Friday, August 4, 2017

Random Threads # 28

Hey it's been quite a while since the last Random Threads post - my notebook page is filled up with topics to discuss.

What have I been up to? Teaching classes at Hello Stitch Studio - each class takes a bit of thought beforehand, sewing up samples to illustrate various techniques or just to work out how to demonstrate things. This week I had a class on sewing button front shirts which I cleverly combined (ha ha) with writing a post for Craftsy on the topic: how to attach the collar. Some sewing for others, which I don't do for a lot of people, just a few that I enjoy working with. A little pattern testing for my favorite indie pattern designer (Pauline Alice patterns). Some planning for fall sewing - including making up a sample jacket for an upcoming class. Jacket weekend! I am often asked about doing a class for sewing jackets so check it out on the Hello Stitch website if you are interested.

Which brings me to my first topic - How long does it take you to cut something out? I realize that I've been sewing for ages plus I am one of those people who do things fast whether it is washing the dishes or reading a book, or walking through a store. But I am realizing that the cutting out part of making a garment takes a good chunk of time. And it doesn't need to! Mostly I try to get people to be less tentative with the scissors. Tiny half inch snips are going to take forever when cutting a long center back seam. Trust your coordination and use the whole scissors. Get sharp scissors, pin enough so the pattern piece doesn't shift but not every 3 inches. Relax, breathe. Cutting out should be less painful. Also my last tip - before the first cut, step back, look it over, review all the pieces and then proceed with confidence. Does cutting out stress you out?

Ready to Wear isn't perfect either.  A friend of mine bought a dress that needed shortening, so I had her stand still while I marked the hem all around. I usually run a thread trace around where I have put the line of pins so I can remove the pins, have a temporary but stable hem indicator, and then I can hem it whenever without concern that the pins will come out.

uneven hem on blue dress

Granted that few of us are perfectly evenly built, most of us have a higher hip or lower shoulder that affects the hem. When I looked at the two side seams I had pinned up so much more on one side. It made me question my work and it seemed that I was drastically folding up one side seam more than the other. For some reason I thought - check the side seams and look, one side seam is about 3/4" longer than the other. On a $ 500 dress! Mystery solved and my ego stroked about my own precise sewing :)

Sewing verbiage around the world. My fellow Americans, does it sound strange to you when you read that something has an "elasticated" waist? That sounds so weird to me. I would say elastic waist. Don't get me started on the phrase "my make". I know it's popular but it makes me want to tear my hair out. I love the Great British Baking show and they say "bring your bakes" to the table. So has this verb into noun conversion taken over the UK?  Reading blogs written by people all over the world is great fun but when I stumble across one of these weird to me grammatical constructions I stop short and gnash my teeth momentarily. Probably silly I know but just one of those pet peeves. I am imagining a UK reader of sewing blogs with a pet peeve along the lines of "those annoying Yanks boasting about their 10 for $ 10 pattern sales" Or maybe we have some grammar quirk that gets under their skin. Just for curiosity I would love to know what American idioms annoy you on a sewing blog.

An interesting life: Lucy Spector, one of the founding owners of Britex Fabrics in San Francisco passed away recently and the San Francisco Chronicle had a long obituary on her. She had such an interesting life and great style. If you like to read about successful women in business when that was more of a rarity check it out.

When I make a mistake it usually is a whopper: as evidenced by this picture.

pink linen dress yoke mistake

The story here is that I was making a pattern from an existing dress for a sewing client. The pattern making turned out very well especially considering it was a complicated dress with lots of pieces (actually more pieces can be easier to reproduce). So I was feeling very pleased wth myself and started sewing up a test version in this bubblegum pink cotton? linen? unidentified fabric in my stash that was a good candidate for this type of dress. And thought, I will sew it for real with serging and everything in case someone wants it. The dress has a front and back yoke where the body pieces attach. So you can see that I cleverly attached the dress front to the yoke front not even noticing that the back yoke had a lovely 360˚ twist - no that is not a design feature. aaarrrgh!! Had to detach the dress front including undoing that serging, untwist and start again. Better to discover it now rather than later I guess:)

Here are three things that I don't care about: Wardrobe planning - inspiration boards - sewing basics. These often go together and if I see articles or blog posts I am likely to pass them by. Do you find these topics interesting? The sewing or wardrobe pieces are typically so....well, basic. These often go with a new pattern release that is super simple (perhaps you know which pattern company I might be referring to) and I think "after all that navel gazing THAT is the new pattern you came up with? For $ 18???"  As I often say - I am not the target market for this type of clothing but really, semi-new stitchers - stretch yourself a little and find some patterns with an interesting details. And no, a split hem detail on a top does not indicate an interesting detail.  Is that enough from your grumpy sewing correspondent? Because...

