broader education that I could use to do lots of different things in the future and potentially move into different fields, and that worked out for me because I really enjoyed my path that got me where I am today. I learned a lot of really great graphic and web design skills that have served me very well. I had since gone back to school to take a web design specific program.

So I did uh, a couple of different programs in college, but I never did end up going to fashion school and I, kind of, wish I had, I even still think about potentially, like, just taking some time off and going to fashion school ‘cause it would be so much fun. I really think I would thrive in that environment. And looking back now, I can see that I definitely had, like, the passion and the excitement and the drive required, and that’s so much more important than having those sewing skills and the personal style or design chops that you feel like you need.

Because, as I said, after all, you’re going to school to learn those things and develop your skill as a designer. And it’s totally okay that you know you haven’t drafted patterns yet before because that’s what school is for, and they’re gonna teach you how to do that. And I guarantee you there will be other people in the program who know less about sewing than you do, and they’re going to succeed as well.

But it has been, like, quite a meandering path for me to get where I am. But I think the same can be said for pretty much everybody. I can remember, like, the immense pressure of that first step out of high school. That question of, like, what do you wanna do with your life? Or what do you wanna be when you grow up? It’s so daunting and in reality, you’re not going to choose the perfect direction and just walk in a straight line, like, that’s not how life works. You’re gonna build skills and learn new things about yourself that are gonna change your course, change direction, and following what’s interesting and rewarding for you is the key and that is gonna get you where you’re supposed to be.

So if fashion is what you’re most excited about right now, I think it’s definitely worth pursuing that. And you can always change your mind and pivot and go in another direction.

Caroline: Yeah, totally. You’re so young, Rosie, you have so many years ahead of you to go to school, go back to school, pivot. I love your response. Helen, thank you for sharing your journey a little bit ‘cause it is really inspiring and I don’t think I have all that much to add.

I think this was such a relatable email from Rosie, and I actually did go to fashion school and when I was getting ready to go to school and throughout my years in school, I always thought I would graduate and start working for a fashion designer or for a larger corporation in the design department, but that didn’t happen.

I ended up going directly into the textiles field and although, you know, it’s not fashion design, I’d say it’s adjacent. It’s still in the fashion industry, and I have no regrets about the path that I took. Obviously, it brought me to where I am today and thinking about fashion school, even though I didn’t necessarily use those drafting and design skills that I learned in my career afterwards, they were really amazing creative years.

I have such good memories from fashion school. I met so many cool people there. I had such a great experience and like I said, it brought me to where I am today and sewing. I use those skills in my sewing hobby all the time. So, yeah, it’s definitely something that I would recommend to anyone if that’s something that’s interesting to you, try it out. It’s, it’s a really fun thing to go to school for and who knows what’ll happen?

Helen: Right? Is it like, is it like Project Runway? Cause I really just wanna do that.

Caroline: Sometimes, like for me, I, you know me, I love, like, procrastination and working… I work really well under pressure at the last minute. So yeah, like, I definitely, you know, sewed school projects the night before they were due and pulled all-nighters and was really stressed in the workroom, and, you know, there, there, lots of things go down in fashion school, but it was all in good fun. And it was such a cool environment to be in. And we had really great teachers, and I don’t know, I, like I said, I would recommend it to anyone.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: If you have an interest in fashion, pursue that. It’s, it’s a very, very fun thing to study in school.

Helen: Yeah. Were there people in the class that were just as scared as you were?

Caroline: Yeah. I mean, yeah, those first day, first week, first month jitters are real. Like, I, and I mean, even in our first couple of sewing classes, like, we were just learning the, like, they, kind of, assumed you didn’t really know very much about sewing, so it’s okay to go in feeling unprepared because that’s what school is for, right?

Helen: Yeah, totally.

Caroline: And you’re learning among peers, so you’ll, you’ll get to commiserate with all of your classmates about how hard or, you know, scary things are.

Helen: Yeah. Well, Rosie, keep us posted. I wanna know what you decide.

Caroline: Yeah. Good luck, Rosie.

Helen: Check in in a year or so. Well, I wish we had a little Schoolhouse rock song to open this episode, like… Pattern histories. No mystery. From tailors to Simplicity.

Caroline: Woo. I love that. Helen, keep going.

Okay. I’m so excited about this episode, but before we get into it, we wanna do a little disclaimer. We are not historians, We don’t have the time or resources or training to dig through primary sources, read multiple books, and write up a mind-blowing book or paper. But with that said, we really tried to find sources written by historians and or published by universities so that we can get our facts right.

And in this episode we’re focusing mostly on what academics call “the West,” meaning the USA, Europe, and Oceania. Not a very accurate term, I know. The reason we focused on these areas is because most of the available writing in English is focused on them. So if you have information about the history of sewing patterns in other areas of the world, we would love to hear about it and share it with our listeners.

Helen: Yes, you can think of this episode as a couple of friends telling you stories about the history of sewing patterns. The purpose is to give you an overview and get you curious to learn more. And if you want more information, you can check out our show notes.

We’ll link some great resources there, including books, blog posts, even scholarly articles on JSTOR, which is the biggest digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources. You can actually read up to a hundred articles a month if you sign up for a free account. It’s normally six, but they upped it to a hundred when the pandemic began, which is pretty cool, so… And we’re gonna link that all up for you there.

Caroline: Okay. Now let’s start our story once upon a time… Just kidding.

Helen: Our story starts in the mid-19th century. But to appreciate what happens then, we have to talk about what sewing was like before that. In the pre-industrial age, that is before the Industrial Revolution, sewing knowledge was treated differently.

Tailors were the professional pattern makers for all genders up until the 17th century when the guilds split into tailors, who specialised in men’s clothing, and mantua-makers makers, who specialised in women’s clothes. Pattern drafting knowledge was passed from person to person through apprenticeships. Tailors kept copies of patterns, but they were treated as trade secret and not shared or sold. They were so valuable that they were sometimes called “gods.”

Caroline: Clothes were much more expensive back then, too. Everything was more expensive. That’s one of the reasons that people didn’t have a lot of clothes. Most people would only have a few outfits. And for personal hygiene, as well as to protect their precious clothes from their body’s dirt and oils, they would have a higher number of linen undergarments that they could change out more frequently.

Helen: All sewing was done by hand at this time, and there was a second-hand clothing market, both in cities and by travelling merchants. Peasants mostly had to sew their own clothing. It took a long time to produce a garment, and for most people the goal was to make it last a long time as well. Hand me downs were a given.

One of the reasons that garments that survive to be in museum collections today are so small is that garments would be remade over and over, often becoming smaller the more they were altered. Well, that, and malnutrition.

Caroline: Of course, people of all classes have always wanted to look good, but the knowledge and labour required to create stylish clothing was just not available to most people. Okay, that’s the before.

Now, here’s what happens in the mid-19th century. Basically, the Industrial Revolution hits the textile industry. That’s not quite correct. The textile industry is one of the main drivers of the Industrial Revolution. Steel machinery, coal power, and cheap labour in the name of “efficiency” produces an explosion of textiles on the market for lower prices than ever. Later, in the “second Industrial Revolution,” advances in transportation, like train networks expand the availability of textiles.

Helen: The home sewing machine is growing in availability and popularity at this time, too. Hand crank machines are out. Treadle machines are in. With a hand crank machine, you had to use one hand to turn the crank while the other hand guided fabric through the sewing machine.

As you can imagine, it’s not the easiest task to learn, even if it is faster than hand sewing. Treadle machines have a, kind of, pedal that you move back and forth with your foot in a see-saw motion. It’s not as easy as today’s electric pedals, but it definitely is more doable than a hand crank.

The explosion of factory made goods during the Industrial Revolution means that by the end of the century, sewing machines would become affordable even for regular people. Sewing is happening more quickly and efficiently than ever before.

Caroline: And print media is also booming. There are more newspapers, magazines, books, and periodicals than ever before, and they’re more affordable than ever before. Trade publications for tailors and dressmakers begin to share more detailed information about the trade, including information about drafting systems, scaled-down patterns, and advertisement for full-size paper patterns.

Here’s something a bit juicy. Early pattern makers would sometimes secretly create fashion magazines specifically to drive people to their businesses and keep any connection between the two on the down low.

Helen: Whoa, That’s some marketing chops right there.

Caroline: Seriously.

Helen: Okay, so that’s what’s happening in the world when a couple big names come onto the scene. The first big name is Madame Demorest, of “Madame Demorest’s Emporium of Fashion!” Amazing name. No notes.

Caroline: No notes.

Helen: She was the wife of a wealthy New York merchant and the head of the first majorly successful tissue paper pattern company. At first, her patterns were not graded, so they had to be scaled up or down according to the size of the sewist. You could buy her patterns via mail order from magazines like Godey’s Lady Book, or her own magazine, The Mirror of Fashion. There’s that sneaky magazine trick we were just talking about. She also has a bunch of locations that grew in number over time. There were 300 locations by the 1870s, and by the 1880s, she retired from the pattern company game.

Caroline: Okay, the second big name is one you might recognize: Ebenezer Butterick! Best name ever. Although, although he wasn’t the first big name on the pattern scene, his company was the first to produce graded paper patterns in the 1860s. Because of this, his company quickly overtook Madam Demorest’s.

The legend goes that he came up with the idea for the company after his wife talked to him about how hard it was to use a non-graded pattern to make clothes for their son. I totally understand – I’d be complaining from the rooftops if I could only get non-graded patterns. Butterick also had their own sneaky magazines – Delineator for women and The Tailor’s Review for men.

To give you an idea of how successful Butterwick was, in 1903, the company moved into a new headquarters in New York City decorated by Tiffany.

Helen: Whoa, that’s fancy.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: I’m not gonna lie, I can only picture Ebenezer Scrooge this whole time, so I’m just assuming that’s what he looks like.

Caroline: Do you think the name Ebenezer is gonna come back into fashion?

Helen: Oh, absolutely. There’s probably like little babies right now by the name Ebenezer.

I mean the whole non-graded pattern things. How does that even work? Like what size, what size are they? I don’t understand.

Caroline: I know, I was, I was wondering that, too, like, because you have to scale it up or down. But, like, are you scaling it up or down? Or are they, like, you tell them your size and then they scale it up? But maybe because it’s not graded using, like, proper grading techniques, it’s, like, not gonna have the right proportions or something?

Helen: I think it’s probably up to the sewist to do it. And so that would be, like, a whole other skillset that you would need to have.

Caroline: How do you do that without, like, a copy machine or something? I don’t understand.

Helen: By hand!

Caroline: Oh, my gosh.

Helen: Well, the availability of paper patterns, affordable fabric, and fashion media changed home sewing forever. By the 1920s, the average person could make clothes inspired by their favourite film stars. Only 80 years earlier, the technical knowledge, materials, and leisure time would’ve been unavailable except by a very select few people.

Caroline: And by the 1950s, the “Big 4” were dominating the pattern game. You might have heard people refer to the big four pattern companies before. Those four are Butterwick, Vogue, Simplicity, and McCall’s. McCall’s was started by Scottish tailor James McCall. They started printing patterns in 1919. Fun fact: they used to print instructions directly on the pattern pieces rather than having a separate booklet.

Helen: Oh, I, kind of, love that idea.

Caroline: Yeah! Saves paper.

Helen: Vogue Pattern Service started in 1919 as a tie-in with Vogue Magazine. Condé Nast bought Vogue Magazine in 1909, changing the pattern division to Vogue Patterns in 1914. They are known for having more complex patterns and for selling the patterns of high end designers.

Caroline: Simplicity started selling patterns in 1927, and they filled a niche of easy-to-use, cheaper patterns.

Helen: There wasn’t just the Big 4, though. Burda was a publishing house for over 50 years before they started publishing patterns in 1949. Aenne Burda, daughter-in-law of the founder, owned this arm of the company. Burda Moden pulled the company out of debt and grew it into a powerful player in the economic recovery of the country after World War II. Burda, now called Burda Style, remains a popular pattern company for sewists in Europe and all over the world.

Caroline: There were other more short-lived pattern companies that were, nevertheless, popular in their day. For example, Hollywood Patterns owned by Condé Nast started in the thirties and printed Hollywood stars on their envelope covers. You can imagine this made them super popular, but they stopped printing patterns at the end of World War II.

Helen: In 2001, more recent history, McCall’s bought Butterick and Vogue. Then, in 2016, a company called CSS bought McCall’s, which, of course, came with Butterick and Vogue. And in 2017, CSS bought Simplicity. So since then, it’s actually not the “Big 4”, it’s more the “Big 1.” The most recent development is that in 2020, IG Design Group bought CSS.

