Why I Stopped Publishing New Sewing Patterns + ARIA Pattern Review

In September of 2016, I released my first 3 sewing patterns and by August of 2017, I had published  4 more. In between, I had also released 2 sloper/block patterns. Then nothing, no new pattern till now (February of 2021). 

What happened you may be wondering? Well, I started working on a clothing line in the latter part of 2017 and released a ready-to-wear clothing collection named under the brand name "Simplitude" in about May of 2018. You can view pictures of this collection on the Simplitude Instagram and Facebook accounts. This took a lot of my time, energy, and efforts so I couldn't work on releasing new sewing patterns. Also, I was not selling enough sewing patterns to make a decent income. My marketing skills, especially social media skills were not (and still not) all that.

  While hundreds of my sewing patterns have been downloaded either for free here or purchased on my Etsy store or Makerist shop, I hardly ever get to see what others have made from my sewing patterns. I hardly ever get any kind of review/feedback whether positive or negative. I was simply discouraged. I had pulled down my e-commerce website partly because of this and because I couldn't accept international payments with the existing payment platforms available to me at the time ( and even now).

So I was ecstatic to read and watch a review of one of my sewing patterns by Keira of @islandsewcialist. You can read the review here on her blog. I will also be embedding her Youtube review below. Her review made me realize that my sewing patterns are actually okay but I have to work more on showcasing my sewing patterns. In the past when I was active on social media, I used Facebook now I know Instagram is the place to be especially for makers.  

With the ongoing #BHMPatterndesigners challenge, I have seen another make of one of my sewing patterns, the Daisy shirt pattern by @crystalsewandstuff and I hope to see a few more from other makers on Instagram this February.

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If you have used any of my sewing patterns, I would love to get your feedback and see what you have made. You can leave a review (on Etsy or Makerist.com) and/or tag me @sewexplicit on Instagram.

This year, I would like to release new patterns, I am working on enlarging my size range to go up to a bust 56" (from the current 46") and also offer different cup sizes. May God help me!

All of my patterns are still on sale till the last day of February in the store. Use this link to get 30% off.