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[sewingj]

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[Francesca]

She's called Gertie, and she is not only the model but the designer of the patterns that she wears. It's part of her look, and what makes the patterns "Gertie".

As a tattooed, pierced, pink haired person I don't find them distracting but even so, they are not present on most of the pattern models just on Gertie's ones.

Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing

And after all, why not? Why not put dresses on someone with a bit of extra decoration? Someone who looks a little different from the norm. If you can't bear to buy a pattern because you saw a picture of it on someone with tattoos then that's your loss...

[sewingj]

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[Bodgeitandscarper]

I know it's all down to personal taste and choice, but I found it very distracting from the patterns.  But then I prefer to see the line drawings of the garments themselves rather than being put off by a model.

[Francesca]

The photos are nearly always designed to give the "idea" of what you could "be" if you made the garment, IMO. It's like a sort of life-style thing. And then the line drawings provide the real detail. It's part of her look, and she's very popular.

[UttaRetch]

She can't draft to save her life, though.  I did one of her coat patterns - shocking.

[Didi]

Don't like her tatto's and not keen on her patterns but all that I can put up with but..... chipped nail varnish on the photographs in her blog is just unforgivable   

[DementedFairy]

I used to like her blog...until she became 'big business'.  Her Craftsy course was notorious, and I never got round to finishing it, or using the pattern as I heard so many bad things about it.
I would be happy if all the companies went back to line drawings - some of them were gorgeous, and the photos always have something to annoy me lol
Vogue's ill fitting stuff with weird poses for instance.  [And Tilly's bloody pigeon toed smirking gah!]
A stylish drawing, and accurate line art are all I want or need.

[Francesca]

She can't draft to save her life, though.  I did one of her coat patterns - shocking.

Was it one of the McCalls ones? She doesn't draft the McCalls patterns, she's just a designer for those.

[datcat23]

I made a shirtwaister dress from one of her books ...... what a freaking disaster.  It would have fit my shoulders .... if I was a linebacker in full padding, for some american football team.  Now I am the first to admit that I was asking a lot of a dress design, to fit a 47 year old apple shape.  But to me it was a major design fault. 

As for the tattoo's ....... well its all personal taste really.  I see nothing wrong with them, and as others have said ..... before ruling out the design, perhaps look at the line drawing. 

[UttaRetch]

Was it one of the McCalls ones? She doesn't draft the McCalls patterns, she's just a designer for those.

No, it was



now out of print Butterick 5824.  I gave away my copy as I never wanted to see it again and I no longer have the coat I made either.

[BrendaP]

I even have a book of hers about mix and match dresses (bodices and skirts) and whilst I like her style I agree with you all about her fit.  I've never got on with Vogue's fit either, always too loose.

Re the tattoos - I do find them very distracting.  Trying to look at the cut of a dress only to have it 'extended' by clashing colours and mis-matched squiggly tattoo lines is not ideal.

I agree with DF that accurate line drawings are the most important part of a pattern envelope, but a photograph of a real model (albeit a skinny matchstick one) is is better than the impossibly thin models sketched on vintage patterns.

[DaisyChain]

Gertie’s was the first sewing blog I ever followed. TBO I think I was probably a bit of a fangirl. 

Naturally I bought her Craftsy course, Sew Retro: The Starlet Suit Jacket, which for me resulted in a waste of fabric and a huge dent in my sewing confidence. As DF said there were major drafting issues with her course pattern and of course as a relatively new sewer/sewist/whatever, I didn’t have the knowledge or experience to realise that my failure wasn’t entirely down to my crap sewing!

 I’ve also read very negative reviews of the actual patterns in her two extremely stylish books.

I am shocked that there were also drafting issues with her Butterick coat, (I seem to remember a very detailed sew along for this one on her blog???). I like Butterick as a pattern company and personally I’ve found their patterns to be well drafted, (can’t praise 6385 enough. Still can't quite believe that I MADE a coat!!!). I am surprised they didn’t use their own pattern cutters for anything bearing their name.

I think for some people Gertie is almost Tilly with tattoos!

[Francesca]

Butterick 5824.  I gave away my copy as I never wanted to see it again and I no longer have the coat I made either.

Ah I got the names mixed up. She didn't draft this, it's Butterick's draft.

[UttaRetch]

I bought her Craftsy course, Sew Retro: The Starlet Suit Jacket, which for me resulted in a waste of fabric and a huge dent in my sewing confidence.

I remember the stink about that.  Didn't she jump ship and people were left to fend for themselves?

Ah I got the names mixed up. She didn't draft this, it's Butterick's draft.

I didn't know this.  I wonder why she was allowed to put her name on the pattern sleeve?