An Indie Pattern for the first time!

This is the Plantain Tee Shirt by Dear and Doe Pattern Co. It is my first venture into an independent pattern company, a PDF pattern and a free pattern. Was it successful? Yes and no.

I have always been hesitant to venture to the indie pattern market. So much of it seems to be geared toward a younger, sweeter, thinner fashion sense. This is great for the indies and a perfect market  in order to get more and newer sewing enthusiasts involved in the hobby. But not so much for me, I, the older, the more serious (all right, let's just say....I invented the witchy resting face.) the heavier dressmaker has little interest in sweet summer dresses, leggings and other such fashions of the fabulous young. I need structure, tailoring, and forgiveness. I knew about Dear and Doe for several years, but this season when their promotional email landed in my box, I just happened to miss-click and what opened before me was a trench coat pattern featuring a lovely lady that was more my size. So I took a look again and discovered they offer a free pattern via PDF download, the Plantain Tee Shirt. I like free and I took the bait and I'm hooked, but not on the printable PDF's. Good heavens, shoot me now!

Many folk may like the immediate satisfaction of instant downloads, but not me.  We are very behind the curve on our computers and getting one piece of hardware to talk to another is a mammoth task. Then there is the scaling of the pattern itself, which was accomplished by hook and by crook from a printer whose language is set to something I know nothing about. After two years, I still cannot find the menu to permanently change the language default, temporarily, yes, but from a cold boot that printer remains locked in its mother tongue.

I digress. It is very easy for me to fall off the crazy cliff when dealing with technology and as one of the earliest adopters of home computers I have, in the last five years, become increasing hostile to the direction in which my human/computer relationship is shifting.

Back to sewing, after walking away from the printer, I still didn't have a pattern. There was cutting and taping and then I couldn't tissue fit the pattern. Tracing paper followed and then a tissue fit, luckily not much needed changing except some extra length in the torso. I think and it looks as if it is so, that the other patterns at Dear and Doe are available already printed. I'll pay for that and be patient with the post office.

I made it up in a light weight cotton jersey with a bit if viscose in it and this is where the project falls apart. I did not pay for or travel to get high quality jersey. I shopped locally and got something that did not wear well at all. It was nice at first off the bolt, and with the first couple of washings, but then all the cotton fibers in the fabric decided they had had enough and wanted to date the lint screen of my dryer. This fabric is washing away and becoming thinner and thinner. Fast fashion crap fabric has made it to my sewing studio and I DON"T like it. For all my time spent, I will have nothing to show for it in about three more wearings.

Back to the pattern...Even thought the fabric is a terrible flop. The pattern is most definitely a keeper. The neckline is flattering and the top drape very nicely. I will be putting this in my tried and true file and I will be shopping for German quality knits on my next trip east.


A final note for today, theNYTimes  ran an article about the newest fashion trends and noted the move to lower hemline, higher necks and sleeves! Maybe covering my charwoman's knees, turkey neck and bat wings will suddenly become more fashionable. Maybe there will just be more choice. I think the time has come to give ladies of all sorts more choices and the freedom to make those choices about their own clothing.