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?
Brilliant post Stephanie!
ReplyDeleteAnd 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....
ReplyDeleteThe 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.
ReplyDeleteI 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.
ReplyDeleteI 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
ReplyDeleteWhoa!! $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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