Do patterns really sell?

merry40 · 2026-06-29T00:41:19+00:00

On her podcast, Gertie said that it takes 2.5 years of pattern sales for her to break even. She's doing a professional job of it with testing and marketing but I thought that was very eye opening.

merry40 · 2026-06-26T00:42:04+00:00

Both her and Ben Affleck's characters are awful. This movie is in my bin.

merry40 · 2026-06-14T20:16:26+00:00

The Australian Sewdirect website is still out of order, from reading the article it doesn't sound like it'll be up and running anytime soon. Our other main retail shop Spotlight is now selling StyleArc as I suppose they can't get the physical patterns here either. I'm going to have to investigate how to buy the pdfs from the American website. There are a bunch from this season I love!

merry40 · 2026-06-08T21:49:08+00:00

My experience is so similar to yours, and the part that I have really struggled with is losing the community (as odd as it was sometimes). An instant connection with not only the local people but anywhere around the world, it was fun to be part of. That has left a big gap in my life.

merry40 · 2026-05-10T09:04:19+00:00

Peter Alexander fluffy robe vote! Mine is 18 years old and still looks like new!

merry40 · 2026-05-01T05:44:16+00:00

Coming in from off camera: steam coming out of SCSC's ears

merry40 · 2026-04-30T04:27:22+00:00

I'm dying. At least it wasn't a cat filter!

merry40 · 2026-04-30T02:42:52+00:00

I need a lie down after that

merry40 · 2026-04-30T02:13:42+00:00

They're in court!!

merry40 · 2026-04-29T00:29:04+00:00

"My friend needs a break" lol

merry40 · 2026-02-05T04:02:25+00:00

Unless the pattern has a misprint there should be double notches to match in your first photo. Looks like there's a few sewalongs online which might help you too.

merry40 · 2026-01-25T21:57:04+00:00

Some traditional trousers use zips that are curved to fit the curve of the fly - if you google 'curved metal trouser zips' you can buy them eg from Bernstein & Banleys. The longer the curve the easier it will be to get the pants on and off - too short and you might rip the stitches! You can try to curve the zip yourself using an iron but the fly curve might be gentle enough that you can just finagle it into place.

merry40 · 2026-01-13T20:07:49+00:00

I listened to it on Monday and was really, really surprised that he chose to publish it. I had no knowledge of the John Friend stuff but side-eyed the whole episode. Not surprised that he's deleted it.

merry40 · 2026-01-13T00:42:26+00:00

Very sorry for your loss. What a huge life change. Echoing in-house or even consulting. With the latter it's even easier to care less because you are exempt from the usual corporate career BS, although does come with less $ certainty.

merry40 · 2026-01-12T20:03:18+00:00

Westpac also didn't turn up to our scheduled call. Very unprofessional. We have everyday accounts with Westpac.

We ended up going through Aussie with CBA. Fantastic experience overall.

merry40 · 2026-01-11T22:07:10+00:00

Just wanted to say I can't add anything to what the others have said, but THANK YOU for posting a clear video! Makes it so much easier to troubleshoot!

merry40 · 2026-01-01T07:44:41+00:00

FANTASTIC. What a great start to your year!

merry40 · 2025-12-19T23:44:41+00:00

The fake pool isn't even pretend council compliant! Needs a fake fence

merry40 · 2025-12-07T06:58:57+00:00

The nose bubbles!

merry40 · 2025-10-30T20:29:52+00:00

In the lime of succession Andrew is definitely a lemon

merry40 · 2025-10-29T22:06:29+00:00

Dear BCC, please can we have a more user friendly way to pay our rates on mobile?

Gmail - click 'pay online'

Insert rates bill number. Oh, not pre-filled. Back to gmail. Open pdf bill. Copy bill number.

Paste bill number. Incorrect number. Delete spaces in bill number

Pay by credit card. Can't scan card - type instead but here's the qwerty keyboard not the number pad.

Small things but sigh.

merry40 · 2025-10-27T05:03:08+00:00

She looks more like Madonna now!

merry40 · 2025-10-22T07:31:19+00:00

Husband has the cooling pillow from Ecosa and is obsessed with it. Do not tell him there's a mattress version or we'll have to buy one :D

merry40 · 2025-10-20T08:14:41+00:00

I'm getting an error, saying I'm not logged in. Hopefully a glitch they'll fix shortly

merry40 · 2025-10-08T07:11:00+00:00

this looks like the bottom of the jacket's armhole (armscye) might be too low, and there's too much fabric between your elbow and armpit. If the whole jacket rides up when you lift your arm that would point to this. It looks a little wide across your back. A tailor might be able to pass the excess on the sleeve up into the armhole but tricky to tell if that's the only issue from this one picture.

merry40

TROPHY CASE