Sewing Patterns

[TexasAda]

You're a good seller, Noahslady. I've bought from you! Yes, it's an excellent idea to include a scan or closeup photo of the backside of the pattern envelope with the line drawings of the articles. The front side usually shows them made up in fabric that doesn't show the lines/construction of the pieces of the pattern.

[deltadelta48]

I have been moving all my sewing patterns from the dark side to my new store here on Ebid and have already listed over 700 so far. I agree that the categories are quite limited here on Ebid ( for now anyways ) and I have had a difficult time trying to decide which category would best suit some of the patterns.

What I have done though is made separate categories within my own store to help buyers with their selection : ie Ladies I have broken down into the pattern makers with other categories that also include full figure, wedding/formal attire and so on. I try to include all of the items that are within the pattern in the listings description as well. One thing that seems to have helped many of my customers is that I also scan the back of the patterns' envelope so they can shop for their fabrics before their pattern arrives and any of the other information that they may need.

I have over 6500 patterns to list here that have been/are running on my dark side store ( not including the multitude of others not scanned into the computer yet ) so this break down seems to have worked well over the last few years. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated as I want to make shopping a pleasant experience for all buyers Any specific categories you think may help I am more than happy to include them !

Maybe we can get some more categories into Ebid itself ? Of course - just a suggestion

Since we are proposing category changes, we might have to have this moved to the right thread? I don't know how to do that (help Kimbo)

I agree, and we have already proposed some changes to this category (sewing/embroidery) which would tie in with what you would like. Last month we discussed asking that embroidery and cross stitch be removed and given its own category. That clears room for your changes.

So if sewing was its own category, divided first into threads, patterns, etc, and further patterns were divided into women's men's kids, there would be room to divide women's up further into dresses, formal, sportwear, separates.

At present, there is no room for a sub sub sub catagory to divide women's patterns up in this way.

The logic of this is that women's patterns make up 75%+ of patterns sold by Simplicity, Butterick, etc. Yearly pattern books are basically all women's patterns with a little space for kids, men etc, So the companys divide the huge books by type of women's garment, i.e. sportwear, formal etc. This observation is supported by ebid's patterns which show more than 1000 in the women's section, much less in all others. In order for buyers to find a women's jacket pattern quickly, etc, they need sub categories much like the "tabs" on the pattern books.

(To make this division user friendly, it might be a good idea to divide the women's patterns into groups that match what the pattern companies use. This will be very familiar to buyers who sew).

Also, the fact that you are bringing thousands more patterns in, makes it important to restructure the category before it gets impossible to find anything.

I don't remember how they are divided, you or Ada know and can furnish this info.

The only addition I would like to see is a category under pattern for Vintage (very popular) and Reinactment wear (very popular too - new patterns of Civil War costumes etc). So these would be in addition to Womens, mens, home kids, etc.

[wist4patterns]

You're a good seller, Noahslady. I've bought from you! Yes, it's an excellent idea to include a scan or closeup photo of the backside of the pattern envelope with the line drawings of the articles. The front side usually shows them made up in fabric that doesn't show the lines/construction of the pieces of the pattern.

Thank you so much Ada Actually we can thank my hubby for this good idea - he hated watching me type out all the info from the back of the envelopes ( I was trying to save $ on picture hosting at the time ). I have had so many folks saying that they were able to shop for their fabrics before their patterns arrived and loved it when they hit up the sales as well. I am still trying to find a happy medium with this scanner to get the pictures the right size but alas - things don't always work like we would hope lol ...

[wist4patterns]

Hi All !
I just started a new category thread with your suggestions I don't know how well I did on it but alas every little bit helps lol ....

My own kids just shake their heads at the patterns piling up that I haven't gotten to but alas - they don't realize it yet but I am putting them to work over Christmas to help me scan some of them .... hehehehe ... evil Mom I am

So hopefully we can help the buyers out with their searches now with possibly more categories.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS !