I have been spoiled. And it's all the internet's fault.
Remember my little trip to the fabric store last week? I was intending to spend some money - did you wonder about that part? - but I never even got close. When I looked at all my fabric that I had in boxes just waiting to be used I thought that I could at least update the patterns that I have. A few pieces of the fabric are dated but most is still useable. Not so the patterns; they are all too big (yes!) and most have shoulders like a line-backer. Tells you how long it's been since I last sewed anything for myself. So I ventured to look in the big books.
Holey moley! I was blown backwards by all the young styles! The short and skinny dresses on the young models were nothing like what I was looking for. I couldn't even imagine them on me. Most were so trendy that I sure couldn't use any pattern more than once...or be able to adapt it to something more suitable to my middle-aged body and lifestyle. Did I mention these are young! styles? A funny thing about the styles though...I remember making and wearing similar dresses back in 1973.
So, strike one. Then I dug a little deeper into the books and found a couple that I kind of liked. No, I liked them a lot. OK...head for the drawer to pull out my choice. Whoa! Back I reel from the big sign that says: "New Protocol for pattern selection". Now, you give the cashier your selection(s) and she retrieves it from the drawers which are inaccessible to us customers, being turned inward. OK. I hunt around but can find no handy paper and pencil provided. What am I to do? Write it on my hand? Yeah, that's what the young ones would do, isn't it? Wait! They'd probably key it into their phones. Stupid me...no phone.
Strike Two. A rummage through my purse produces a notebook and a pen. As I'm carefully transcribing number and size - all patterns seem to be multi-size now - I realize that I should check the price. I know that some designer patterns used to be way more expensive. Yikes! One pattern, no specialness, will cost me almost $20. Now, with multi-size and a willingness to re-trace all the sizes, I could conceivably start my own garment factory. I think that's the only way I could recoup the cost of this pattern. When I consider the cost of new fabric which fortunately I'm not needing, I can see why sewing/fabric stores may be on the decline. I am certainly not going to make more than one of anything.
Strike Three...and I'm out of there, thinking that my attitude is all down to the internet. I have been knitting up a storm with free patterns, or relatively inexpensive patterns available to download whenever I want. I can buy any number of magazines for less than $10 which have a multitude of patterns if I want to have designer patterns at my fingertips. Why are patterns so expensive? Once upon a time it was cheaper to sew your own clothes. Yeah, I know...that was when I was young. Right?
But, seriously. Why can't the internet do the same for sewing clothes as it has for knitting them?
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6 comments:
Brilliant post Stephanie!
And i even managed a laugh at your antics too!
Seriously, your final question says it all... maybe you could start an internet pattern business? I wouldn't put it past you, you seem to be able to do just about everything else.
How would you download a sewing pattern? I'm sure once that's figured out someone will do it! Then again, kniiting's a trend right now, so perhaps just more demand....
The question of how to download a pattern is bugging me? Unlike a knitting pattern, (which is just basically a set of instructions) a dressmaking pattern needs to be the size of the finished artical.
I suppose it might be feasible to do them as PDF's to be printed out on A4 sheets and then stuck together? (bit like doing a jigsaw puzzle - and it would use up a lot of paper!)
It's years since I did any dressmaking - I dare not think how much patterns cost over here in the UK!
Wow! $20 is a lot of money. I don't know what the industry is thinking. SInce I don't sew, and haven't since I was a girl, I had no idea they were so expensive.
I sewed a lot of my own clothes when I was young but haven't done anything like that for many years. It might be fun to try something, but maybe not if I have to torture myself by looking at all those patterns. :D
Whoa!! $20 for a pattern! WOW! It has been 29 years since I have bought a pattern or sewn a garment... Oh, my, how things have changed! I would never have imagined this. You are right about the online solution. And, yes, we are spoiled to our knitting patterns. Good luck with your sewing!! blessings ~ tanna
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