Pattern Testers make the world go'round

Lots of people make patterns, just take a look at Etsy to see how many indie pattern designers there are.
What sets apart a Good pattern from a GREAT pattern is how finished the pattern is, not just the design or the photos of the finished project, but the way it is written and illustrated. How well do the pattern pieces fit together, did it run true to size, any confusing steps?
Those are the things that a pattern designer will learn when they send their patterns out to testers.

What is a tester supposed to do?
READ the pattern, typos are always an issue, and sometimes a construction step will get lost in the writing process.

Rose Clearfield has this to say about proofreading:

Proofread and spell check. Again, it saddens me that I have include this, but I have seen published patterns with red underlined misspelled words on the covers. Check and re-check your pattern and then have at least one other person proof it for you. If no one at home is interested in doing this, see if you can send it online to a fellow crafter.
Varied readers. When I was writing my first pattern, I found it really helpful to have both people who do and do not make that particular craft (in this case, beadweaving) read over my pattern. Especially if you are creating a pattern that is suited for beginners, it's really important to ensure that the terminology that you use is appropriate and will not be confusing.

SEW up the pattern, especially if it is a garment patterns, as it needs to be tested on a variety of body shapes.

So what I am looking for? at this point ANYONE with ANY interest including but not limited to:

• Modern Clothing for Women and Children
• Historical Clothing for Women and Children
• Corsets
• Soft Toys and Dolls
• Art Dolls
• Accessories and other Crafts

Interested?
 
SIGN UP HERE

When I have a pattern ready for testing I will send out an e-mail with information on the pattern and a form to be filled out to apply to test the pattern. Then I will e-mail back those I selected to test it out.


Links of interest on this subject
Colette on how their patterns are made

Abby Glassenberg on How to recruit, manage and get the most out of pattern testers

Patchwork Posse wrote a lovely post on  requirements for pattern testers

Charming Doodle invited a few other PDF clothing pattern designers to talk about pattern testing and what makes a good pattern tester.

Elegence & Elephants wrote a lovely scale for the levels of their pattern testers experience when they called for pattern testers


*I have a small list of people already who are my readers only, so I really am looking for people to MAKE these items up.

I am not just doing it for you,

I am not making this just because you asked,
I am not helping you with this project just because you are my friend,
Nor will I help you in the hope that you will help me, or other karma,
I do not drop what ever I am doing, to help you look for that reference for your research just because you need it,
I do not enter challenges just for the prize,
I will not write about that topic just because you want to read it,
I am not doing this just because you asked.

I do it because I want to.
I do it for the Challenge.
I do it because I see it helping me in some small way.
I do it for the benefits that may come later.
I do it because it inspires me.

This post brought to you by my children's birthday gifts I am working on.

Embroidering eyes

Fabric is a pink zebra polar fleece, I drew the eyes on white cotton, colored them in with fabric markers (didn't have purple, so I used red) and then started stitching it down, cutting around 1/8" and turning under as I worked.

Welcome April!

I know I am a bit late on my wrap up post for March, My children are on Spring Break and that has changed my daily schedule.
The weather is unusually warm and so we had a lovely egg hunt in the backyard on Sunday.

The early part of March I spent sick, this germ is a persistent one, as I feel it has not left me fully.

I wrote a book review on a Teddy Bear Making book, and I uploaded an edited review to Amazon.

I have been spending time on personal enrichment, well it isn't ALL personal, I am reading and taking classes to help me further my goals, the whole reason why I have this blog: to bring Corsetra Designs into a fully functioning state.
During this I was so inspired by Huge Macleod's How to Be Creative, that I shared it with you.

As I mentioned in my wrap up post for February I was going to be rearranging my work spaces, well I did that, but not good enough for pictures. This moving of my computer desk prompted me to blog about how I store my patterns.

I also have rearranged other areas of my living quarters, in fact I spent all of yesterday cleaning one of my children's play areas on one of the levels of this house. (they have 3 play areas, not including the bedroom.)
To this extent I did some personal sewing, I made curtains to go around my bed.

I STILL have more cleaning and rearranging to do in my living quarters, and some sewing to do for this organization.
Spring is here, so enjoy the warmer weather and growing things.