The Mood Fabrics blog shows some truly odd stuff - I DO NOT mean the Mood Sewing Network, which showcases a lot of great home sewers who are very accomplished and choose really nice fabrics, sew up stuff I want and inspire me to shop the Mood website. But they have another blog, which you can click to on the bottom of their store website, Mood Sewciety, more of a DIY with fabrics and I find the stuff they show seriously questionable. The stuff rarely fits, the sewing is sloppy and who are they inspiring with that?   On a different note - I have ordered a few things from Mood this summer and they have all been great.

More notches! I don't know where I found this blog but she posts some interesting things and her point of view is as a trained pattern designer and dressmaker. She mostly does children's wear and tries a number of PDF patterns but her comments and critiques on those patterns also apply to anyone designing and selling patterns. Her recent post "Why are pattern notches missing in PDF patterns?" was really interesting and explains some things I have been wondering. These past few months I had been sewing a number of indie patterns and hmmmm....I'm not all that impressed. Sometimes the instructions, which are designed to handhold someone learning the new construction techniques are really wordy, more confusing than a good diagram with arrows and steps indicated. (large, please. Tiny, pale, cute, slightly cartoonish diagrams help nobody even though they may look stylish or match your brand esthetic).

Wearing something which strays from your typical style: a few people commented on my last blog post and on Instagram that my most recent sewing project, the Mirambell skirt from Pauline Alice patterns was an unusual style for me. While it is black, a color I rarely sew or wear, the silhouette seemed like something I have sewn quite a few times before. I wonder what it was that seemed different? The full skirt? Here's an example of that style which I've made although this one is a bit eye-searing. Or this one, the first Bootstrap Fashion pattern that I sewed. I've been trying to expand my sewing choices and sew different shapes or even colors with some mixed success. My preliminary finding is that if I am lukewarm on a color no matter how nicely a garment turns out I will not be excited to wear it.

That's all for today, I covered almost all my topics. I saw a couple of new things that I will save for a future post, including new Fall pattern releases from Vogue and Simplicity. (quick comment - Vogue some interesting stuff but not a thing that makes me want to buy it now in the heat of summer. Simplicity, a couple of really good coat patterns that I might recommend when it gets closer to coat time).

Sneak peek of something I just finished, I'm on an eyelet kick this summer.

green eyelet top

We're hopefully at the tail end of another 100˚F heat wave here - although when I drive over to Hello Stitch which is about 15 min. from my house the temperature can be a good 20˚F lower. The bay area summer! a mystery to visitors and bring a sweatshirt because it is cold by the ocean (in the best possible way :).

So I am not thinking about fall sewing, we have a good 2 more months of summery weather ahead. How about you?

Happy summer sewing, and stay cool!  
Beth

I'm off to swim now and disregard my garden which must fend for itself in these lazy summer days. Fortunately the dahlias do their own thing and always surprise me with the color of the blooms. I plant them but don't label so what comes up in each spot is a very pleasant surprise.


sunset pink dahlia

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45 comments:

  1. I had to wear a jacket --like, lined warm outerwear!! - out yesterday at ~7p.m. Pure insanity.

    I don't care about Pinterest or sketch books or basic/bland/boxy $18 patterns. Shrug...

    I hope plenty of UKers chime in! lol!!!

    That green eyelet is gorgeous. If I get my hand back, that Simplicity coat may jump the line. Shame on L148!!! O_o

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    1. OK now I feel for you doubly - the hand injury and the need to wear a jacket in August. Seriously! do you ever think about moving somewhere less arctic?

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    2. Kids!!' My son has one more year of high school. My daughter wants to move to California when she finishes college in 2020. :)

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  2. I love to cut. I think part of it is I choose a time when the kitchen is sunny and no one is home. The sunshine streaming in and the quiet so I can concentrate. It's bliss.

