My First Attempt at Writing a Sewing Pattern (and how you can help me out!)

Like I said in my last post, I love crafting! And a few years ago I decided I loved it SO much that I started selling some of my original creations locally and online. It was such an honor when others chose to spend money on something I had made! It contributed to my joy in life. After having fun with that for a couple of years, though, I recognized the need to phase out of it (at least for awhile) due to the stage of life our family was in.

While I'm definitely still not in the position to invest as much energy and effort as I once did in selling my creations, I have been considering dipping my feet back into the craft-business waters just a bit!

It didn't take me long to realize what my first step back in this direction ought to be. I knew it had to have something to do with my most popular offering from my craft business days... My little fabric party hats:

I created my first fabric party hat almost five years ago when I was preparing for Lucy's second birthday. I had sewn her a special party dress for the occasion and was attempting to use card stock to make a classic party hat for her celebration. Right as I was wrestling with the paper trying to get it into the perfect cone shape I looked down at the scraps left over from making her dress and I thought, "Hey! I wonder if I could use THESE to make a longer-lasting hat to coordinate with her outfit?" This is what I came up with:

It was  a wonderful surprise to discover that other folks seemed to like these about as much as I did!  They experienced their share of popularity in the local shop where I was privileged to sell crafts.  One of my favorite memories was when I was perusing the blog of a local photographer who was going to shoot our upcoming family photos, and my hats turned up a few times as photo props in her galleries. Fun!

I have had others express interest in making my hats in the past, but I would tell them that I would happily make one for them but wasn't quite ready to divulge my hat-making-process.

Well, I have decided that the time has come to offer my party hats up as a detailed sewing pattern for sale in digital download format.

It turns out pattern-writing is its own skill set!  It is one thing to come up with a design simply for my own crafting pleasure. It is quite another thing to put my thought process in written and visual form so that others can successfully create their own versions of my design.

But I am excited to try.  I now have a rough draft of my pattern put together and I am looking for some friends who possess basic machine-sewing skills to test-sew my pattern for me and give me feedback before I start...you know... asking people to pay up before I give it to them. : ) When I put an initial inquiry on Facebook yesterday, I was thrilled with how quickly people volunteered!

I have decided to go ahead and throw the link to my pattern up here on the blog and list it for FREE from now until January 30th, 2015.

So!  For any who are interested in trying it out, I invite you to download the file (included at the end of this posting), give it a whirl and give me a little feedback.  Here are some specific questions for you to consider:

1. What do you think about the level of detail included in the instructions? Too much? Too little? Too confusing?
2. What typos or grammatical errors did you notice?
3. I think I already know the answer to this one but... is the "pretty" font too much?  Should it be simpler?
4. How was your experience working with the pattern template provided?  Should it be redrafted in any way?
5. Give a price range you think would be fair to ask of a potential buyer.

**A note on the photography: The photos included for instructional purposes are rough and not intended for the final draft.  When I have been able to work on drafting the pattern so far, it has not been at peak times for natural lighting nor have I a great place to stage the the hats to be photographed. I am currently working on finding some help and a better location to take high-quality photos for the final draft. But the rough images you'll work with will be representative of the content I am going after.  Do tell me if you think there are some steps that don't have photos but should, or if any of the photos provided are unnecessary in your opinion!**

I do have a goal of getting the final version up and listed to sell by February 1st. So if you intend on giving meaningful suggestions to be incorporated into the final draft, then I would ask that you aim for giving me feedback by Monday, January 26th!  

All feedback should be e-mailed to: erikajoyfuljourney@yahoo.com.

If you don't get around to making the hat by then and can't offer feedback, no problem.  Please just enjoy the pattern and know how much I appreciate your interest! 

I do also ask that you all enjoy this pattern for your own personal use only, and do not sell the pattern itself or hats made using the pattern!!

If you do make the hat and have a positive experience, I would be ever so grateful if you would also help me when the final pattern is for sale by sharing  the link with others who may be interested. Maybe add it to one of your Pinterest boards (if Pinterest is your "thing"). Instagram a photo of your final product and let curious admirers know how to get the pattern for themselves! You get the idea. :)

Finally, here is a link to download the pattern itself. 

You can also grab it from the side bar over on the right.  

Thanks for your interest and I am looking forward to hearing about your experiences!

Xoxo,