Inside the Messy Middle of a Pattern Release

In April, I’m (hopefully) releasing my next sewing pattern: the Tyri Tie-Neck Blouse. It’s my first pattern since October 2024, when I released the Vide Knit Pants, and I’m still working on the Tyri as I write this.

I find that sharing the messy middle of a process is often more interesting than the finished story wrapped up neatly at the end, so this post is just that, a look inside the work while it’s still happening.

The story behind the pattern

If you’ve followed my work for a while, you’ll have noticed a theme in my sewing patterns: they’re all designed for knit fabrics. That’s a deliberate creative constraint, at least for now. I find limitations helpful, allowing me to explore how I can push the designs within these boundaries.

What I’m especially drawn to is designing elevated knits. Garments that go beyond the basics, that feel considered and a little unexpected, but that still have the comfort and stretch of jersey. It’s what I love to sew and wear myself, and it feels like an underserved corner of the indie pattern world.

With Tyri, the starting point was a specific question: could the classic tie-neck (pussy bow) blouse, traditionally a woven style, be translated into something made entirely from soft jersey? And the result of those explorations is what I’m currently putting together.

Making the fit

Another reason I keep coming back to knit fabrics is fit. Stretch is forgiving in the best possible way, it accommodates the body rather than demanding the body accommodate it.

The Tyri is based on the Gurli Top sloper, which means the drafting and grading start from a solid foundation rather than from scratch. The Tyri bodice is also partly inspired by my best-selling style back in the days when I ran a made-to-order shop on Etsy. I offered that style in a large size range, so I know from customer feedback how well this shape works.

Which brings me to another topic…

The choice not to use pattern testers

Using pattern testers is popular in the sewing community, and I’ve done this myself too. But these days, I rely on making samples in specific sizes and trying them on fit models instead, for a few reasons I want to be transparent about.

For one, I don’t want to rely on free labour or the sometimes unspoken expectations that tend to come with this system (is it actual testing, marketing or both?) And then there’s the regulatory side of things, which I think is more complicated than most people realise.

Pattern testing the traditional way would almost certainly break some of the marketing and taxation regulations we have here in Sweden. And from what I can tell, it’s similarly tricky in many other countries. Social media posts by testers would need to be labelled as ads (they are classified as paid marketing, since something of value was exchanged), and the free pattern would technically count as taxable income for the tester. Just to mention some of the regularitor complications, apart from the ethical ones.  

Now, as I said, I have done pattern testing myself in the past, and I’m not passing judgment in any way. But as a former journalist who is at least trying to do be on the right side of things, I just don’t feel comfortable doing pattern testing that is not paid and properly set up with clear expectations. 

Obsessing over the instructions

Every pattern I design comes with its own set of challenges — or, as I prefer to think of them, delicious problems. With the Tyri, fit and shape came together relatively easily. The real puzzle was the construction: Tyri has a more intricate assembly method than most basic knit styles, and it’s designed for soft, drapey knits, which, as anyone who has wrestled with those fabrics knows, brings its own particular “joys”.

So I went deep and made multiple samples before I finally landed on the right techniques and the right sequence to put it all together with ease. Now the instructions are super solid (plus there will be a cool video component too!) 

I like to think of Tyri as a stitch-and-learn pattern: you’ll finish with a beautiful, refined knit blouse, and you’ll also come away with a handful of new techniques that will serve you well beyond this project.

Where I am right now

This week I’m finishing the instructions. Then I have to format all the sizes and create layered PDFs for A4/Letter, copyshop and projector files. Then there’s the sew-along to write, videos to edit, etc., etc. Not to mention all the general background hum of actually running a business that will take time away from the pattern work. Writing it all out like this, I’m not entirely sure I’ll be ready for a mid-April launch, but I’m going to try!

One thing that is done, though, and done beautifully: the photo shoot. My friend and studio colleague Oskar took the pictures a few weeks ago, and my boyfriend was drafted in as assistant stylist. We had a really fun afternoon! And I’m sure the candy I provided helped with the mood too!

And looking at the images now, I feel like something clicked aesthetically. This is the visual direction I want for the brand going forward, so hopefully it won’t be another 1.5 years until I release my next pattern!