Butterick 6285

My Thoughts On The Latest Butterick Patterns

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There’s one type of email which always gets me very excited – an email from one of the Big Four pattern companies informing me their new patterns for the coming season have been released.  But the excitement is not for the reason you might think . . .

I follow quite a lot of sewing bloggers and I love reading their posts, but two bloggers in particular write posts giving their thoughts on new patterns.  One is always a very serious and informed review, the other is usually quite hilarious and points out certain “weirdnesses”!  So when new patterns are out, I look at the patterns myself, determine my own views on them, then wait in anticipation for these “pattern review” posts.

Recently I thought, “maybe I could write posts like that”, then immediately dismissed the idea as I didn’t think I’d have much to say.  That was, until yesterday morning, when I received one of THOSE emails, from Butterick.  It turns out I have plenty of opinions!  So here it is, the inaugural edition of the Quirky Kiwi Pattern Review!  I hope you find it educational/informative/amusing (hopefully it will be at least one of the 3!) 😀

Lets start with the ones I like.

NOTE: Just click on any of the photos to open up the Butterick page for that pattern (opens in a new tab.)

Butterick 6285 – Patterns By Gertie

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Gertie basking in the sunshine

Meet Gertie, the new addition to our family!

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Please say a big “hello!” to Gertie – my mannequin 😀

Gertie basking in the sunshine

Gertie basking in the sunshine

I’ve never owned a dressmakers dummy/mannequin, but I’ve thought about it many times.  I always seemed to get caught up in the debate of whether an adjustable or non-adjustable one would be better.  Then looking at the prices, well, they’re not exactly cheap are they?  So at that point I’d ask myself if I really needed one, and that would be the end of that debate for another 6 months.

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And a close up of the box

I’ve Got A Brand New Etsy Shop!

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The time finally arrived when my vintage pattern stash started to take over the house. What started as “I just have to have that vintage sewing pattern and then I’ll be happy” turned into “but I can’t let that lot of 28 vintage patterns go to just anyone, I have to protect them!” Am I bonkers? Probably!

The patterns I want to get rid of

The patterns I want to get rid of

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The curved side seam where my zip had to go - oh this is not going to be easy

See, The Vintage Top Does Exist!

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So as I mentioned in an earlier post, I finished making my first ever garment from a vintage pattern!  (Well actually I finished it at the end of last year but it’s taken me until now to work out how to take decent photos without the assistance of a friendly photographer!  I know, shame on me, call myself a blogger and all, how embarrassing!)

This is my "Arms Akimbo Pose"

This is my “Arms Akimbo Pose”

Butterick Pattern 6887

Butterick Pattern 6887 – I made View B

I did cut out a muslin/chair, sewed it up (including very roughly putting a zip in the side), and was actually quite pleased with the result.  I also learnt a bit about putting in a collar, I was glad of the practice so that when I came to sew the real thing, my collar went in much easier than it might have!

The top has kimono / dolman / magyar sleeves.  I think it depends what source you look at to determine which term is correct, but basically the sleeve is just an extension of the bodice, not a separate piece of fabric.  This creates extra fabric in front of and behind the arm, but if your fabric is quite drapey, then it still looks fine (oh, but my fabric isn’t drapey, never mind!).  The fit around the waist was quite snug, but I quite liked it as it emphasised the shape of the bust and since it’s cut on the bias, it stretched quite nicely so I didn’t feel restricted.  No photos of the muslin/chair – too boring.

My "Sunglasses Pose"

My “Sunglasses Pose”

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great_british_sewing_bee

Who Doesn’t Love The Great British Sewing Bee!

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Yippee! The Great British Sewing Bee is back in all it’s glory!  It’s series 3 and I was wondering how they were going to make it more difficult and/or find better sewers than series 2.  Well there’s certainly some very competent sewers this time round and I can’t wait to see how they all get on!

egg timer

You’ve got 7 minutes sewers!

If you’re a sewer, have you ever asked yourself “I wonder how I would get on making that item of clothing in the time frame they’ve been given?”

I thought so!

Has anyone tried it at home?  If you have I’d love to hear how you got on 🙂

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Hmmm, which fabric will work with which pattern . . .

I’m A Little Puzzled

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Hi! I have actually finished my vintage top! Yayy! But until I have some nice photos, you’ll have to wait for the post all about that.  In the meantime, I’m A Little Puzzled . . .

Have you seen the fabric kits you can buy from places like Craftsy?  (I’m sure I’ve seen them on other websites as well, but I just can’t seem to find any of them right now.)

Wrap dress on CraftsyFor example, here’s a dress that I might consider making but I really don’t like the fabric they’ve chosen for the kit.  OK, this one has a choice of two fabrics, but it still puzzles me and makes me a little mad! Why? I hear you ask.

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Butterick Pattern 6887
Jigsaw

Vintage Pattern Pitfall No. 1

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“Enough of the collecting of vintage patterns, I need to make a garment from one!” I decided the other day. I made a few decisions about what my first project should be:

  • I thought I’d start off with a simple top, nothing too complicated, so that if it all went pear-shaped, I wouldn’t have wasted too much effort or fabric.
  • I wanted to use a “real” vintage pattern, you know, the ones where the pattern pieces are not printed, but are just pre-cut shapes with mysterious holes punched in them!
  • I wanted to use a pattern which was my size, but if it was out by one size then that wouldn’t be too bad as I think I could probably handle that – I didn’t want too many challenges all at once!

So I dived into my expanded collection of patterns (I will do another post with pictures of all my latest ones) and found the perfect pattern, it’s a cute, not overly-fitted top, one size too small, with unprinted pattern pieces.  In fact it’s one of the first vintage patterns I bought – Butterick 2179

Butterick Pattern 2179

Butterick Pattern 2179

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