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A couple of months ago I got into a very strong organisation mode. I organised everything I possibly could. Eventually, I got to my sewing cave and it went through a massive reorganisation of fabric, patterns, books, etc. One of the things that I have to deal with is my traced out BurdaStyle magazine patterns.
I have accumulated quite a collection of my baking parchment traced patterns. The physical organisation was the easiest bit but I needed a way to know what I have and I needed a system that was accessible to me whenever I wanted.
Enter Pinterest. I realised that I could actually leverage Pinterest to work for me rather than spend the countless hours scrolling through impossibly perfect looking rooms and cakes and food. ( I had banned myself from Pinterest as it sets such an impossible level of perfection that meant I feared trying anything on there.)
Anyway I digress, I could rant on about Pinterest but it is an easy to access site. Plus, it is free to use.
I went through every single traced pattern I had and added it to a board. I have a board that has ALL the BurdaStyle magazine patterns that I have ever traced. I made sure to pin the line drawings as that is my primary way of deciding whether I like a pattern or not.
I also decided that I needed to have each year group as well. Then I needed each category of Tops, Kids, Dresses, Skirts, Activewear, Jackets/coats and Trousers.
Here is what I pictured happening…
Scenario 1
Hila woke with an overwhelming urge to sew up a skirt from her BurdaStyle magazines. Though she was feeling revitalised and energetic, she most definitely did not have the desire to trace out a new pattern. What can she do? Go check the BurdaStyle board to see what is already traced out of course! Scroll through and voila she is bound to find something.
Scenario 2.
Hila has set herself a challenge to sew one item each month from the 2015 magazines collection just to spice things up and avoid doing the same old same old while also appreciating the older magazines in her collection. First thing is to check what patterns are already traced out that she may like on her Pinterest boards of course! Go to the 2015 section of the BurdaStyle Magazine Traced patterns board and voila!
Scenario 3.
Hila is on a camping trip. Its raining and humid. While stuck in a tent feeling bored she decides to fantasize about what she is going to do in her sewing cave when she gets home. How to help the fantasy? Log onto Pinterest of course! And browse the patterns that have been traced out to figure out which will be the first one to get made as soon as she gets home!
…..Ad nauseam
That was my rationale for my categories of boards.
Once I had input all my BurdaStyle patterns into Pinterest, I now have a routine for adding any new traced pattern immediately to its relevant boards. It’s a quick addition to the routine that saves me oodles of mental space that would otherwise be allocated to trying to remember if I traced this or that out.
So far I am pretty pleased with this system – it is working and fit for purpose.
There is one more step I need to take before I can say that I have completed my organisation –Â I need to photocopy each page of the “All the styles at a glance” line drawings and keep in a folder. For bedtime reading :-).
I will write up a separate post to share how I organise and store the physical traced patterns.
How do you organise your sewing magazine traced patterns? I’d love to know down in the comments below. In the meantime if you’d like to have a gander in my Pinterest boards and see which patterns I have traced you can do so here:
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/SatNightStitch/burdastyle-magazine-patterns-traced/
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/SatNightStitch/burdastyle-kidswear-sewing-patterns-traced/
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/SatNightStitch/burdastyle-activewear-sewing-patterns-traced/
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/SatNightStitch/burdastyle-magazine-dresses-sewing-pattern-traced-/
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/SatNightStitch/burdastyle-tops-sewing-patterns-traced/
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/SatNightStitch/burdastyle-trousers-sewing-patterns-traced/
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/SatNightStitch/burdastyle-jackets-coats-traced/
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/SatNightStitch/burdastyle-skirts-sewing-patterns-traced/
Thank or stopping by,
Until next time Happy Sewing!
Peace and love,
Hila
Karey
October 16, 2018 4:44 amWhat a great job. I’m not as prolific as you, so don’t have so many traced patterns to remember. I do need to physically organise them better. You are probably responsible for many of the Burda pins I’ve saved on Pinterest. I’ve got a ‘want to make’ word document with photo and line drawing from Burda site copied for reference when I am fabric shopping. I really like the idea of scanning and printing all the ‘patterns at a glance’ pages.
Hila
October 16, 2018 7:44 amThanks Karey! I also like the idea of a word doc with a want to make list and the line drawing. Must add that to the organisation task lists. I found that doing this helped free up space in my head – sort of like outsourcing :-).
Karey
October 16, 2018 7:50 amI created a two column table with one pattern+variations in each cell to control page formatting, & cropped and edited image size in photo software before pasting to control file size.
Each page holds 3-4 rows (6-8 patterns) to have nice size images.
Hila
October 17, 2018 8:34 amI do like nice size images too🤗
oldschoolsewing
October 16, 2018 10:14 amWhat a great idea to use pinterest. I have my paper patters organized in a similar method in file drawers (dresses, tops, pants, men’s , children, costumes) but have always wanted to organize them using the computer so that I would be able to scroll through. Thank you for the idea. Now I must start on an organization quest.