    I also love wardrobe planning (but not the patterns from that company - just not my style). I got so inspired by a blog called the Vivienne Files. I have a limited budget and need to plan what I buy carefully. I ended up trying her "Whatever Is Clean" plan coming up with 13 pieces for the summer. They were basic but they were from nice fabric, things went together well and I wore something completely different (not just shuffling around the same print for a top and a skirt with the same top and skirt in a matching neutral). I commented to DH that I've worn something different to church each week the entire summer. It looks like I have a ton of clothes and I don't.

    I love making the plans too - it's like working a puzzle where everything has to fit but you need to end up with different looking outfits. By the time I build one for each season, I think I'll have more than enough clothes for all the different hats I wear.

    "different hats I wear" - now that I typed it out, that's a tiresome idiom - especially considering my head is too big for most hats!

    Your random posts are almost as good as the Pattern Whisperer series. I love reading your blog.

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  3. As a Brit I'm trying to resist the word zipper. It's a zip! I too hate the noun-ification of verbs. And sewing blogs have their own set of cliches

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    1. To us it's a zipper, I always thought calling it a zip was just a casual way to refer to it. And I guess both are better than "continuous hookless fastener" which is one of the original names for it :)

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  4. Beth, I simply love your thoughts. I respect your sewing since I think you are amazing. I will second the Indie vs major pattern companies. I like the pattern companies. I think they are more precise and the pictures are necessary. You warmed my heart with the mistake.
    My daughter is always reminding me that even store bought has flaws...I am really hard on myself.
    Anyway, never quit showing us your work. It is inspiring.

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  5. Hello, I am from the UK and recently started following your blog. I really enjoyed reading your sewing thoughts! Personally, I love cutting out. I am lucky because I enjoy every stage of the sewing process, even hand finishing. Regarding your 'annoyances', I find that I often start off disliking a phrase or word and end up adopting it - zipper springs to mind! But I still loathe the expression 'secret pyjamas'. Surely these are just comfortable clothes? And if they look like pyjamas you are fooling no-one! Things I don't care about: I love wardrobe planning and ideas on how to, mostly because it's a great excuse to dig through my fabric stash and see what works together. I wear and sew a lot of separates and live in a four season climate, so am always looking for ways to get extra mileage from my clothes. I don't like inspiration boards through. I would rather see a well sewn sample of the actual pattern and I always skip the simple sewing techniques. The thing that I really can't abide on sewing blogs though, is when someone promotes something completely unrelated. I don't mind if it's a "hey, I found this wonderful piece of handmade jewellery", but I have seen all sorts of other things. It annoys me probably way more than it should, and I tend to unfollow these blogs straight away!

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    1. Me too! Secret pyjamas! Uggh! But I am a dedicated planner! It gives me so much pleasure!

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  6. As a Brit I second the comment about zipper and am also trying to stick to my native zip. Same goes for US serger v UK over locker. I also dislike bakes/makes but thought we had copied it from you! My apologies for this judgement if incorrect :)To be honest though if I'm reading an American blog I'm happy to read Americanisms I only get irritated when they are used by Brits, because it feels like either the person doesn't know their own language (color/colour, fall/Autumn) or they think sounding American has more appeal / selling to a larger international audience. Zipper is a good example because I see it on UK shopping/ pattern websites where it seems unprofessional to use American English instead of UK English.

    On indie patterns/ basics, I have only been sewing about 4 years and in the first three I tested myself on everything- coats, jeans
    , men's shirts etc but now I just need stuff I can wear rather than things that look pretty or clever but I also want to have as much of a me made (hah! Couldn't resist!) wardrobe as possible but realise whilst I can make a shirt I'm not a pattern drafter so I don't mind buying a couple of basic patterns. So they aren't just for beginners, they are for intermediate sewers too who find they have nothing to wear except summer dresses!

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  7. I love these posts especially todays! One I don't understand the indie love for a lot of those basic type patterns. $18, you print your own pattern and then limited size ranges (my pet peeve!). Umm yes to your quickie Fall Vogue and Simplicity pattern releases...who is Vogue designing for these days? And I've got a really long list of Simplicity patterns that I'm going to have to gird up and visit Joann's for...will I be committing sewing sacriledge if I say that I don't use notches...and I'm with you on the Mood Society Network...why? just why? Thanks this was a great blog post!

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    1. You don't USE the notches? slight wow from me. Although I could see skipping them sometimes, but on a lot of patterns (jackets, complicated twisty things) I find them necessary. But obviously seeing your sewing successes it is working for you!