Now, of course, all these pattern companies still operate under their own labels, so it’s still the Big 4, but I mean, it’s fun to know that technically they’re all owned by the same company.

Caroline: Mhm. And for the majority of the 20th century, people were able to sew fashionable clothing using patterns from the Big 4 (and more). And it was almost always more affordable than buying those styles off the rack. In addition, they had more creative control over the pieces they made. They could fit them just how they liked, and they could make them to a higher standard of quality. These last few reasons will sound familiar to today’s sewists.

Helen: Yeah, maybe not the cheaper part though.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Okay. This brings us almost to today, but not quite. Let’s start with a little context. Towards the end of the 20th century, home sewing, especially garment making, had declined as clothing prices lowered. With increased globalisation and unethically cheap outsourced labour, it was no longer more affordable to make your own clothes. Sewing became more of a hobby than a practical skill, and sewing was taught less often in schools.

Caroline: This sewing revival that has been going on since the early 2000s is linked to the rise of the internet. Although the digital revolution, also known as the “third industrial revolution” started in the mid 20th century. Home computers didn’t become common until the 1990s, and access to the internet didn’t become common until the early 2000s. As more and more people got online, they discovered the potential of the internet for connecting with people all over the world who have common interests, for sharing information, and for e-commerce.

Helen: And the Maker Movement, also known as the DIY Movement, that started to bloom in the early 2000s and is still going on today, is at least in part, a reaction to globalisation and that digital revolution.

Many makers are opposed to the working conditions and factories that are located in the Global South and East for the very reason of lower pay for workers and few regulations. They also want to make sure that handmade physical objects are valued in a world that is increasingly digital.

Caroline: However, digital products and content are a major way that the Maker Movement has functioned since the beginning. Sewing blogs and social media sites, like Craftsy, were an early way for sewists to connect, share knowledge, and show off their makes. Now, we not only have a plethora of sewing content on YouTube, social media, blogs, and podcasts to keep us inspired in learning, we also have unprecedented access to sewing patterns online. You can buy Big 4 patterns online, either in paper or pdf, but there was another major development in sewing patterns in the past 20 years: the rise of indie patterns.

Helen: Ooh, this is where I come into play, guys, indie patterns.

Caroline: Yes!

Helen: Indie patterns have revolutionised sewing. And it’s not that there weren’t indie patterns before, there totally were. But they were harder to find, and the companies were much less successful. But because of the internet, indie sewing companies are able to sell to a much smaller niche and still find that success, find their customers. So much easier than it used to be.

Caroline: It’s so true, and PDF patterns have now become standard with indie pattern companies. The companies don’t need to spend a lot of money to print patterns before they know they’ll be successful, and customers all over can access them without paying shipping costs. Some sewists don’t love printing their patterns at home, while others like the instant gratification of buying a pattern and printing it the same day. For the customers who don’t love printing their own large-format pattern, printing services have started to pop up.

Helen: Yes! I can remember when PDF patterns really weren’t that common. Some companies didn’t even have them.

Caroline: Yeah, I know. I know. We should talk about, like, what the sewing, indie pattern world was like when we started sewing

Helen: Yes! I can remember I started in 2014 I wanna say. I can remember going to my local fabric store, quilting fabric mostly, uh, store, but they did have indie patterns there. And I bought one Sewaholic, one Deer and Doe, one Grainine, one Sew Liberated, and I think, uh, Wiksten and that was the, and a Colette. Those were the only brands they had in stock, but I bought one of each ‘cause I wanted to try them all.

But those were the ones that they had at my local store, and I think those were, kind of, the major players at the time, especially Colette, um, now Seamwork, still a huge major player in the industry. They were super popular at the time and along with that came the style, that, like, vintage, retro, fit and flare more, um, kind of, dressy, frilly look was definitely more popular in the indie sewing world. There was a lot of pattern companies going for that look.

And then there was the occasional company going for more of a modern look, like Grainline Studio, for example, that had some more, um, just everyday, wearable pieces.

