The Sewing Place

How much do you pay for patterns

sewmuchmore

How much do you pay for patterns
« on: February 14, 2018, 17:50:02 PM »
After reading How Much started by Efemera I thought I would follow that by asking "what is the most you have every paid for a pattern?"
Before the days of 'tinternet when the only way you could get Vogue patterns was to order them from the sewing shop (and then wait 3 weeks for delivery) I would regularly pay £15, but remember this was 30 years ago so it was a lot of money. Considering Vogue are still roughly the same amount now you could look upon it that are a bargain. These days I wait for the half price sales.
I suppose my dearest patterns are the Grainline ones, they never seem to be reduced, and these are £15 + pp
It's not easy being this perfekt

Janet

Tamnymore

Re: How much do you pay for patterns
« Reply #1 on: February 14, 2018, 18:53:59 PM »
I don't think I've ever paid full price for a Vogue pattern. It would take an emergency for me to part with £15 for one of these. I may have paid full price (i.e. a Simplicity or Butterick or the like) but not recently and not often, oh except one time when I ordered some sale price patterns from the USA and had to pay customs charges on them. It only took them up to the equivalent of UK full price though and I'm much more clued up about customs charges now.

I've recently paid about a tenner or so for a Lisette pattern and about the same (maybe a little more) on a couple of paper Stylearcs. I'm waiting for the next Butterick sale and am also waiting for the new Simplicitys to arrive in the UK and go on sale half price.
'One should either be a work of art, or wear a work of art.' Oscar Wilde

UttaRetch

Re: How much do you pay for patterns
« Reply #2 on: February 14, 2018, 19:36:28 PM »
Vogue is my preferred for which I paid full price, but I started buying only when the sales came around.  I have some Buttericks and McCall's, again bought in the sale, but they are much cheaper to begin with than Vogue's, so I have paid as little as £3.25 for some sale items.  I have this



from 1983 bought at Liberty's, but no idea of what it cost.

Efemera

Re: How much do you pay for patterns
« Reply #3 on: February 14, 2018, 19:48:24 PM »
I’ve just paid £15 for that bucket coat pattern...that’s the most I’ve ever paid....and won’t be paying it again.

Greybird

Re: How much do you pay for patterns
« Reply #4 on: February 14, 2018, 20:09:16 PM »
I have also paid £15 for the bucket coat pattern, but usually I get patterns from Sewdirect which makes them much cheaper.

sewingj

Re: How much do you pay for patterns
« Reply #5 on: February 14, 2018, 20:17:01 PM »
When I was young (many many years ago) I made my own clothes purely to save money and one of the reasons I stopped was because the patterns were costing more money than a ready made garment.  These days my sewing is more of a hobby and, within reason, the cost of the pattern and the fabric isn`t so important.  (I reckon lots of other hobbies would cost a darn sight more!)

Having said that, I do mainly buy when SewDirect has a sale and I especially like the ones  when everything is half price and there is no delivery charge

Tamnymore

Re: How much do you pay for patterns
« Reply #6 on: February 14, 2018, 22:56:52 PM »
I should also say that I regularly pay 20p per pattern in a local charity shop and 50p per pattern in a charity shop in Edinburgh. I think that's too cheap actually. I do sometimes do an inverse haggle in a charity shop and give them more than they ask for. I should do that more often.
'One should either be a work of art, or wear a work of art.' Oscar Wilde

Lollipop

Re: How much do you pay for patterns
« Reply #7 on: February 15, 2018, 01:07:15 AM »
I try to get patterns when they are cheap but have just bought a couple of 'indie' patterns at £15 each.

The tutu patterns that I use cost about £25 per size!!! And the instructions are not included, they cost about the same but obviously are only bought once. I really must learn to draft my own.
Was Sewnanny

mudcat

Re: How much do you pay for patterns
« Reply #8 on: February 15, 2018, 03:44:58 AM »
The most expensive pattern I've purchased in recent times was a Sewing Workshop one at $23/£17 so to sell one at £27 seems a little too high to me even with shipping and such.  Back in the early eBay days when it was primarily an auction site I once sold an OOP Folkwear pattern for over $100/£72.  I was shocked someone would pay that much for it.

I buy designer Vogues only when they are on sale here in the states because I make very few of them.  For me they are eye candy.  Mostly I buy StyleArc which can be spendy too but they are the type I end up making multiples of so it feels like a better deal over time.  I actually like the StyleArc model because the pricing seems to be based on how many pieces and/or how complicated the pattern is. 

I would like to buy a couple of the Trend patterns but I'm not sure if I ever will at £30 a pop (or £20 for PDF with 60 pages! ... no thanks).

justpottering

Re: How much do you pay for patterns
« Reply #9 on: February 15, 2018, 07:31:56 AM »
The most I've paid is around £8 it would have to be a just have for me to pay more although to be fair I do get my money's worth usually making several versions if I like it I tend to stick with what I like and what I know works for me

I don't do posh patterns and am happy with all the common makes, and I know enough to make it be what I want it to be even if it needs hacking
I also have loads of free patterns some good some rubbish but keep them to use if asked to make something for someone else and need a base starting point to play about with
« Last Edit: February 15, 2018, 07:34:02 AM by justpottering »
JP
Dressmaker - but first......tea

Efemera

Re: How much do you pay for patterns
« Reply #10 on: February 15, 2018, 08:37:50 AM »
I’d not heard of Trend patterns... all I can say is that they’re having a laugh!..WTF is this
Badly designed, badly sewn and just fugly!

b15erk

Re: How much do you pay for patterns
« Reply #11 on: February 15, 2018, 08:59:30 AM »
I think that would have been considered over the top even in the flower power/hippy days Effie!  Pretty grim.  But, someone somewhere will love it!

I rarely pay full price for a pattern, I get them when they are on offer, or free if I can.  My local fabric shop was selling off some old stuff at £1 a go, so I bought quite a few of those.  I've also used Facebook quite a bit lately, and had some good swaps.

Jessie

Jessie, who is very happy to be here!!  :),  but who has far too many sewing machines to be healthy, and a fabric stash which is becoming embarrassing.

Roger

Re: How much do you pay for patterns
« Reply #12 on: February 15, 2018, 16:03:29 PM »
Blimey Effie! That put the wind up me :) like a cross between 80s Laura Ashley and a bed skirt... (the thing that goes over the base an has like a skirt to the ground)

I tend to get patterns on eBay... I stick them in my watch list and keep an eye on the price... I’ve seen them go from 15- 4.95 with free PnP.
A bit of a vintage sewing machine nut! Singers: 500a, 401g, 48k Elnas: lotus SP & grasshopper, Bernina 530-2 F+R 504, Pfaff 30, Cresta T-132

Sewingsue

Re: How much do you pay for patterns
« Reply #13 on: February 15, 2018, 16:11:58 PM »
OTT for Laura Ashley, more like a mutated valance or I could imagine old fashioned curtains and pelmet.
Bernina Aurora 440QE, Brother BC-2500, Singer 99K (1938), Juki MO-654DE overlocker, Silver Viscount 620D overlocker.

Tamnymore

Re: How much do you pay for patterns
« Reply #14 on: February 15, 2018, 17:00:26 PM »
Or 1970s Laura Ashley on acid!
'One should either be a work of art, or wear a work of art.' Oscar Wilde