I am very proud to announce that the Sewing Pattern Buddy app for Android has finally been released!!!
The Home Screen
Basically, it allows you to catalogue your entire pattern collection (PDFs & books included) – it’s like having your entire pattern collection at your fingertips, no matter where you are! You can search, sort and filter your patterns to find the exact pattern you want, and see it’s details, in detail!
Check out the video below for a quick overview – I apologise for the music choice, it seemed like a good idea at the time! 😀
So I just want to explain a little bit about how I came to write the Sewing Pattern Buddy app.
Adding a New Pattern
A few years ago I discovered vintage reproduction patterns, and fell in love with the gorgeous details of the clothing from the past, especially the 1950’s. I made a dress from a 50’s Vogue reproduction pattern, which was the most difficult thing I had ever made. However, I love the dress and it always receives a lot of admiration when I wear it.
I then thought, “Oh I wonder if you can buy any original sewing patterns?” Yep, that was the start of my insatiable need to “protect” as many of these beautiful vintage patterns as I could lay my hands on!
Pattern Details
Soon my pattern collection was getting out of hand, I needed to organise it somehow. It was tedious going through every pattern to see what size it was and how much fabric it needed and were all the pieces there, etc. when deciding what to make next.
I also found that sometimes when I was at the fabric shop, I would see some fabric which would be perfect for a particular pattern, but I had no idea how much I needed to buy, so I wouldn’t buy it, or would buy some and hope it was enough!
Sorting results by amount of fabric required
So I tried to store pattern details in a database app on my phone. It was OK, but I couldn’t organise the information in a way which was really useful, and I couldn’t sort my patterns by bust size for example.
Maybe there was another app out there which was written for us sewers? I looked but didn’t find many and those I did find just didn’t do what I needed.
There was nothing else for it – I would have to write the app myself! 😮
Selecting a pattern company – you can always add a new one!
I made a list of all the things I thought would be useful for the app to store and be able to do. I then put a post on a couple of facebook groups which are full of vintage sewing enthusiasts, asking them if I’d missed off anything. OMG! About 4 hours later I finally took a break from replying to the excited conversations, answers, and suggestions which I received! It seemed that I wasn’t the only one who needed this app!
How many dress patterns do I have? (Actually I have more than these, many more . . . )
That was a year ago. I wanted to design it in such a way that all the information you could ever wish to store about a pattern could be entered. I’ve worked very hard on this as I wanted it to be useful to all sewers who have pattern collections – vintage, modern or both.
Entering Pattern Sizes
There have been some screenshots throughout this blog page, which I hope has ignited some interest, but there’s loads more information, videos and screenshots on the app webpage
If you fancy giving the app a go, you can find it on the Google Play Store.
For those of you with an iPhone, due to the interest received so far from iPhone users, a version of the app for you is being planned. However I have to learn quite a bit of new stuff first, so give me a little time! 😀
Do you have one for the iPhone yet?
Hi Debby, no, the iPhone version is not available yet, but I will announce it here when it’s ready 🙂
This looks amazing, however, I have an iPhone!
Please let me know when you have written the iPhone app.
Many thanks
Thanks for the kind words Chris! Yes, I will let you know when the iPhone version is released 🙂
Just downloaded this and had a play around and it is excellent! I do however wonder if you will have a desktop version of this? Being able to add data and look up info from a desktop is super handy.
Also any chances of users adding their own information fields? I ask because personally I categorise my patterns’ sizing by dress size not measurement, and would love to be able to add that, and probably a bunch of other OCD fields of information.
Thank you for making the best android friendly tool for pattern sorting I’ve found, and I spent about 2 weeks downloading programs and struggling with databases that never really got me anywhere.
Hi Lauren,
I’m so glad you like the app! 😀
A desktop version is a definite possibility, along with some other exciting features I plan to implement. They may take a little while though, as I have some learning to do to!
I deliberately didn’t use dress size in the app because sizes have changed greatly over the years, different countries have different sizing methods, plus modern pattern companies often use different size charts to each other as well! Since we always have to check the body measurements, it seemed to be the most fool-proof way of catering to all patterns and to people in all countries.
As for adding your own fields, you can always use the Tags and Pattern Type fields to store extra data. For example, if you want to record fabric type, you could add some Tags (or Pattern Types) such as “Fabric – woven” and “Fabric – knits”. Hope that helps?
And yes, I wrote the app because I needed a way to organise my ever-increasing pattern collection and the existing database apps just weren’t specialised as I needed. So I know what you’ve been going through! 🙂
This looks great! I am looking forward to the iPhone version.
Hi fab app…will eagerly wait for a desktop version too, but I wander could we link the two like in exel. …so if I add a pattern to my desktop version it automatically adds it to my mobile app
Hi Vicki,
Great suggestion! I’ll bear it in mind 🙂
This looks soooo cool. Can’t wait for the iPhone/iPad/desktop version!
Hi
Was loving the app until half the pictures i had downloaded disappeared. Is there any way to fix this? Thanks
Hi Donna,
So sorry for the delay in responding. 🙁
I will send you a personal email with some questions to see if we can figure out what has happened.
Glad you were happy with the app until then!
I have a new tablet but your app did not get downloaded to it, how do I use it now. I was just getting started with it with only 1 pattern on it so far. I think the app with be a valuable tool. Also, how can I use it to minimize the storage space it uses? I do I save it to my ablet using my extra storage thing I have inserted on it?
Thank you.
Hi Joann,
I’ll send you a personal email which should hopefully answer all your questions 🙂
Please hurry with iPhone version. Thanks!!
Hi Sharisse! I’m doing my best! 😀