Memory lane - Stories behind the patterns

Part of being retired is reminiscing, right???

Now that I am retired, I know how incredibly lucky I was to get to design for McCall's and then Simplicity for 33 years. I, who moved to New York, in the hopes of becoming a famous opera singer. And when you think of it, there are fewer people who design for the home sewing industry than there are opera singers. One needs to be flexible in life.

The pseudo Renaissance pattern above was the design that brought me to the attention of Simplicity. I had been working for McCalls for six years at that point. This pattern was selling really, really well and they wanted me to start working for them! Which was one of the best decision I ever made.

The funny thing is though, this pattern was being used by adults attending Renaissance Faires all around the country and I thought I was designing a Halloween costume for kids who wanted to be knights and princesses. My two sons were 7 and 10 at the time and the padded armor was made with them in mind. I thought they could play knights and not hurt each other too much at the same time.

In the 80s and 90s I was also doing a lot of freelance work for a number of toy companies. So, when the big Troll fad hit in the 90's I suggested doing a set of outfits for them. There are three things that surprise me looking at this one. First ... OMG ... I can't believe how many outfits I put in one pattern. Second, we had to make the skin of all the Trolls green so Simplicity wouldn't get sued, which is also the reason my name isn't on the pattern. Wish I still had a copy of it.

This is a favorite pattern, which every so often people still ask for. I started taking yoga in the early 2000's, which I HIGHLY recommend BTW. At my yoga studio some people were trying to make mat bags and bolsters, etc., but were not having too much success, especially with the bolsters. They tended to be too floppy. So I went into full research and experimentation mode and figured out how to make all this stuff. The round and oval bolsters have a core of foam wrapped with cotton upholstery batting. I surely hope it helped folks make their own yoga props.

Well, this is one of a set of patterns that really did almost get sued. I might have been able to retire a lot early if these hadn't been pulled out of the catalog about one or two months after they were released. Apparently I did too good of a job!!! The costumes looked too close to the movie costumes. The studio demanded that they be discontinued.
sigh .... 

So, those basic, basic Nativity and Passion Play costumes that have been in the catalog since the 1940s or 50s sell reliably year after year. So, the folks at Simplicity thought we should do a high end version. I did research everywhere, in lots of books, at Christmas stores, and these angels were based on the ones that are on the Christmas Tree every year at the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

This was one of a set of patterns I designed with the community theater costumer in mind. There are a lot of musicals and plays set in the early 2oth Century. And these patterns are as simple and fast to make as possible while still achieving basically the correct look. 
My Fair Lady or Music Man anyone?????

I used to do lots of home dec patterns. This was my best seller. The round canopy is built on a giant embroidery hoop hung from a hook on the ceiling. Don't know where I got the energy to heft ALL that yardage around ... phew! But I was a lot younger.

Had to put this one in for the funny story. 
Because of my background working for the toy industry, I had made patterns for many licensed characters. These samples have to be approved by the company who owns the license. So when I turned these samples in I hadn't finished sewing them. Some things were pinned or just tacked because I assumed I would get them back for corrections. WELL, they loved them just as is. AND the Sylvester the Cat costume ended up on the Today Show (unbeknownst to me). The person wearing it started to dance around and ... I kid you not ... the nose fell right off ON LIVE TV ... oh well. They didn't ask me if it was ready! 

And here is my most told story. 
This pattern was the first pattern in the world of home sewing to show cleavage. I am told it was Simpicity's best selling pattern in all categories for the previous five years.

My design director and I went to my local Renaissance Faire for research and inspiration. And I made my version of what people were wearing ... which included LOTS of cleavage! BUT, the executives of the company wanted to airbrush it out. Hard to believe that now adays, but this is true.

The people in the craft and costume department went to bat for me and, as you can see, the cleavage was saved.

AND ... this is why I tell my two sons "Cleavage put them through college" 😆