Whimsy Couture Giveaway and Discount Code!

I'm sure you've all heard of Whimsy Couture, and if you haven't, it's time to go look around the shop a little. With well over 100 sewing patterns published covering everything from pet beds to peasant dresses, Whimsy Couture has a lot to offer today's PDF pattern buyers. 

Boho Tunic

From today until July 31, 2013, you can get a whopping 33% off your entire order using the special discount code PATTERNREVOLUTION. This code is only valid for purchases made HERE, not through Etsy. Time to start your back to school pattern shopping! 
 

Ruffled Bolero

Whimsy Couture is also offering a 3 Pattern Pack Giveaway to Pattern Revolution fans!  How sweet is that?  Just enter the Rafflecopter at the bottom of this post for your chance to win!

Ruffler Peasant Jacket

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Gorgeous Pattern Mashup by Snickerdoodle Stew

I am a child of the 80’s.  I had my Cabbage Patch Preemie, my Strawberry Shortcake decorated room and, of course, copious amounts of Barbies.  I did make clothes for my dolls with the sewing knowledge I learned from candlewicking embroidery with my mom, but I think the thing that prepared me most for life as a boutique owner would have to be Fashion Plates.  You could mix and match tops and bottoms and fun prints to make your very own creations!   Who would have thought 30 years later that you can use the same(ish) techniques to mash up PDF patterns to come up with new combinations?

Today’s post is going to be a quick breakdown of the mash up.  If you’re brand new to PDFspeak, a mash up is taking two patterns (or more!) and switching the pieces around to make a new look.  You can swap a halter bodice for a peasant top or a romper bottom for a skirt.  It’s a great way to stretch the PDFs you have and also breathe life into your sewing if you just can’t find that perfect look you’re going for.  It’s also great for adding coverage to a garment for modesty or seasonal needs.  The possibilities are only as limited as your imagination...or your Paypal funds and Dropbox storage!

I was given the opportunity to mash two great patterns.  I have wanted to try the Happy Herringbone pattern from Jocole for some time and I was looking for just the right time to add it to my shop.  While I love the design, I really wanted a bodice that would put this unique dress over the top.  I went in search of a pattern with a bodice that mimicked the “V” shape of the skirt, and landed on the Allison Dress from FooFoo Threads Patterns.  The best part about these two patterns is that they are from two designers with two totally different looks

Foo Foo Threads "Allison" dress bodice

Jocole's "Happy Herringbone" dress skirt

The end result is this beautiful dress. 

The lines on the bodice are simple and classic, but they literally direct your eyes to the magnificent piecework featured on the skirt.

I’m here today to give you a beginner’s guide to mashing up patterns.  It’s really not hard, but it does take a little time and thought.  In the end, it’s definitely worth it!  These are general guidelines, meant for beginners, and not set in stone rules.  I’m sure there are people that would do things differently than I would, but here are my tips for you if you are just getting your toes wet!

Keep things simple and swap piece for piece.   If one of your patterns has longer bodice, look for another pattern with a long bodice.   Same thing with short bodices.  When you get a little more comfortable with it, you can do some math, but sticking with this in the beginning will keep you from having the skirt portion too short or too long.

Use patterns you are already comfortable with sewing.  This will save you time and headache and allow for a pleasant mash up experience.  This will also prevent you from ruing the day you let me talk you into doing this!

Just like anything else that has to do with sewing, once you start, you WILL get addicted.  You will go to bed at night planning out your next mash and look for the next moment you have to squeeze it in.  Again…just a heads up!

Most of all, have fun.  These are definitely a challenge, but very doable for an enthusiastic beginner.  If you really want to do one and can’t choose between patterns, have a sewing friend pick them out for you!

And just in case you wondered what the dress would look like if you totally swapped the pieces and sewed up the parts that didn't get invited to the party, here’s the bodice from Happy Herringbone and the skirt from the Allison Dress.

The gorgeous fabric used in this mash up was from the Urban Mod line from Art Gallery Fabrics.  Photos were taken, dodging rain, by the talented Rebecca of Prima Luce Photography in Charlestown, Indiana.

Ready to start mashing patterns?

The Happy Herringbone pattern by Jocole is on SALE today and tomorrow only HERE for 50% off.

And Foo Foo Threads patterns offers this great deal daily HERE- buy 2 get 1 free, buy 3 get 2 free, buy 4 get 3 free, and buy 5 get 5 free!