Caroline: Oh, yeah. Totally. I started getting into, like, this online sewing community, indie sewing world back in 2010, 2011. And at the time, there were even fewer companies. I remember almost all companies were paper patterns. It was really hard to find PDF patterns online. And I got introduced to the indie sewing world through our friend Tasia, who at the time owned Sewaholic Patterns, so she was doing paper patterns. Colette was doing paper patterns.

And honestly, I don’t remember that many other companies that I was able to find paper patterns for in, like, my local fabric shop. But PDF patterns were also just starting. Like, I remember seeing Grainline Studio selling their PDF patterns for just $5 each. And it was just this, like, revelation, like, I was, like, how does this even work? Print it at home? What?

Um, and it’s funny that you mention that retro style ‘cause I totally remember when I got into sewing more as a hobby and sewing my own clothes around that time. Like, so many of the patterns were that sort of vintage-y-inspired, fit and flare, retro style.

And I even sewed myself a few things in that style, which was, like, so not me. But I just felt like I wanted to and needed to ‘cause that was what I was exposed to at the time, and I definitely never wore any of those dresses that I made.

Helen: Oh, no.

Caroline: But it does, like, just remind me of those early days of the indie sewing world, and I feel like the style has evolved a lot, and obviously, just the availability of patterns. There’s just so many more companies. And everybody has transitioned to making their patterns available as digital downloads, which I think is a really, really cool evolution of the indie pattern world ‘cause it just makes them more accessible, more available, more of that instant gratification. And you know, I’m team, I’m team PDF pattern.

Helen: I think it’s fascinating. It’s such a recent history, uh, that PDF patterns have really not been around for that long. And you talking about, you know, these companies going into PDF when now it’s the opposite and companies are trying to decide whether they should go into paper, right?

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: Is it worth it to go into paper patterns and versus is it worth it to go into pdf? And I just think that’s so funny. And you were telling me before we started recording that Shea actually played an interesting role in this development.

Caroline: Yeah, so, like, back in 2011, 2012, I was working for a fashion textile company, and I was working part-time for Sewaholic sewing samples and writing posts on her blog. Some of our long-time listeners would remember when I used to blog on Sewaholic.

And at the time, Tasia was only doing paper patterns, and I remember us talking about, like, should, should you do PDFs? And you know, she was a little bit reluctant, but everyone was starting to transition to offering PDF downloads, but she didn’t really know how to go about it.

And because Shea is, kind of, like, a Photoshop whiz – um, he, he works more in the art world, I guess – he was like, oh yeah, I think I can figure out how to do that. So Shea actually digitised and tiled and created the PDF patterns for all of the Sewaholic patterns back in – I don’t know, it was probably, like, 2013, 2014 when that happened.

But yeah, I always thought that was really funny that Shea played a part in that back then. Back before there were tons of tutorials online on how to tile and how to create PDF patterns. I feel like there are way more resources now than there were back then. So he had to, kind of, just figure out how to do it on his own.

Helen: Yeah, I mean, even when I started my pattern company, there really wasn’t a lot of information online about how to go about doing all these things. Now there’s a lot more available. Pattern Workshop was the course I took, and that is still going strong.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helne: You can still take that course and learn lots of skills from Lauren Dahl. It’s a good course. But yeah, it was a challenge to figure out how to do things and also just a really interesting peek into a whole other world. And I started digging a bit deeper in discovering all of these different designers from other countries and what everybody was up to and trying to get the lay of the land of how their businesses are structured and, and how often they’re putting out designs and all these different things. It was so interesting, such a niche industry. I mean, when I tell people that I designed sewing patterns, like, they’re usually just like, wait, what? Like…

Caroline: Still, right?

Helen: Yeah. What, how, how is that a thing? Like, people wanna sell their own clo-, like, it’s just fascinating. And then you tell them about this whole corner of the internet that you’re obsessed with and they’re like, oh, I had no idea that was there.

Caroline: Oh, yeah. Totally. We have folks in our neighbourhood, in East Van where our warehouse is, that will just, sort of, like, they’ll see, you know, they’ll be walking down the alleyway and see into our warehouse and then come over and be like, what do you guys do? Do you make clothes?

