Pattern Rescue
I'm not sure if you've heard of Pattern Rescue, but just in case you haven't, I wanted to say a quick word about it. These folks collect and GIVE AWAY sewing patterns, many of which are vintage patterns. FOR FREE! And if you donate a bit of money (like, the cost of postage, or more if you can), or send in patterns you no longer want, you get to select more free patterns as they get posted!
From what I can tell, they started off as a sort of swap site for vintage patterns. That's actually where I picked up these two patterns, which are part of my One Of Everything project;
Also, if you have a vintage pattern with pieces missing, they'll help you locate your missing pieces, or find another person with that same pattern who would be willing to trace your missing piece from their complete pattern!
They do other perfectly nice things as well, so I strongly suggest that if you have a minute, you should check them out at http://www.patternrescue.com/.
You know, recently, on another blog with a large following (y'all know which one), there was a huge kerfuffle between a much-respected sewing blogger and a...well, troll, I guess, for lack of a better word. Essentially, it's this troll's person's belief that there is a vast sewing conspiracy, and that all sewing blogs are maintained by one single minion of those evil fabric corporations. My sewing conspiracy name, by the way, is Kiki Caswell, but my cape is at the cleaners right now, so it's just me and my platform boots posting today.
There were a few pretty pointy digs about the mutual supportiveness of the sewing community at large - essentially, it appears that we're all a bunch of phony, sappy morons; a pack of stupid lemmings. Aye caramba! This actually led me to nearly post a crazy, rambling rant about people who don't like to see other people happy. Thankfully, I refuse to publish angry posts without a day to cool down, so y'all dodged a bullet, there.
If we're all a bunch of sappy, moronic lemmings because we enjoy being kind to one another rather than electing to be nasty and waspish all the time, then I'm a lemming, and I'm okay with that. I'm nasty and waspish enough in my non-sewing life; I'm terribly glad to have e-met you and all the others whose blogs I stalk regularly.
In any case, as far as I'm concerned, Pattern Rescue, the vintage pattern wiki, Pattern Review, and many other great community sites, embody the essence about what's so great about the sewing community. Because I'm so new to the community, I'm sure there are a lot of sites I'm missing? Any suggestions from my readers? Uh...reader, maybe? :)
Labels: great deals, rant
Darn it! I always miss all the goss.
I like the fact the majority of us in the Great Sewing Conspiracy are sappy, nice, and (gasp) friendly people. If we ever win Lotto and get to do the whole world trip, I know I can count on fabric shopping buddies wherever I go. But we'll have to charter a plane to bring back all the purchases, lol.