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  8. I just love your random threads. My unspoken voice... I sometimes wonder if I'm becoming irascible as I get older :-)

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  9. Cutting takes me a long time, but it is because (1) I rarely use the pattern layout and have to figure that out, and (2) I live in a small apartment and must cut on the floor. It is a back intensive task, so periodic breaks and stretching are necessary.

    As for the rest...
    Definitely 'no' on converting verbs into nouns. It really bugs me. I also don't like cutesy abbreviations and nicknames for things. It was funny though, reading the comments above on zippers from British readers. To me "zip" sounds like casual usage, rather than the other way around.

    I rarely buy indie patterns and have never seen one worth $18 IMO. I am a Burdastyle subscriber, and after several years I find that I can piece together whatever I want from those patterns about 90% of the time. I keep subscribing for that reason, even whether there is a bad spell designs. I don't mind the tracing and cost & access-wise, can't beat it.

    Love the dahlia!

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  10. I always love your Random Threads posts!
    You've probably already picked up a few language idiosyncracies from my blog - Australians tend to use British terms, not American. It's a zip, it's an overlocker, and actually, it's a toile (not a muslin - muslin is a lightweight fabric like cheesecloth over here).
    Like you, I love notches.
    There's actually a thread on GOMI at the moment about minor annoyances in sewing blogs - and it's full of things like "makes", "secret pyjamas", "yolks" etc. Obviously there are many of us who get irritated!

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  11. Cutting DOES stress me out. How did you know?! Even before I lay out the pattern pieces, trying to fold the fabric evenly and on grain is stressful and takes me a while. As for cutting itself, at a certain point I started using pattern weights instead of pins. I'm already slow and the pins made it soooo slow. I can never cut out and then leap over to the sewing machine. Cutting takes me at least a couple of hours and then I'm a bit worn out. I need a mental break. Usually I put the pieces away in a box and come back to it another day.

    I sound like a bit of a basket case! Oh well!

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  12. I love this list! I wonder if bake/make didn't come from "work." You work, you can bring your work, go to work... so if your work is a make... huh.

    I hate blogger.com security sign in. I have to use an account on mobile like an old blogger account of mine I haven't deleted. That's a pet peeve ;)

    I always spelled it "aesthetic." ?

    I love notches on armscyes, and as you mentioned, twists and turns. If there's some ease I need to fit in, yes, the notches need to be there. See also: lengthening/shortening lines. For full price Indie, they need to be there. That said, I generally prefer the quality indies for the most part. Like Papercut and such.

    I wish I knew of who you're speaking... 5 years ago or so I tested for an indie designer and the real reason I quit testing was when she started making the jump from kids clothes to adult, her patterns didn't gain any sophistication... no professionalism. Pink and gray squiggly illustrations remained the design, I was bored and unchallenged, so moved on. That and I rarely wear skirts or dresses, and often prefer sleeves. You know what's easier to draft and sell? Skirts and sleeveless tops/dresses. Sigh.

    I'm with you on the basics and wardrobe planning. I have a hole I need to fill, I fill it. Something adorable catches my fancy, I sew it. That's my planning. :D

    I just started working with Britex fabrics. Such good stuff. How do you feel about their upcoming move?

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  13. Seconded: zipper is the US sewing term that always makes me blink whereas serger and muslin don't bother me at all. In fact I think muslin is becoming standard UK usage and toile is dying out. And I'll admit to an envious sigh whenever people mention $1 pattern sales or buying two copies of a pattern because they want two sizes, because we just don't get those. I was pleased to get a half price Vogue the other day at £7.50 :-) I trace almost everything so I can reuse it. It takes forever but it does have one big advantage in that I'm almost never caught out by pattern mistakes because I spot them while tracing.

    Cutting takes ages for me but I've got a lot faster at it since I had my baby and my sewing time has reduced, so I think I was just being too fussy. The right gear helps. I love my huge cardboard cutting mat.

    Wardrobe planning is a curious one. I love some people's posts on the subject (Dr T Designs in particular) and am bored by others. I'm trying to do some myself right now and am NOT blogging about it because I am sure I can't write well enough to make it interesting.

    That was a fascinating post; much food for thought! Thanks!

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  14. I agree about zip -or possibly occasionally zip fastener - never zipper! And about overlocker and muslin - which to me is like cheesecloth. What you call muslin I call calico. I would never say snap - perhaps press stud, more usually popper. And I still can't quite get used to pants - which to me mean underwear - rather than trousers. Pyjama trousers, slacks, narrow legged trousers, wide-legged trousers - they are all trousers. Only jeans are not! You say basting, I say tacking. I could go on. But surely the whole point is that we should be able to understand and appreciate each other, even if we wouldn't say things in the same way.
    On notches - I think you are generally right about two notches for the back of the armhole (not armscye - there's another one!) and one for the front, on sleeve and bodice, except on Burda patterns where it is always just one notch, on the front.

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    1. I always giggle at "popper"!!! :-)

      *I* have started calling them a "zip" at time!!

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  15. As a Brit the term that really winds me up is, sewist,such a silly word, but that's just me. I love your random thread posts and all the lovely clothes that you have made and kindly show to us.

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    1. Not just you! That said though, sewer, when written, doesn't look so good!

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  16. Have you ever thought of doing an on-line sewing class?

    Marie

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  17. One of the things that gets on my LAST NERVE is the MISUSE of THEN for THAN! Happens on many popular blogs. Drives me NUTS!

    As for independents, I seldom use the more recent ones (bloggers that think of themselves as pattern makers), but I do enjoy Silhouette (Peggy Sagers) and Cutting Line Designs (Louise Cutting) - they have been around for sometime now.

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  18. Oh there are so many things above that irk me too. I know who you are talking about as I had those exact thoughts of disbelief when I saw another $18 pattern that you print and put together yourself and so basic! Get real people, there are a million patterns of the same thing out there that'll cost you much less. Really can the drafting be SO amazing... I mean really.. the notches are supposed to match up. I don't want to gush because they do. I get really annoyed by the bloggers that every thing they have made on their blog is so terrific and they just happen to be given it but the thoughts and comments are their own.... I don't even bother looking at these blogs anymore. I am so lucky this week,, my friend who lives in the States has made it a personal mission to get me a list of patterns the last few months for her trip back home... I said she didn't have to wait for the $1 sales but she was really serious in not paying more than she had to! I love this Random Thread!

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  19. Great post, Beth. I agree with you on most items especially the basic patterns by indie companies with crazy high prices. As a 'sewist' (yes, I love this word) for 60 years I always cut around notches and have learned to love cutting out. Over the years I've found freedom in cutting pieces on the bias and cross grain (particularly with stripes) to make very interesting garments.

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    1. Another vote for big 4 patterns... I have only made one indy pattern, and I like it. But really it was a freebie. No way I am paying that much for a basic pattern with only 1 view...or two if you count a slightly lower/higher hem! That's not a different view, it's just a small simple alteration!

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  20. We belong to a CSA and the pick your own flowers are a fabulous perk especially the long row of dahlias. My sister lives in Marina del Rey and she really enjoys the weather. Especially since she moved there from the mid west which has regular 100 degree days.

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  21. The word I love to hate on the sewing blogs is "sewist" (and I see someone already commented that they love this word!) It sounds just too pretentious to me.
    As a college professor, I'm a bit of a demon about grammar etc. and my latest pet peeve is "alright". NOT A WORD although it may well become one with all the common usage.
    I like the idea of wardrobe planning simply because I make things that appeal to me and then don't go with anything I own. (I don't actually do it, I just think it would be good if I did!) But definitely no to inspiration boards. I do sew some basics, particularly long sleeved things, because I can't buy ones that fit well (I am tall and have monkey arms, and I HATE long sleeves that are too short!)
    We all have our quirks, don't we? :)

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    1. I don't like the word sewist, but the Oxford English dictionary add new words every year. Watch this space !!

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  22. I'm so jealous of your flowers! Ours are all a little fog-beaten at the moment, except the buckwheat, which is absolutely thriving!

    Notches... I'm a little peeved at Burda at the moment, they simply do not provide enough notches for attaching a sleeve! Every single Burda sleeve I've sewn has turned out well somehow, but it always feels like a bit of a fluke. The last jacket I sewed had a two-piece sleeve with no seam at underarm, and they didn't even give a notch for the underarm point! That said, when I sew with a Vogue/Butterick/McCall/Simplicity pattern it seems like there are way too many notches and definitely way too many other markings. Now that I understand construction fairly well, I omit quite a few of them, and only live to regret it about 10% of the time...

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  23. Cutting is my least favorite part of sewing but it must be done or no sewing will happen. I agree with you about the verb into known usage, especially "my make." It drives me nuts but It is so commonplace though - aargh.

