Goal Update: #9 Organize my pattern collection

Out with the old...

Well, with only 4 more months in my 25th year, I suppose it is time to start documenting my progress, successes and room for improvement on my 25 Things To Do Before I Turn 26 goal list.

We will start with goal number 9: Organize my pattern collection

This goal really only took one morning. The first step was to weed out all of the patterns that I have never used and honestly will never use. This is important because it allows me to more easily find the patterns that I would like to actually use.





For example, I bought some patterns because I liked the design lines, but produced in sizes 14-16, I won't ever be inspired to grade that pattern. Yes, I suppose if I wanted to start designing my own patterns, I could use it as inspiration, but I prefer to just use well crafted patterns in my own size range so that I don't have to deal with a whole array of problems of drafting and fitting.

Another area of mass weeding was patterns that essentially all had the same design lines. How many patterns do you need of a seventies power suit or a sixties jumper, when really the only major difference is the illustration on the front? I chose the best out of the selection and discarded the rest.

The second step was to sort them into different sizing and genres. My categories are: children's, men's, household, accessories, lingerie/swimwear, outerwear, women's pants, women's skirts, women's blouses, multi-garment patterns, and women's dresses (split into size range).

I am now housing my patterns in a filing cabinet which is attached to my sewing/work desk. Each category of pattern has it's own hanging file folder. In spite of weeding out close to 100 patterns, the patterns still take up two drawers total.

I had originally thought maybe I could sell them on Etsy, but I don't see a whole lot of value in the ones I am getting rid of. There really isn't much money to be made there since they are probably worth 25-50 cents a piece. I'd be better off asking a price for the whole lot of them to get them out of my hair or just taking them to the thrift store.

I could keep going with the goal and preserve each one with cardboard backing and plastic protector sheets, with a catalogue binder for pattern searches, but we'll save that for another year...