For many sewers, choosing paper patterns from one of Simplicity McCall’s ‘big four’ brands was an in-store ritual. But others say digital patterns are the way of the future
Decades ago, in the hallowed days before the internet, sewers would walk into a haberdashery store, pick a paper pattern labelled Vogue, Simplicity or McCall’s, figure out how much material they needed and head over to the fabric department to choose something they liked. It was a careful in-store ritual for sewers contemplating their next project, and especially for those who were beginning their sewing journey.
“That was my process when I started sewing, which was a while ago now,” says Michelle Sanger of Melbourne. “It used to be a big investment and you would choose carefully based on what you could afford.”