Hila
October 16, 2018 12:33 pmOrganisation quests are so fulfilling aren’t they! My physical organisation needs some tweaks as right now they are just packed by year. It makes sense that I should have them filed in the different categories.
oldschoolsewing
October 17, 2018 1:10 amI do a lot of sewing for myself and others. I find that it is easier for me to go to the basic category to look for a design. For example, if I am looking to sew a man’s shirt, I’ll go to the drawer with the men’s patterns. The years are not really important to me. If I am sewing a costume that is for a particular time period I’ll do a lot of research to determine fashion details that need to be included in the project. And then I just look for the different details from different patterns and piece them all together. I love the idea of being able to scroll through looking at the patterns on the computer. Right now I finger through the patterns in the drawers, pulling them out and pushing them back in the drawer. Now to find the time to to start this project…
Becky Thompson
October 16, 2018 11:20 amI did the same thing but not quite as detailed by garment type as you have. I have a board for patterns I have and one for patterns I want. The “Patterns I Have” helps significantly when shopping. Before I pop the pattern in my cart, I check my “Patterns I Have” board and if it’s not there, I buy it. If the pattern is on my wish list, I move it to the purchased board. It’s a pretty good system. Good for you! It feels so good to be organized!
ellegeemakes
October 16, 2018 4:48 pmWow, fabulous idea ! I don’t have a system at all, and think this might work for me too, thanks for the inspiring post.
Hila
October 17, 2018 8:34 amYou’re welcome 🤗
JENNY
October 16, 2018 7:40 pmLisa Carolina showed that she writes in pencil in the magazine when she traced a pattern. That’s such a simple obvious way I never thought of. I store my traced patterns in yearly accordion folders divided by the months.
Hila
October 17, 2018 8:33 amThat’s a great idea to be able to see that info on the magazine cover. Need to check out accordion folders – that may be the missing link for my physical pattern organisation.
Shell
October 17, 2018 1:36 amThis is brilliance! I took myself off pinterest for same reasons, but this sounds so worth it. Like using it for good not evil!
Hila
October 17, 2018 8:31 amSo glad I’m not the only one who resorted to a self ban! Pinterest creates such unrealistic standards plus scrolling and pinning isn’t actually doing anything. But for this it works. X
Beads and Barnacles
October 17, 2018 8:19 pmI ended up doing a pintrest board for all the patterns I owned which included the at a glance pages from the burda magazines and the line drawings of any ones that caught my eye in each issue.
I really need to go back and update that board now with new purchases
Hila
October 18, 2018 1:24 pmI have found that once its in place just keeping it updated makes life easier. Having phone access to pinterest also helps – it makes it easier to add to a board as soon as I am done tracing – its become a part of my workflow.
Beads and Barnacles
October 18, 2018 1:44 pmSounds like a good plan.
I have a seamwork subscription and I haven’t added any of the patterns I got from there over the summer. And one of two I’ve bought. I think I’m up to date with my burda magazines which are what really takes the time.
Errant Pear
October 18, 2018 12:06 pmI also use Pinterest to catalog my pattern stash, but you know what would make it even better? If Pinterest would let you somehow link images together that you designate as related. So say I have an inspiration photo on one board, I could tie it to a potential pattern match on another board. Or if I have a few patterns that would combine for a great outfit, I could tie those together somehow (without creating a whole separate board). Wouldn’t that be nice?
Hila
October 18, 2018 1:20 pmThat sounds like an app/site that is missing in the market. That would be awesome. Like a Polyvore combined with sewing patterns. I had a “Clothes I think I can Make” board which loosely based on the concept of styles that I could see a pattern for but it quickly became a bohemoth of perfction that put me off attempting anything.
zouboukouf
October 28, 2018 2:04 pmI also did an organization quest this year 😀 I washed and fold equally all the fabrics. Then I scan, print the technical drawings and put them in binders, (on the verso I wrote the needed yardage of my crushes) I put a mark with a pencil on the models already done once, next to the drawing. My traced patterns are in a kind of plastic book with cleared envelope (don’t know the english word for that ^^) but I switch from thin copy paper to a much more thicker and now it looks like a monster book which doesn’t close anymore. I will classify them by garment type, and one plastic book per type. For kids patterns, i put them in kraft envelopes, pieces are small and I usually do them in several sizes over the years. My todo list boards on pinterest grows faster than my sewing speed, I stopped pin in it 🙂 I look now in my binders. Btw, if you need, already scanned burda technical drawings, I got a few, average 70 magazines + easy ones What do you think of the “test” feature on pinterest ? I used to post in it, but then I forgot (https://www.pinterest.fr/sewingaddicts/tried/)
Hila
November 13, 2018 9:06 amWow! Thanks for sharing your organisation approach. I havent tried the tes feature on Pinterest but I will check it out. My next stage is to follow in your plan of scanning the “styles at a glance” pages and file them digitally as well as physically. In time I hope to have a good organisation system too.