Accidental Indie patterns

During Saturdays excursion up north to Birmingham and Moseley, Mum and I both purchased hard copy versions of 2 patterns from 2 great independent pattern companies.

Mum bought the 1940’s Tea Dress pattern by Sew Over It. I have seen this pattern before several times, although I have not yet seen it made up. However a quick Google search shows this dress is very sweet and also flattering too – a win-win! Sew Over It first opened in 2011 with the aim to teach the seemingly lost art of dressmaking. According to their website they have since taught over 5000 people! As well as classes at their two London venues, they also sell a range of patterns and fabrics both in-store and online. Mum nearly bought the Betty Dress but their new Vintage Shirt Dress pattern looks like it would be a great staple summer dress in anyone’s collection. They sell both paper and PDF patterns which is great if you don’t have access to a printer or the time to sit and glue dozens of pieces of paper together.

I bought the Alpi Chino pattern from Named Clothing. Named Clothing is a Finnish brand that I hadn’t come across before, however their range of patterns have “…Scandinavian clean-lined simplicity and interesting details” and the Alpi is from their SS14 All Things Nice collection. I only have one pair of jeans that I pretty much live in and would really like to sew a few more pairs of comfy casual trousers, and the Alpi seems like a great pattern – simple but a classic shape. I had initially planned on purchasing this as a PDF directly from the website, however when Mum and I visited Guthrie & Ghani I found a printed copy on sale – another win! My printer is bust so this was a bit of a score! Also im a bit rubbishbat sticking all those pieces togetger! When looking online I particularly liked the Tyler Shirt – it is unusual to see raglan sleeves but I think it’s a nice detail. Named Clothing have also made their patterns available in both paper and PDF format, and are also available in English and Finnish.  When I start making up a pair I will share them on here for you to see how I go!

Unfortunately I can’t find the list I was looking at when I came across Named Clothing as this was a few nights ago on a failed hunt for Indian print cotton, however this extensive list should point you in the right direction for more independent pattern brands. If there are any not listed on here that you thing are great, please let me know in the comments!

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