Life is funny sometimes.  We get sidelined and then we have to work our way back.

It’s been a long time and there have been a lot of ups and downs.  We lost our beloved Tia a few years ago from a long illness.  It crushed us and left a huge emptiness in our house.  Eventually, we found a precious little Corgi pup and called her Duchess Sophie Sassypants.  She’s the daughter of I’m No Jughead and the granddaughter of Wrecking Ball, so we think it fits LOL.  I decided to step away from the social media and focus on training her in order to survive puppyhood with my sanity intact…lol.

Then the company I was working for crashed due to some poor decisions made by my manager….now I’m 65 and out of work!  I never thought I would have to be interviewing AGAIN at that age, but I was lucky to find a wonderful local company to work for.  But still, learning a new job at 65 is tough!  Then some health issues kicked in that I now have under control.

BUT- while all these changes were taking place, I never stopped working on patterns and my Etsy shop.  I’ve expanded my fabric selections and plan to expand some more.  Things have settled into a nice new routine with the job and the puppy and I started creating again.  It feels really good for the soul.

I’ve been working on my new CAD program for pattern drafting.  Wild Ginger was having a sale and I finally decided to go for it and I purchased Cameo.  I used their old program, Symmetry, about 20 years ago and I loved it.  Cameo is very similar and having the Symmetry experience helped.  It took a while, but the old skills came back to me and customer service is phenomenal.  Questions are answered promptly and Lisa really goes out of her way to help me work through issues.  I’m really upgrading my pattern drafting and grading skills. I have to admit that real pattern drafting software really speeds up the process and the grading module is so much easier than Illustrator.  I highly recommend it to anyone considering pattern design.

My first Cameo drafted pattern is a smocked yoke dress in the yoke dress series.  It will be offered in two different size ranges: Toddler and Girls.  The Toddler pattern will offer sizes 18 Months to 3T.  The Girls  will offer sizes 4-6.  I added a Peter Pan collar in addition to the bias bound neck.  It also features a smocked sleeve and a cuffed sleeve.

I just released the patterns as Susannah and Abigail.  You can buy them here.  They’re also available in the Etsy shop with fabrics and trims for inspiration.

I’ve also got the Peekabo Smocked Diamonds in the works that will be expanded to sizes 3-6.  The size range might change but the original was designed in a size 4.  It won First Place in the Design Show at the Smocking Arts Guild convention in 2023, but grading it in other sizes was clunky in Illustrator.  I believe I can do it now in Cameo, I just have to work on importing the pieces into the program. It’s a different file format and involves a lot more steps.

That’s all for now.  I’ll be back soon with more patterns, tutorials and helpful information to to bring joy to your sewing journey.