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  24. Hi Beth, I love reading your blog and learn a lot from you so firstly, thank you!

    Here in the UK, I am used to the expression "elasticated waist"
    One US expression that seems to rattle me is the word "envision".... here in the UK we say "envisaged" I guess it's a matter of what we are accustomed to. I do agree with you the creation of nouns from verbs and verbs from nouns is getting out of hand....

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  25. Oh I'm so pleased you hate the phrase "my make" as well. I commented once on my blog that I hated it and got loads of abuse! I also hate envisioned as mentioned above.

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  26. Ah, pet peeves and regional differences... here goes. Add me to the list of Brits who don't like make/bake to be used in the way that they are (I also thought it was an American import!) I stick to just using "zip". Elasticated waist makes total sense to me. Serger... I wish I could see where the name had come from. Overlocker makes sense. Rayon versus viscose is an annoyance, as some bloggers and retailers seem to think there is a difference between the two fabric fibres. I'm yet to see anything that backs this up, but am happy to be shown otherwise. Me-made, sewist... I'm trying to not talk into the trap of using but am failing. Bad English (then/than, should of/should have) really annoy me. Excessive punctuation in sewing blogs too - no, I don't need to see you end a tutorial post with !!!

    "Secret pyjamas" and using "dreamy" to describe a fabric are big annoyances. I also get annoyed by indie pattern blog posts being written by an intern or (if they're lucky, paid) employee who has a very different writing voice (and/or maturity) to the company founder. This ties in with the excessive punctuation, bad English, and $18 patterns if you know what I mean.

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  27. And fangirling. Reading the comments on new pattern releases on social media often leave me feeling like I'm the only person in the world who felt very disappointed by the latest release.

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  28. UK vs USA. There are loads of differences in terminology but we cope.
    However I wonder why you don't get yourselves a tape measure with centimetres on. Adding fractions?? Why make life difficult? I use both metric and imperial but always metric (cm) when manipulating. But each to their own.

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    1. These are very difficult to find in the US. Isn't that silly? I have been looking. Still looking. I'll scoop up a couple when I find them.

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  29. Hey, Beth! I don't mind using "make" as a noun, though I tend to avoid it. I use sewist and sewer interchangeably, but dislike seamstress. My pet peeve? It's using SEW instead of SO. As in "That's sew cute!" It's too twee for me.

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  30. OMG I cannot stand secret pyjamas anymore. The term would only be accurate if you actually spent the night in your bed wearing those garments. I'm assuming that no one did this with a 60's woven shift dress (or did they?) and yet I recently read a blogger call a twiggy-style dress her secret pyjamas...
    I have trouble reading french blogs and boards because of the twee french language used by many. "Un amour de tissu" just kills me...
    I also recently found that children oriented sewing blog that discusses pdf patterns. I love it, the articles are perfect!
    And I'm one of the people who thought the full skirt was unusual for you but I stand corrected!!

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  31. Such a pleasure to read this post! Yes, what you said about those simple $18 patterns. What really bugs me is that they say they are flattering on all bodies... Dream on. Hopefully most new sewists will move on quickly, so they are a great gateway drug, so to speak. And the sewalongs and other supporting blog posts help newbies learn basic techniques. Can you imagine trying to make a Bootstrap pattern as a new sewist? I *love* their products but 1/2 page of directions for a dress with a dozen pieces. Yikes. So, I get why some of the indie stuff is popular even if I have no place for it.

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  32. I am a little late to the party but couldn't help posting a comment... about the sewing verbiage around the world, I think that it should be taken into account the fact that there are many sewing bloggers out there who - like me - aren't native English speakers, so sometimes we just say o write things as we have seen somewhere else ;) . Having studied British English in the seventies/eighties, I learnt the names to rtw clothers very different from what I can read now: swimming costume instead of swimsuit, trousers instead of pants, knickers instead of undies, stockings instead of tights.
    Also, I have recently learnt that a thong is a kind of sandal in Australia and a small bottom undie in USA, where those sandals are called flip-flops.... the examples are endless.....
    BTW I have recently visited San Francisco and the Britex Fabric Shop, it was a pleasure to visit but the prices were rather high...

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  33. I found myself nodding me head to so much of this! And I'm so glad you mentioned that Mood blog - I've been thinking "WTF?!" They are releasing "patterns" on it, too, which all seem really odd to me. Is anyone sewing them?

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