{"id":57231,"date":"2016-09-13T10:03:51","date_gmt":"2016-09-13T14:03:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oliverands.com\/community\/?p=57231"},"modified":"2016-09-09T07:43:05","modified_gmt":"2016-09-09T11:43:05","slug":"a-different-way-to-become-a-designer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oliverands.com\/community\/blog\/2016\/09\/a-different-way-to-become-a-designer.html","title":{"rendered":"a different way to become a designer"},"content":{"rendered":"

The other day I started telling you about my journey to becoming a clothing and pattern designer<\/a>\u2014about how I decided to leave my job and return to school to learn how to make sewing patterns. I also mentioned that I would tell you more about the method I have found for teaching the patternmaking skills I use when I develop sewing patterns. Today I\u2019m going to do that.<\/p>\n

What we’re doing when we customize a pattern on the blog is essentially part of what professionally trained patternmakers do. All established apparel companies have a series of block patterns\u2014patterns that fit well and that have been successful for that company. It takes a lot of time and expertise to develop and grade patterns into their different sizes. But once a pattern is completed, it can become a block pattern and be altered in many different ways.<\/p>\n

A block pattern allows the patternmaker to develop new styles without having to start from scratch each time. After all, if you have something that fits well already, why not use it to develop other styles that also fit well? This helps to create a consistent fit for a brand.<\/p>\n

When they are working from block patterns, patternmakers are really just using their skills at customizing a pattern\u2014their block pattern. Once they have a block developed, they do riff after riff on that base style. Knowing how to customize all the major elements of a block pattern gives patternmakers the ability to develop almost any style they can imagine. Start with the block dress pattern but add a Peter Pan collar and pleats to the skirt. Voila! A new style is born. Does that make sense?<\/p>\n

\"pattern-1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

So here\u2019s what I realized. If I created a really good, high-quality block pattern for you, I could show you how to customize every aspect of it\u2014piece by piece, step by step. And if I did this in a really thorough way that included detailed sewing instructions as well, working through all the possible elements of the block and showing you how to customize each in multiple ways, you would be able to do what I had wanted to do when I first moved to New York, before I went to school to learn patternmaking. You could design your own garment, develop the pattern for it using that block pattern as the starting point, and then sew the finished style.<\/p>\n

So with this block pattern and set of customizing instructions, you would be able to design and make patterns of your very own\u2014in the same way that professional designers and patternmakers do\u2014without requiring years of study and experience. And without starting from scratch each time.<\/p>\n

Sound complicated? It\u2019s not really. I know you can do it because that\u2019s what we\u2019re doing all the time on the blog with our customizing tutorials.<\/p>\n

Since I really wanted to teach you these skills, and I could see from your responses to our tutorials and from the questions that you’ve been asking over the years, it made sense to put it all together into one big package. And the best package for it would be a book.<\/p>\n

But let’s stop for a minute and talk about craft books. Have you noticed that a lot of people write one and never write another? I’ll tell you why. Today, writing a craft book doesn’t make financial sense for the author. Most people write a book to help make their name or brand more visible. It’s sort of a calling card; if you’ve written a book you have a certain amount of cachet. People are impressed by book authors. You can do book signings and hold events and people will take you seriously. But in truth, authors make very little money from a craft book.<\/p>\n

It took about two years to write my first book<\/a>, from the time I started actually writing and drafting the patterns to the point where the book was finally finished and went to the printer. That doesn\u2019t include the time I spent conceptualizing the projects or marketing the book when it was released. The final book included 20 complete sewing patterns with detailed instructions for each. That\u2019s about five years of new Oliver + S patterns for us.<\/p>\n

Most books sold today are purchased on Amazon at a price well below the publisher\u2019s suggested retail price. And that discounting works its way all the way back to the author\u2019s wallet. Do you want to guess how much I make when a copy of Oliver + S Little Things to Sew<\/a> (suggested retail price of $27.50) is sold on Amazon? I’ll give you a minute to think about it. Close your eyes and come up with your best guess. Go ahead. I\u2019ll be here when you come back.<\/p>\n

\"muslin-3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

OK, I’m still here. What\u2019s your guess? Ten dollars? Five? Three? Nope. For each copy of my book that’s sold on Amazon, I earn 55 cents. That’s it. And that\u2019s not because Todd negotiated a lousy deal for me when we contracted with the publisher! Those are the standard economics of the book industry today. They still work out pretty well if you’re J.K. Rowling. But not if you’re writing a craft book.<\/p>\n

My first book sold relatively well, according to our publisher. At last report, we’ve sold about 20,000 copies. So if you do the math, like we did, you can see that there’s no way I could afford to write another book. Even if we had sold twice as many books the economics just don’t work. And as much as our publisher encouraged me over the years to write another book for them, Todd and I just couldn’t justify it. If it took two years to write the book, that would mean that I wouldn’t have the time to design many sewing patterns during that two-year period, but I would be working just as hard, if not harder. We can’t feed our family on what we could make from sales of a book. (And we don’t eat all that much, even including the ice cream.)<\/p>\n

But I really wanted to write this book. In fact, I obsessed over it for a long, long time. So finally we decided to go ahead and do it. Ourselves. Because that was the only way we could possibly make this project work.<\/p>\n

