Ok, in my overzealousness, I bought two english language copies of pattern magic, hoping I would be able to make at least 1 thing from them. The books came about 3 weeks ago, and after my initial excitement of having them, I have decided that they are not for me. Not at this point in my pattern drafting life. I know, I know, I could keep them and wait for my pattern making skills to catch up with the projects in the books, but I fear, they will not be, not anytime soon.
So I figure, why keep them to myself to gather dust, when someone out there could make perfect use of them. So, I am giving them away.
The rules for the give away are simple,
1) You must be a follower of my blog (new followers welcomed )
3) This giveaway is open to everyone in every nook and cranny of this world. Posting will be free of charge wherever you are.
4) The give away will end at midnight London time (GMT+1) on 31st July 2011.
5) Scientifically proven random methods of randomness shall be employed to randomly select the winner(s) from randomly placed entiries to ensurre a total randomification of the randomised giveaway proces.....makes sense? ....didn't think so....
So, please do tell your friends about this giveaway. Looking forward to your entries and pattern drafting failure stories.
1) I follow your blog using Bloglovin :)
ReplyDelete2) I have not have any significant pattern drafting failures... because I have little pattern drafting experience! The first pattern I drafted was 4 weeks ago - from Pattern Magic 1 (Bow 2), using the Colette Patterns "Sorbetto" top as my sloper (since I'd never used one of them before). And, to my great surprise, it was a success! However, the copy of Pattern Magic which I borrowed from a friend in my sewing club (in Perth, Australia) is due to be returned very soon... so I'd love to have my own copy, particularly of book 2 which I haven't seen in person yet! Thanks :)
I follow your blog, and my drafting disaster was a shirt I tried to draft using Cal Patch Design it Yourself book. I think I didn't add enough ease but I've been too despondent to look at it again! I would love another book to give me more ideas
ReplyDeleteOoo I've always fancied having a go at the pattern magic books. I've had a couple of pattern making catastrophes when I've tried to be speedier and grabbed part of another pattern to use for sleeves/skirt and then realised it was meant for knit fabrics...thats some very tight sleeves!
ReplyDeleteoh and I follow you on google reader x
Hi Dibs, I've not had any pattern drafting disasters as such as I have only just begun to give it a go. However I did make a slightly weird choice to put the pockets of my most recent skirt half way down instead of on the hips. Still undecided whether I like it or not!
ReplyDeleteI want it... I need it !
ReplyDeleteWell, lets see the major disaster is trying to draft a jacket. Imagine little me with big boobs and smallest neck .. it was such a mess , looked nothing like the jacket i had in mind. Went to the rubish. I havent touched jackets after that even shop brought patterns. I will get over this fear one by trying a muslim shell 1st as I need to get over that fear !
I would love to get these books! My first venture into pattern drafting came out quite special. I used the Cal Patch book to try to make a simple dress. I tend to get over excited about things and rush through. Fast forward to a dress where I forgot to add seam allowance, cut out one of the pattern pieces with the print upside down, then sewed on my sleeves with the wrong side facing out. Doh! Needless to say, I have been too bummed to fix it. I know I COULD make it work, but its so embarrassing it hides inside a drawer.
ReplyDeleteOooh, this is generous Dibs...please can you enter me? My biggest pattern drafting failure was probably the pattern drafting course I attended, which was rubbish frankly! So maybe I'll have better luck if I go it alone ;o)
ReplyDeleteI've had many failures in pattern drafting. I think my biggest failure was a dress that so many others made with no problems. My dress was tossed in the trash. I used my measurements but it was horrible. It was beyond saving. I would love to be entered in the drawing.
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, I have been eyeing off these books for a long time!
ReplyDeleteI am a follower!
My biggest failure was probably my first self drafted dress, I got a little too excited when lowering the neckline and when I tried it on you could pretty much see my whole chest,... not the best..
Count me int :-)
I would love to have a copy of your books. I am also a new follower. I have recently started sewing for myself and I decided to start with a seemingly easy free pattern from Collette patterns, I cut the pattern in a smaller size thinking it will fit me, well needless to say, the top will never see the light of day. Live and learn.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely giveaway. I happily follow you like a lost, little puppy through bloglovin. I haven't tried much pattern drafting before, but I once tried to make a farewell gift of a storm cloud with a bolt of lightning shaped cushion (it was a Girl Guide Leader who was leaving and my Girl Guides had decided they would be known as the Storm Girl Guides) and it turned out looking more like a thistle. All spikey and not at all round and fluffy like a cloud. You know you've failed miserably when the person says "it's lovely, but what is it?".
ReplyDeleteWhat a great giveaway, Dibs, are you sure you want to give them away? I follow you through my feed reader but have just clicked on "follow" too (& it worked!)