And when I try to explain like, no, we’re a fabric store. They’re like, wait. Like, why do you have a ware-, how do you have a warehouse? Like, what, how are you a fab-, like, fabric stores? What? And I’m like, when you’re not plugged into that world, I think you don’t realise just how, like, rich and full it is. There’s just, like, so many people that sew that, but it’s, it feels like a, a world that’s almost, like, sectioned off and not everyone knows about.

Helen: Yeah, it’s true. And like it has grown so much in the last 10 years since you got into the industry and, and so much since I got in. And I think it will continue to grow. And part of the reason that indie sewing pattern companies started to come to the forefront and become really popular was in a, a bit of a response to the Big 4 and a response to what customers, kind of, said they wanted outta their pattern.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helne: So, for example, indie patterns often go up to larger sizes than Big 4 patterns. There are even some companies that are just for plus sizes now, which is amazing. Finding sewing patterns at all, much less fashionable ones, was really difficult before indie patterns became a big thing.

Caroline: Yeah, and indie pattern companies often have a focus on education. They publish tutorials, sew-alongs, technique demonstrations. And some pattern companies have a reputation for detailed clear pattern instructions as well. I would say Helen’s Closet has that reputation. You have amazing instructions that totally teach sewing alongside just the pattern instructions, so…

Helen: That was my favourite thing when I got into sewing again and I found these pattern companies and the booklets that went along with the patterns, I was like, oh my gosh, this is so cool. All these tips and tricks and diagrams, and I just loved every, every bit of it.

Another differentiating factor is that indie pattern designers usually do a better job of featuring a diverse range of models, and this is often in response to urging from the sewing community, which is another positive for indie sewing companies. They’re much more connected to their customers than was ever possible for companies before the internet.

And because we’re on a smaller scale, we are always listening, and I think growing and changing, and we’re gonna talk about maybe the future of sewing patterns in a minute here. But I do think that there has been so much positive change in the community, and that’s definitely thanks to the customers speaking out about what they actually want. And then the companies are able to listen to that and make those changes.

Caroline: Oh, yeah. Absolutely. And it’s now even easier than ever for more people to get quality patterns in the styles that they want. Um, so there’s just more indie pattern companies popping up all the time. And even thinking back to recent years, it makes me think, like, there’s still so much evolution happening.

Like copy shop patterns, a zero format, where you can send it off to print and get it shipped to your house – that’s only something that has popped up in recent years. And we offer that service now at Blackbird, and it is super popular. People love not having to tape their patterns together, so you get that digital product, that availability of just, like, more options, but you can just print it and get it shipped to your house.

Helen: Yeah. It’s amazing. Especially if you can get it printed and shipped along with your fabric…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: …and, like, other things you’re ordering. It’s such a great service, and I haven’t taped together a pattern in a while, I will admit.

Caroline: Me neither.

Helen: Huge copy shop print fan over here.

Caroline: Yes. Absolutely. Okay, so that brings us up to the present, but, like Helen said, we’re not done yet. We wanna talk about where we think sewing patterns will go in the future. We definitely have some ideas.

Helen: Yes. As we’ve seen in this short history, sewing patterns have kept pace with the technological innovations of every age. So looking at some of the modern technology that we have now, we just have to imagine taking it to the next level.

Caroline: Yeah, we already have sewists who use projectors mounted above their cutting tables to project images of pattern pieces onto their fabric. Then, they cut the pieces out without needing to use any paper at all.

So we can see augmented reality patterns happening in the near-ish future. Augmented reality is when you can view digital images overlaid on top of real world images. One example of AR we’re all familiar with is the filters you can use on social media that give you a mask or makeup or a lamb standing on your head.

Imagine being able to use your phone or put on a pair of glasses and see the lines of your pattern pieces on top of your fabric. This technology will probably become more refined over time so you could have the correct scale and not worry about distorting. I personally love this idea, feels very futuristic, but also within reach.

Helen: It does feel within reach. Another possible thing that we could use this for is to mock it up on our bodies. You know, like Sam was telling me that he was shopping for glasses on Clearly Contacts, and he was like, the trying on glasses feature is amazing now. Like, even a few years ago it was really not that good, and now you just turn on your webcam and you can try on all these glasses and they look like they’re on your face. Like, imagine if you could do that with patterns. You just turn it on and see exactly what the Gilbert Top looks like on you.

Caroline: Mhm. So cool.