So for this new book we did everything: from writing and illustrating to photography, design, printing, and distribution. Just like we do for our sewing patterns. It was an exciting challenge for us to do it this way, but it also enabled us to justify writing another book because we are the publisher and we are able to earn that much more for each copy sold.<\/p>\n

But I\u2019ll be honest. It\u2019s scary to know that I’ve invested a couple years into this project and that we have committed to printing thousands of copies of this book before we’ve sold any of them. To a certain extent, we\u2019re putting the company on the line with this project. It\u2019s been two years of our time, and we\u2019ve invested a good deal of the company\u2019s finances in this project. But we love a good challenge, and we don\u2019t shy away from risks that we\u2019ve been able to evaluate intelligently.<\/p>\n

We felt so strongly about this concept, and about giving you the tools to become a designer yourself, that we decided it was worth it. And we\u2019re hoping that you agree.<\/p>\n

The result of all this work is a unique guide that will take you through every aspect of designing a dress, to altering the pattern, to sewing it. And it won\u2019t require you to quit your job and devote a year of study to be able to do it.<\/p>\n

I’ll show you how it all came together and what the final book looks like on Thursday. I can’t wait! Can you?<\/p>\n

Save<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Following up on her last post about her journey to becoming a pattern designer, Liesl returns to tell you about how she can help you follow that same path\u2014without committing to making a full career change.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":57282,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20687],"tags":[20736,66],"class_list":["post-57231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-building-block-dress","tag-customized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/oliverands.com\/community\/content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Post2Hero.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5jZS5-eT5","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11037,"url":"https:\/\/oliverands.com\/community\/blog\/2014\/05\/introducing-in-house-patterns.html","url_meta":{"origin":57231,"position":0},"title":"introducing in-house patterns","author":"Todd Gibson","date":"May 15, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Today we welcome Alexandra Morgan, the designer of the In-House Patterns line, who is here to introduce herself and her collection of patterns.","rel":"","context":"In "general post"","block_context":{"text":"general post","link":"https:\/\/oliverands.com\/community\/list\/general"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/oliverands.com\/community\/content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/OLV-IH-3005_1_Full%402x.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":67349,"url":"https:\/\/oliverands.com\/community\/blog\/2018\/11\/introducing-friday-pattern-company-sewing-patterns.html","url_meta":{"origin":57231,"position":1},"title":"introducing friday pattern company sewing patterns","author":"Todd Gibson","date":"November 1, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"We're pleased to introduce you to Friday Pattern Company patterns, designed by Chelsea Gurnoe. The complete line of styles is now available in the Oliver + S shop.","rel":"","context":"In "general post"","block_context":{"text":"general post","link":"https:\/\/oliverands.com\/community\/list\/general"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/oliverands.com\/community\/content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/FridayPatterns.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10901,"url":"https:\/\/oliverands.com\/community\/blog\/2014\/05\/free-sewing-patterns-for-spring.html","url_meta":{"origin":57231,"position":2},"title":"free sewing patterns for spring","author":"Liesl Gibson","date":"May 1, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Now that warmer weather is arriving, it's time to start thinking about spring sewing. Here are some free sewing patterns you can use to get a jump on the season.","rel":"","context":"In "general post"","block_context":{"text":"general post","link":"https:\/\/oliverands.com\/community\/list\/general"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/oliverands.com\/community\/content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Popover.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5880,"url":"https:\/\/oliverands.com\/community\/blog\/2013\/03\/introducing-grainline-studio-patterns.html","url_meta":{"origin":57231,"position":3},"title":"introducing grainline studio patterns","author":"Todd Gibson","date":"March 4, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"We\u2019re happy to announce that we are now carrying the complete Grainline Studio line of digital patterns in the Oliver + S shop. To launch the collection, we asked Jen Beeman, creator of the brand, to write a short guest post introducing herself and her work. Hi all! My name\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "general post"","block_context":{"text":"general post","link":"https:\/\/oliverands.com\/community\/list\/general"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/oliverands.com\/community\/content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/JB-Grainline.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":47,"url":"https:\/\/oliverands.com\/community\/blog\/2009\/09\/new-patterns-now-available.html","url_meta":{"origin":57231,"position":4},"title":"new patterns now available","author":"Todd Gibson","date":"September 8, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"The wait is over! Our two new styles--the School Days Jacket and Coat and the Jump Rope Dress--are now available for purchase on our website.The positive responses are already coming in. The School Days Jacket and Coat is the Sewing Examiner's pattern pick of the week (\"Designer Liesl Gibson and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "general post"","block_context":{"text":"general post","link":"https:\/\/oliverands.com\/community\/list\/general"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/oliverands.com\/community\/content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Fall09Patterns-748512.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":62023,"url":"https:\/\/oliverands.com\/community\/blog\/2017\/07\/introducing-sew-house-seven-patterns-by-peggy-mead.html","url_meta":{"origin":57231,"position":5},"title":"introducing sew house seven patterns by Peggy Mead","author":"Todd Gibson","date":"July 12, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Introducing Sew House Seven, digital sewing patterns for women\u2019s apparel by Peggy Mead. 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