How about the chance to add a few more to your collection? Enter the Rafflecopter below to win a 5 pattern pack of patterns from Jocole and Foo Foo Threads!!!

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Pattern Organization: Day Two, Digital Storage

OK readers, now that we have taken a small glimpse at physical storage of pattern pieces and instructions; lets take a look at the element that sets PDF's apart from patter patterns.  They are DIGITAL!  We love this because we can access our instructions straight form our computers and readers, we can print out pattern pieces in different sizes as we need them, and of course we can satiate our unending quest for new patterns with the gift of instant download!  But there is a downfall of digital media - it can be lost.  Whether through a crashed hard drive, an unexpected natural disaster, or a child's misplaced banging of the keyboard; these files need to be protected.

Lets start at the very beginning - a very good place to start.  When you purchase a PDF pattern and receive the file (whether through instant download or e-mailed by the designer), you need to save it somewhere.  You can choose any method of saving your files - but you do want to them into a designated folder.  If you only have a few patterns, just create a new folder labeled 'PDF Patterns' and save them there.  Have a few more?   You may want to then make new folders under the main header of 'PDF Patterns' for each designer, and store each of the patterns you buy from that designer there.  Have a TON of patterns?  Well you may just want to divide by type (shirts, boys pants, dresses, girls tops, etc..) and then within each of those categories have a folder by designer.  WHEW!  No matter what you method, just make sure they are saved in a designated space... it will make protecting them that much easier!

As a professional photographer, digital storage and backup is essential to my business.  Luckily my husband is in CSE and very proactive in protecting my livelihood.  I have back up hard drives, the cloud, and two other internet based backups of my files.  I once had two hard drives crash in a month... thanks to my hubby I didn't lose anything.

Today we have Raedene and Melissa here to share a few back up methods using flash drives and external hard drives.  Tomorrow we will look at free backup options available on the internet!

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My name is Raedene, and  as a seamstress in a sewing business I purchase LOTS of pdf files of patterns.  I now, after 2 years, have a system. I save the actual PDF in many places. First, I download to my hard drive. I organized all my pdfs into folders by designers onto my desktop. Easy to find! Then I save to DROPBOX (Which we'll discuss in detail on the blog tomorrow). Finally, it goes to my external hard drive and finally to a USB stick. The external hard drive is a device that plugs into your computer with a usb port. You just send the file to that drive...and there is stays: SAFE. I also back up onto a USB stick. I have many: one for sewing patterns; another for applique designs; and one for monogram fonts. That way they don't get mixed up.

I learned the hard way a year ago how important backing up files is to protect them as well as one's investment. I had a computer that crashed. I didn't want to invest the money get it fixed as it was so old, BUT thankfully I had SAVED all the pdf patterns to my sweet little pink stick. Well guess what?? I have 3 kids and I have to be honest NEVER ever put anything back where it belongs....and it disappeared. I was devastated. They were not saved anywhere else. HOWEVER, this was in the day before all the designers switched to auto download where you receive a link and it expires. I had them ALL saved in EMAILS. Even the designers who has sent me the links didn't expire but gave me a number of times to download . I hadn't met my quota so I retrieved them all!! Well at least I think I did. Now I am ever more careful!!! I recommend you too be as OCD as me!!

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Thanks for having me today, my name is Melissa and I want to share a little more information with you about using external hard drives.

An external hard drive is an easy and straightforward way to organize patterns. An external hard drive plugs into your computer, usually via USB connection, and while it’s connected to your computer and has tons of storage space, it remains unaffected if something happens to your hard drive (virus, hardware failure, etc)  You can keep a copy on your computer and a copy on the external hard drive, or if you’re lacking for storage on your computer the sole copy can remain on the external drive. An added benefit is that if you use multiple computers, or a desktop and a laptop computer, you can plug the external drive into any computer & have all of your patterns at your fingertips! I choose to have a folder devoted to patterns, and within that folder have a sub-folder for each designer, and an additional folder or two for tutorials and such. This method also helps while shopping because 

you can pop into your folder for the designer you’re shopping and make sure you don’t already own the pattern! (not that any of us own enough patterns that we’d forget, right!)

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Thanks Raedene and Melissa!  Now go organize your digital files and figure out a method that works for you to back them up.  As always - if you have ideas, we'd love to hear about them, so leave us a comment!!!