Helen: Yeah. Okay. There’s also virtual reality, also known as VR. That’s another technology that we currently have that will probably become more refined and accessible over time. It’s already made major strides in the last just five years, and I can imagine VR sewing tutorials, like, where you could actually virtually walk around the table where the demonstration is happening. You could zoom in. You could look above and below the person’s hands and see it from different angles. How cool would that be?

Caroline: So, so cool. And VR pattern envelopes would be amazing. You could see the fabric move in real time. Maybe you could even have a digital double of yourself and be able to try on the garment before you decide to buy, kind of, like that Clearly Contacts example you just gave.

Helen: Yes!

Caroline: Whoa! Imagine if you were shopping in a fabric store and you could turn on your webcam and then, like, overlay the fabric on top of your body to see the scale of it. Oh, my gosh.

Helen: That would be so cool. Like, uh, if on the Blackbird Fabrics website you could, like, I don’t know, turn on your VR, like, put on your Oculus Rift and, like, use the gloves to, like, touch the fabric and really, like, see how it drapes and, like, drape it on your body, look in a mirror.

Caroline: Twenty years from now, that’s what it’s gonna be. I predict two, two years from now.

Helen: Oh, two. Oh, my god. Okay. We haven’t even talked about, like, just virtually sewing, like you’re in the Sims or something, and you’re just like, you’re not actually making it.

Caroline: Oh, not sewing IRL.

Yes, you’re just sewing virtually. You could have, we could have, like, a Love to Sew virtual sewing meetup where we all hang out in a virtual, like, stadium and sew virtual clothes.

Caroline: That would be really cool. That would be so cool. And also just, a sewing-themed video game.

Helen: Yes.

Caroline: It would be really cool.

Helen: The stakes are so much lower.

Caroline: Yeah. You could learn to sew in that format. Wouldn’t that be fun?

Helen: Ooh, yeah. Imagine learning to sew in VR or, like, just using it to practice techniques before you do it on your actual fabric.

Caroline: Yeah. And then you don’t have to worry about sewing through your finger.

Helen: You still, you still have to worry about that. Always be worried.

Okay. Another technological advancement is digital printing. This has only been around since the eighties, and it has gotten better and better over time. I could see pattern companies or fabric companies offering digital printing services like digital printing files for their customers. The customers can then upload to a printing service and lay over the print and fabric that they want.

I think Spoonflower actually offered this service. Maybe they still offer this service where you can like upload? No, not anymore.

Caroline: No. I think it was, like, a up a couple of years they did it, and then they just continued it. I’m not too sure why, but I remember thinking it was really cool. You could upload a sewing pattern in that would, sort of, print the outlines on top of the fabric print so that you could just, like, get it and cut out your project.

But I remember thinking, like, well, what if you have to grade between sizes or what if you wanna make adjustments to the pattern? So I feel like there’s still some innovation that might need to happen there, but it’s such a cool concept, right? It would take the pinning and tracing or projecting element completely out of the equation, and you can just get right into cutting out your fabric.

Or imagine if you could, like, buy fabric or upload…

Helen: Already cut out?

Caroline: Exactly. And, like, upload the pattern and then it, like, a machine would just cut out all your pieces for you, and then you just get all the pieces shipped to you, and you just have to sew it up.

Helen: Oh, my gosh. Imagine if you could, like, just buy a finished garment and then wouldn’t even need to sew it.

Caroline: Oh, my gosh, Helen, what an amazing business idea.

Helen: Seriously, though, like, how many steps do we want done for us? No, the cutting out is legit though. That would be really cool. I mean, there’s the Cricut machines that cut out…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Like, that cut out things, small things, and I want, like, a giant one.

Caroline: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Is there anything else you can see in your crystal ball for the future of sewing patterns?

Helen: I mean, as we said, there’s a lot of new designers coming onto the market all the time. There’s all these amazing people putting their work out there, and there’s so many more choices now, and I think, as sewists, people are getting more and more interested in design and drafting. I’ve seen more resources pop up for people to learn how to do drafting, um, and to flex those design skills. A lot of self-drafting happening in the sewing community.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: Pattern hacking. I think people are generally just getting more confident.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: And I think that’s amazing, and I could totally see more sewists going in the direction of drafting their own patterns or learning how to do that so that they can make their own designs and more resources and educational tools for them to be able to do that.