ReplyDeleteMy greatest disaster drafting has to something I'm stuck on now. I bought a lush vintage (sailoresque) dress pattern, several sizes too big. I followed some straightforward pattern reduction online help, but can I get the collar & v neck to work? Should I have reduced the size in the collar neck? (I did) - whatever has happened, it's luckily not using the blue linen I have earmarked for it & is a toile in the pile!
By the way, I am finally back on line again, but have shifted slightly to
http://scruffybadgertime.co.uk
No longer is there a /wp on the end - would be lovely to see you :-)
Oh my gosh, my greatest drafting disaster was the first time I ever tried to draft anything. I did it with such enthusiasm but not much skill and ended up with a sack that was twice as wide as it should have been and with sholers that reached above my ears! Bizarrely, the actual bodice bit was the right length,it was just the shoulders that were crazy.
ReplyDeleteI took a pattern drafting course after that...
I follow you on google reader, but I've just added you on my google account!
Hi
ReplyDeleteI am quite new to your blog and am enjoying reading your posts. I have signed up as a follower. What a great giveaway. My biggest pattern drafting disaster? Well, my first self drafted skirt when I was 17, didn't fit at all, wrinkly and rubbish. Luckily I still had my mum on hand to try and rescue it for me.
D
Im a follow and I love your blog.
ReplyDeleteMy biggest failure was trying to grade a vintage pattern up before even trying to fit anything. Terrible failure. But i keep trying.
Ooh great giveaway! I've always wanted a peek at those books.
ReplyDelete1) I'm a follower!
2) I wouldn't know where to start - there have been so many failures! I would have to say the worst disaster would have to be a pintucked blouse made from nasty poplin. I traced a pattern from an old shirt, sewed it up and realised it needed to be about 10cm wider, the tucks weren't straight, the bias binding wouldn't sit flat...Everything about it was awful! I'm glad I used cheap fabric for that project:)
Im a new follower, and my biggest drafting mistake has yet to happen ( I'm a new-ish sewer!)
ReplyDeleteHi, I've been following your blog for a month or so now. My biggest failure was a dress I made for my sister, she requested cut on sleeves in a knit fabric, I tried really hard but in the end we changed to sleeveless.
ReplyDeleteOoh! I've been curious about these books!
ReplyDeleteMy biggest pattern drafting failure: I drafted an A-line skirt. The instructions told me to use personal taste to determine how much flare to add...and I decided bigger was better. I compounded that mistake by sewing the skirt out of 1930's feedsack print and trimming it with ric-rac. The skirt made me look like the largest-ever Raggedy-Anne doll, lol.
Hi Dibs, This is so great of your heart. I teach sewing to young people and adults at a community center. I would love to teach some of the designs in our sewing class. What a wow factor! This would surely get their creative juices flowing. Your a real doll. Look us up at
ReplyDeletewww.1ststitch.wordpress.com
This is a great giveaway, I'm so in!!!
ReplyDeleteAs for the one of many pattern disasters: I was commissioned to copy a photo of this knit dress to make for some bridesmaids. I found the perfect pattern that I thought I could use with no problems. The initial challenge is that all of these girls were out-of-town, so I was sewing site unseen-measurements only. No problem. How hard could it be to make a one shoulder simple knit dress. Hee-hee. The second challenge is that the pattern called for woven fabric , not knit. Okay, still no-problem. I "thought" I would just cut the dresses exactly to each person's measurements, eliminating ease...WRONG. Oh, did I mention the 3rd challenge~ the girls were to arrive for their FIRST fitting, the night before the wedding, yeah. The dresses were TWO sizes too big. I had to size down a lot. The fabric stretched horribly and I didn't take into account the type of knit I was working with. Needless to say, I corrected the problem and the wedding carried on. If you are a member of Pattern Review you can read the whole story and see pictures of the finished dresses here: http://sewing.patternreview.com/cgi-bin/readreview.pl?readreview=1&reviewnum=53757
I follow your blog via Google friend connect, after searching for recent Burda posts - thank you so much for the giveaway!
ReplyDeleteMy biggest drafting failure would probably be buying one of the big 4 patterns in sizes that weren't quite big enough, making a muslin, having it be too small, so trying to make a larger one, and it's also too small. I am just going to go buy the larger pattern, as now I've added two new unusable dresses to the closet this month! Really do like the thing though...
Have been really curious about those books too.
Then again, I've spent 8 hours cutting and sewing today, and not come up with a final product, but at least on my third draft of something from the July Burda I just need sleeves then I have something I'll be proud to wear!
hi, I follow your blog for a while in Google reader, now added blogger. Btw, I leave in Belgium and loved your post about the Antwerp flee market. I should try flee markets myself - I'm not a fan but what you got there was great! I have another Maison Doree shop close to me, it's huge and they always have something on sale.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to have those books you're giving away for a while, perfect give away for me :)