I’m a tactile girl. Must feel the fabrics before purchasing. Always carry my favorite pens that I can’t write without. And I’m very picky about my sketchbooks: the ink can’t bleed, but the paper can’t be too heavy either.
So when I was writing the business plan for Oliver + S and doing all the research before launching the company, I was especially picky about the papers we’d be using for the patterns. In fact, I think I nearly drove a couple of printers wild with my requests. Couldn’t abide the yucky newsprint that most instructions sheets are printed on: it yellows and gets brittle and feels awful when you touch it. The ubiquitous flimsy pattern tissue was too whimpy and wrinkles and rips too easily.
But I’m not a big fan of heavy white paper for patterns, either. After all, if you need to flip a pattern piece to cut it, you can’t see through the paper to follow the cutting lines or transfer pattern markings to your fabric. What to do?
Well, how about a heavier-weight tissue paper? One that isn’t so light, doesn’t wrinkle as badly as the usual pattern-weight tissue, and generally feels more substantial than a typical pattern? Sounds (and feels) great to me!
Our tissue paper (the paper I love!) is too heavy for the folding equipment at the press, so every pattern tissue is folded by hand. Which takes a long time, of course. But I think the final product is worth the extra effort and expense. And it feels good when you touch it, too.