Caroline: I love that idea. Yeah, and if we’re thinking about, like, innovations in technology, I could also envision a world where there are more accessible programs that you can maybe download online and put in your measurements and be able to design something and then have it just drafted for you or have some, kind of, aid in, in throughout that process so that you don’t have to have, like, the full pattern drafting skills, but you can have the idea and then be able to have a program that helps you to execute it. I know there are a couple of pattern websites, um, out there, I think Free Sewing… Is FreeSewing.org one of them where…?

Helen: Yes.

Caroline: They have different, uh, pattern options and you can put in your measurements, and it’ll, sort of, like, draft it exactly to your body. But I could see that even being taken to the next level where you are coming up with the designs.

Helen: Yeah, exactly. Or just some more companies offering that service I think would be really interesting.

Caroline: Yeah. The future’s bright. I feel like there are so many ways that this, you know, indie sewing pattern world can be innovated and developed and evolve, and I’m just really excited to see what happens in the next 10 years. Like, think about the last 10 years. How much has changed?

Helen: I know. I know. It really is gonna be so much fun to see, and I think there’s a world where, you know, patterns and drafting and self drafting, things like that can coexist because people are always gonna want to click the button and download the already pre-drafted thing, um, and sometimes you’re gonna wanna do your own. And I think that both those things can be true for people. So, yeah, I think it’s exciting. I don’t wanna deter anyone from going into pattern drafting.

Caroline: No.

Helen: Thinking everyone’s gonna be drafting their own patterns in 10 years. Don’t worry.

Caroline: No, I don’t think everyone will. I think it might just be like more of an available option.

Helen: Exactly.

Caroline: Or, or something that people feel more confident or inspired to get into. But I think there will be a need for pattern designers, and I think the indie pattern world has a really bright future, so…

Helen: Mhm. Yeah. One thing that I could potentially see, and people have tried to do this over the years is creating, like, a sewing-specific social platform or place where sewists can share their makes because there’s been so many changes in Instagram in the past, like, year or two, and it’s not necessarily a place where everybody wants to spend time anymore.

Like, imagine if we had that space that was just sewing-specific where people could share their makes, and it wasn’t traditional or a, you know, a trendy social media platform. I think that would be really cool. I would love if it, it existed.

Caroline: Yeah. Yeah.

Helen: But it’s really hard to imagine building something like that.

Caroline: Yeah. Even just, like, more apps and tools and digital products to help us on our sewing journey would be really cool.

Helen: Yeah, that’s true.

Caroline: Yeah. Okay. Well, we’ve been on a long journey in this episode. We started in the mid-19th century, well, we actually went before that, and we ended up nearly 200 years later. Commercial sewing patterns have been an important part of sewists’ lives for generations, and we can see them sticking around for generations to come.

If you have any interesting resources or historical tidbits to share about sewing patterns, we would love to hear from you. Or if you have a good guess on where sewing patterns are going next, we’d love to hear that, too.

Helen: Yes, you can check out my new website where you can buy pre-made garments, Helen’s Closet, not patterns, dot com.

That’s it for today’s episode of Love To Sew. You can find me Helen at HelensClosetPatterns.com and Caroline at BlackbirdFabrics.com. We’re recording in beautiful British Columbia, Canada.

Caroline: Go to LoveToSewPodcast.com to find our show notes. They’re filled with links and pictures from this episode. And if you’d like to get in touch with us, send us an email at hello@LoveToSewPodcast.com.

Helen: If you love Love To Sew and want more, you can sign up for our Patreon. For just $5 a month, you get a full-length bonus episode and weekly behind-the-scenes pictures. For $10 a month, you get all that plus a mini-episode focused on sewing techniques and 15% off codes for Helen’s Closet and Blackbird Fabrics. Patreon is the best way to support us so we can keep making quality sewing content. Go to patreon.com/LoveToSew for more info.

Caroline: Thank you to our amazing podcast team. Lisa Ruiz is our creative assistant and the researcher and writer extraordinaire for this episode. Jordan Moore is our editor. Margaret Wakelee is our transcriber. And thank you for listening. See you next week.

Helen: Buh-bye.

Caroline: Bye.

 

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