One of the many unexpected benefits of designing craft and sewing patterns is that I end up questioning why I do things the way I do and pushing for better, clearer, simpler and cleaner solutions. The exercise of explaining a process to someone else, breaking it down into steps, highlights all sorts of imperfections, inefficiencies and details that complicate and don’t enhance significantly.
The little fabric boats had a detail like that – a detail I was very attached to, a detail that was difficult and time consuming to execute with consistency. I love these little boats and I’ve made tons of them over the years – it was nutty of me to put up with that sticky point for as long as I did.
The boats originally had a curve in the back – you can see it on the green boat above. I experimented with a bunch of adjustments to try to make it easier but nothing worked. As much as I liked that curve the difficulty did seem unreasonable. These boats are so sweet and fun, perfect unexpected presents and lovely as a group so I am determined that they be easy to make. And now they are. In the end I tried a simpler piece for the back you can see on the brown boat – no bend or curve. I ended up liking the simple shape better – much better. The more complicated back was nice and clever but didn’t REALLY add any charm to the design after all – I was just attached to it.
Look for the pattern in about a week – just in time for a spring regatta. And there will be a sample sale too – I’ve made a bunch of these little boats while working it all out. If you’d like to be notified by email when the pattern and boats are in the shop you can sign up here.
Ann, I understand the work that goes into designing a pattern – one that can be easily reproduced and simple yet still look elegant. Most important, you want the end user to have a positive result. It takes time and effort to design great patterns, and I think lots of folks don’t understand that. Your little boats are adorable! Thanks again for sharing your creativity with us.