Reaching for Perfection

1404 Snugfit Carol Dress - View 4 Peplum top
Look out for it soon.

I am a perfectionist. This doesn't mean that everything I do is perfect but it does mean that I can't let something alone until it meets my standards. This is how I feel about the doll clothes patterns I am making to sell.
When I decided to create them to sell, my aim was to make something that I wanted and couldn't find in the market place.
With a few patterns under my belt I realise that there are a few improvements I can make to make them more user friendly i.e. easier for me to use. My aim is to create something that if I was buying it I would say "Wow! This is great value for money, so nice to look at and easy to use and the garment I made fits perfectly. I will be making this again. I'll be happy to buy more patterns from this person."

So far I have only been able to say that about the doll knitting patterns I have bought and the applique quilt patterns I have bought.

What improvements am I making?

For starters I have come to realise that even though I don't particularly like photos in the instructions - I prefer diagrams - people younger than me who have grown up with photo and video tutorials seem to like photos better. Rather than make it all photos or all diagrams I have decided to make an extra gallery of photos that cover every step and include them in an iBooks book along with my regular instructions. iBooks can only be read in an iPad but that's OK with me. I love the iPad and wouldn't use any other tablet.

Since playing with iBooks Author I can see that all my pattern instruction pages need to be landscape so they look great on the iPad or any tablet.

My Ipad stand works best when the iPad is sideways. So now I am making my next pattern as a landscape PDF. It will still have all the great features that I do in portrait such as the pattern pieces and the envelope and the divider page for your file folder. Just the instruction pages are landscape.

There is not too much colour. Just enough to define the chapters and sections so it still looks great printed out.

Each page is identified so if you find a stray one on your cutting table you will know where it goes.

I can't do much about my photography until I can get out the good camera and tripod (after I move house) but I am going to enrol in a Craftsy online class on photography to help me improve my photos. I have put a link to the class in my sidebar. I haven't bought it yet but I will let you know what it is like soon.

Because I need to update my earlier patterns to the new format and tweek the instructions a bit I have decided to update them all around the end of November. If you have already bought one you automatically get the update to download in your Craftsy pattern library. If there are more improvements I will update again 3 months later. 

Have a look in my Craftsy shop. The Witch and Princess outfits pattern is only $1.00 USD for the month of October, then it goes up to $1.50.

Visit valspierssews's Craftsy Pattern Store »

If you like the iPad stand. See my blog post and a link to the tutorial.

Cheers,

Val