Sunday, October 19, 2008

Visions of Grace - aka, my new tunic pattern

Introducing the Grace Tunic!






The last picture is my friend MT modeling. She's a size 10 with a great figure and the Grace Tunic fits her better than it does me. I think it's the fabric, because in a knit with less stretch the pattern fits me perfectly. I'll have to do some tweaking because I WANT one of these for myself! It's terrifically comfortable, perfect for Dallas fall days. Plus it's great as maternity or nursing wear without (hopefully) feeling like maternity. I'll be putting this up for sale on my etsy shop soon, for now I'm content just showing it off. :)

I'm also in the very first steps of thinking about possibly maybe if it's possible making and selling this and the brianna cardigan wrap as patterns. Maybe. It's probably too expensive and then there's copyright stuff [by which I mean GETTING a copyright, not infringing on someone else's - that's bad] ... but is it worth looking into? Maybe? Maybe not?

5 comments:

luckylibbet said...

I AM NOT A LAWYER so take these words advisedly -
It's worth looking into producing this as a pattern (I'd buy it!) - but did you start off using a commercial pattern? If you did, then you need to re-think this, as commercial patterns fall under copyright. In fact, if you used a commercial pattern, then you're 'supposed' to purchase that pattern for every single item you make to sell.
For inspiration, see Etsy seller SpiderLily - and PhyllisC's review of one of her patterns on SewingDivas and also PatternReview.

Alicia said...

Thank you, and no, it's entirely mine, made up from measurements of myself, drafting, draping, more measuring, and some guesswork around the armcyc. I was certainly inspired by various patterns and RTW stuff but each line and seam is completely my own work. :)

luckylibbet said...

OK, it's your own work - best first step! And you already have an etsy shop.

If you can afford it, buy a pattern from Spiderlily as a prototype for what's expected in the market - her patterns are pricy, but what I would expect from a singleton trying to break in. Is there any way to see what her actual sales are? She's already made a convert of one of the diva's, maybe that should be in your plan somewhere - let Georgene or GorgeousThings make it up out of Gorgeous fabric? The style is more GorgeousThing's thing, and she has the fabric to promote as well.

Can you grade the pattern - up and down to sizes other than your own personal size? Granted, it's not a fitted style, but you will need to consider things like waist/hip width, bust width, etc. Don't want to intimidate you, but these are realities that need to be considered!

You already have a terrific reputation on one forum, PatternReview, and although you can't advertise there, you can certainly use it to some extent to get the word out.

LOTS OF LUCK! and I'm thinking about you --- Heather

Alicia said...

Thank you so much for the encouragement! I know the theory of sizing up and down and, I believe, Sense and Sensibility Patterns has a great little tutorial on it, but I haven't done it beyond what's needed to fit myself which is a whole different game. So I'll be testing out the theory when I resize this garment first for myself (you can see from the pics I look like I'm playing dress up in this first draft) and then for another sewing friend who's a RTW size 18. The good thing is that both the Grace and the Brianna cardigan are based on the same basic pieces so it's not as crazy as, say, sizing up and down two completely different patterns.

And thank you for all the other ideas. Spiderlily and I have two different styles but I do really like their knit top, the one Phyllis, I believe, made for her daughter. I'll have to invest in the name of research. :)

luckylibbet said...

I didn't want to suggest that you and Spiderlily have the same sensibility - not at all - more - what does the pattern paper look like? What quality of paper is it? Can I do this level of quality? Can I get the divas interested in this pattern (great sales tool, gotta say). On sizing, you can get away with S-M-L and maybe XL if you want. On Etsy, the customer is going to be younger and (I hate to say it) smaller. Quite frankly, on Etsy, you could probably start with one size fits all, and no one's going to beef. That's just my PatternReview Fitting stuff going on.

my generic email is luckylibbet@gmail.com - would love to discuss in more detail how you can DO THIS!