Here is my 1940s “Swing” Dress Pattern, inspired by an original Hollywood design, circa 1942. The design comes from the WWII days of fabric rationing, which meant narrower skirts and more tailored lines.

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It has been fun to see responses come in to my recent pattern design survey. I closed it today and went through all the stats and comments, and what a huge array of tastes and preferences you have!

I sent out a survey link in my most recent eNewsletter and posted it on my Message Forum, but I think some wires got crossed somewhere, which left me with some jumbled responses. So I’m going to try this again with some illustrations to help identify the pattern eras in question.

I have no experience with historical sewing, so I make no claims that the lace or anything else on this dress is period-correct When I had trouble finding a modest and elegant pattern for my daughter’s first communion dress, I turned to period patterns and found this lovely website, and I am delighted with the [...]

Over the past 13 years, I’ve revisited patterns many times to make changes, correct errors, or add something to the instructions or illustrations. Most of these changes have come from suggestions made by my wonderful customers, and I always appreciate the feedback. As I’ve sewed for my growing daughters, I’ve started making notes on what needs tweaking, so there are some needed changes afoot!

My good friend, Casey, over at Elegant Musings is hosting a “Sew-Along” this month and into February. Lots of ladies get together to sew from one pattern and share the results. Casey took a poll, and my 1940s “Swing” Dress Pattern won! I was very honored and am excited to see the beautiful results that are sure to follow. If you’d like to join in, jump on over to Casey’s gorgeous blog for the sewing schedule!

I have long loved the beautiful, pastoral portraits of the late Georgian Era. Family groupings set in fields and beneath trees painted by artists like Thomas Gainsborough marked a departure from the stiffer, more formal portraits of a generation before. Children in these paintings gradually made an amazing transition from miniature adults to playful, happy youngsters in relaxed poses. Some of my favorite paintings are by George Romney and Élisabeth-Louise Vigée-Le Brun. Inspired by these lovely, classic portraits, I decided to create this pattern for my own girls, who adore the full skirts and wide sashes of the time.

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You have more little ones than I do and not only do you find time to sew, but to design beautiful new patterns. Can you share a little about how you make time to do it all?

This question was recently posted to the S&S Facebook page, and it’s one I get from time to time via email as well. I’ve posted in my FAQs about the “do-it-all” myth, but I thought it might be time to just blog about this topic, since it’s near and dear to my heart.

If you’ve followed S&S Patterns over on Facebook, then you’ve probably seen this coming for a while, as I took a poll to see which fashion era people would like to see in patterns next. The 1780s won out, hands-down, though the 1930s came in a close second. Funny how this works out, but a [...]

So, you’ve made your first outfit from one of my patterns. It went together without a hitch…until you put it on and stepped in front of a mirror. “Wait a minute!” you exclaimed. “This waistline is way too high! This sleeve just doesn’t hit me where I thought it would! How am I supposed to be comfortable in this?”