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Member since 12/6/09
Posts: 5
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Posted on: 12/6/09 11:10 PM ET
I am brand new to this forum, so hello! I am still pretty new to sewing, but I have a lot more experience with knitting. When a mistake is discovered in a knitting pattern, usually the magazine, publisher, or designer will list it on their website under "errata," along with the correction. Is this ever done in sewing too? I've looked for what I think might be mistakes before, without finding anything online. So then I wonder if maybe I'm the only one with the problembut it's hard to tell!
  
Member since 3/13/06
Posts: 767
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Posted on: 12/6/09 11:55 PM ET
Sometimes they do publish corrections--Butterick misprinted a dress pattern within the last two years and they re-printed and published a corrected version. One of Vogue's Marcy Tilton patterns (a skirt) had a misprint (in the instructions, I think) and I'm not certain if Vogue re-printed a corrected version (I think that Marcy Tilton has corrected instructions on her website).

If you have a pattern and you have doubts, you could contact the pattern company and ask. Or post and ask here, describing the problem.
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Member since 1/12/05
Posts: 839
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Posted on: 12/7/09 6:17 PM ET
Welcome to PR. I say this with no malice but I laughed out loud. That'll be the day!

I am kidding, kind of. They are much more responsive these days with consumers knowing more about what constitutes a good pattern. I remember buying a store pattern... I don't know, almost twenty years ago and the thing was defective. Many of the seams didn't match up, a really crappy pattern. So I took it back to the store and tried to return it but they wouldn't take it. I was aghast, it's not legal to sell defective products. So I sent it to the company. Never heard from them or got my money back either. It was kind of stupid in some ways. I'd used home patterns before I went to pattern school and had worked in the industry for several years but had never tried one in the interim to realize how my expectations had evolved. Obviously, I know better now.
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Lessons from the sustainable sewing factory floor
  
Member since 12/27/06
Posts: 710
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Posted on: 12/7/09 6:28 PM ET
In reply to junira
Hi Junira,

Welcome to PR. I'm sorry if you're having problems with a particular pattern -- as you can tell, you are definitely NOT the only one. Post and ask for help if there's something specific.

Just in case you haven't already figured it out, you can use this site to look up the particular pattern you're working with -- or planning to use -- and see if anyone has reviewed it. If there is a mistake in the pattern, reviewers will definitely discuss it! A lot of people will suggest methods that are better than the directions provided in the pattern, too.

Some of the independent patternmakers will correct their patterns or email corrections to those who have purchased the flawed patterns. It's the "Big 4" that seem the most blase.

Good luck and happy sewing, and don't you wish we could all make patterns like Kathleen?

Elizabeth
  
Member since 12/6/09
Posts: 5
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Posted on: 12/7/09 7:51 PM ET
Thanks for all the responses! Yeah, I figured that most sewing patterns wouldn't have any corrections out there for people to look up, but I'm glad to hear it's getting a little better. Maybe the internet is making the publishers more accountable. Kathleen, I can't believe you never got a response about your faulty pattern! Well, maybe I can, but still, shame on them. I'll be so glad if I ever reach a level where I can visualize how the pattern will work ahead of time, and maybe even tell if there's a better way to make it!

I did look up the pattern I was working on (the 'Make a to-go bag' from Threads, July, 2008), and there were some reviews of it here. Some people said the directions were confusing, but most of them managed just fine. So, in reading people's descriptions of making the thing, I figured out what I was doing wrong, and it was me misunderstanding the directions (which left out a lot of steps!) Though there were some mistakes in the size and number of a few pattern pieces, and I was glad to discover those sooner rather than later. Anyway, all that got me wondering about mistakes and how common they are.

Thanks again everyone, I think I'll like it here!
  
Member since 2/9/04
Posts: 18027
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Posted on: 12/8/09 8:55 AM ET
In reply to junira
When I came back to sewing garments after a 15-year hiatus, I took a pattern adjusting class from a national teacher. She told us that incorrect patterns are one of the main reasons women quit sewing. They trusted the pattern to be correct and when the garment ended up all wonky, they blamed themselves. Talk about an industry shooting themselves in the foot!

After that, I had a Butterick dress pattern that had a major problem, and I knew it wasn't me. Shame on Butterick, but the dress was not in their next pattern catalog.

Burda patterns tend to have less mistakes than other brands. It's a good idea to read reviews here at PR first. I try to do that before I invest in a new pattern. It has saved me some headaches and money.
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iPad's auto-correct is my enema.
  
Member since 3/27/05
Posts: 1841
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Posted on: 12/8/09 3:52 PM ET
I've yet to come across any Burda magazine patterns with any major errors (wtf instructions don't count, ha!), but I know KnipMode post errata on their website, and just recently I saw the first errata in a Patrones magazine - they just reprinted the entire corrected instructions at the back of the next issue along with their apologies.
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Member since 8/24/02
Posts: 5885
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Posted on: 12/9/09 7:22 PM ET
I have found mistakes several times in Big 4 patterns. One time they didn't believe me, then called back a few days later and said there truly was a mistake, and I was the first person that ever caught it. lol A couple of times they sent me a coupon for a free pattern.
I also found a mistake on a pattern at 'You Can Make This' again they said no one ever mentioned it.
I always read the directions first,(I may not follow them, but I read them) and that's when I usually find the errors.
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My grandmother taught me to sew when I was 10, and I've been sewing ever since.
  
Member since 2/17/07
Posts: 2506
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Posted on: 12/13/09 9:21 PM ET
At work lately (I'm the quality technician at a parachute company) I've been writing the instructions for making various parachute parts for military cargo parachutes. I don't have to deal with the patterns, just the instructions. I'm really glad I have a little sewing knowledge, or it would be just impossible. Even then, I needed to look at an example sewn by our resident expert before I could figure out the sequence of steps to write up. So I'm going to have a little sympathy for pattern drafters and writers in the future, but then too, they are professionals and are supposed to know what they are doing!

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A sewing machine is just a welder for textiles.
  
Member since 1/19/06
Posts: 1069
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Posted on: 12/13/09 10:46 PM ET
In reply to Doris W. in TN
Quote: Doris W. in TN
When I came back to sewing garments after a 15-year hiatus, I took a pattern adjusting class from a national teacher. She told us that incorrect patterns are one of the main reasons women quit sewing. They trusted the pattern to be correct and when the garment ended up all wonky, they blamed themselves. Talk about an industry shooting themselves in the foot!




Yes - that's a big part of why I stopped sewing clothing (did keep sewing home dec. and some craft items). It's taken the internet and reading newsgroups, forums, and blogs to realize there's nothing sacred about the patterns, neither in altering it for size or style, nor in it's correctness. Now I trace, cut and add in or pinch out bits until it fits. Swedish tracing paper is my friend!

After the amount of alterations my last ventures have had, I'm becoming more inclined to think of patterns as "pirate rules" - just a suggestion! (from the movie Pirates of the Caribean)
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justgail.wordpress.com
  
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