The immediate benefits of creating your own clothes are endless.
There is the sense of achievement that comes with piecing together a garment. And the process is ethically sound, allows you to add more intrinsic value to a piece, and, most importantly, is also fun and exciting.
Established by Joann Murray, Pipe Dream Patterns is based in Aberdeen and offers people the opportunity to whip up a fabulous garment – including dresses, jumpers, overalls, and more – in a matter of hours.
And despite working full-time in the oil and gas industry, the entrepreneur has excelled in growing her one-woman pattern-making brand.
“A lot of the time I feel like I design to fill a gap in my wardrobe,” Joann said. “And I’d say my designs generally have very simple construction techniques.
“Even as a sewist, I can fall prey to the ‘I have nothing to wear monster’ and I’d say most of my designs can be whipped up in a couple of hours maximum.
“I offer both digital patterns and paper patterns. The digital patterns can either be printed and pieced together at home or sent to a copy shop, and they will print and send you the larger files so you don’t have to piece it all together yourself.”
Joann has been sewing for around one decade as a hobby, before deciding to learn pattern cutting and create designs from scratch around three years ago.
The designer and pattern cutter says she started Pipe Dream Patterns “to have some fun” and learn and share what she had made with other sewists.
“Funnily enough, starting the business was a pipe dream and I never really thought I could do it,” she added. “That is where the pattern line name came from.
“In the beginning, I taught myself to sew clothing after picking up a Burda pattern in John Lewis and thought ‘how hard can it be’ – and my enthusiasm just grew from there.
“I’ve definitely been interested in pattern design since I started sewing.
“At that time, there weren’t many indie pattern designers, and the main sewing pattern brands tended to have very basic and unhelpful instructions, as well as having very outdated designs.
“I found myself modifying patterns greatly to achieve the looks I wanted but I knew that to really make the clothes I wanted to wear, I would need to grasp the foundations of pattern design myself, particularly for knit fabrics – which is primarily what I’ve started to design in (though I work with woven pattern designs as well).
“I love pattern cutting more than I like sewing. In fact, most of the things I make I will start a pattern from scratch rather than use an old pattern. There is always a new design to be found.”
The creative went on to take a course at the London College of Fashion to study Womenswear Pattern Cutting to improve her understanding and techniques. And since the start of 2018, she has developed a line-up of unique patterns.
Joann said: “I managed to release 10 patterns in one year after launching Pipe Dream Patterns, including a knitting pattern.
“Technically, I have released five since the start of 2019 as I have also been working on expanding my size range from UK 20 up to a UK 34. This task was challenging already without lockdown coming into effect.
“I don’t have any aspirations to be a fashion designer, I’m generally found in jeans and a big sweater but every now and again I do like to wear something not found on the high street or in online shops.
“That is the best thing about sewing your own clothes – they fit you and are unique to you. Very rarely would you purchase a sewing pattern to recreate the dress or blouse on the pattern packet. You want to make it your own.
“In many ways, one of the most fun things about sewing pattern design is customer participation. You often get to see how they have interpreted your base design to their own style and aesthetic.
“I think sewing pattern design inspiration is a difficult thing to quantify, as one of the other reasons I design and sew is to create garments that fit my body type – shopping ready-to-wear has never been fun for my figure, so the design process also has an element of fit practicality.
“Aside from the fit element, sometimes I am inspired by fabric that I have at home and I just know what I want it to be.”
Joann’s full-time role has impacted her abilities to commit time to more regular pattern design, particularly over the past 12 months as her pattern working space is now also a working from home space.
Nevertheless, the patterns she has developed to-date have received fantastic feedback. These can be ordered worldwide via the entrepreneur’s online store.
“My most popular items are definitely my Willow overalls and the Eilidh twist dress,” she said. “These are both available in inclusive sizing up to a UK 34.
“The Eilidh twist dress is probably my most fancy pattern and looks really complicated to sew, but is probably one of the easiest makes in my collection.
“Generally, when you purchase a sewing pattern you get more than one style, per individual pattern.
“The overalls pattern has a very exaggerated wide leg option and a more traditional slimmer cut leg option, and is cut in woven fabrics. They are also designed to be pulled on, so no fiddly fastenings or fixtures required – just fabric and thread.
“The Eilidh dress has an option to create a front twist dress or a back twist dress, which can be dressed up or down and is made in a knit fabric.
“My products can be purchased on my website. And while I don’t stock all my patterns in a paper format, I do sometimes organise printed copies for customers who enquire.
“Not everyone can print at home and others aren’t 100% comfortable with the print and tile at home assembly option.”
And having struggled with the challenges brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, Joann has been thankful for the people she has met throughout her business journey.
“I have met so many great people through the business and have recently collaborated on a new pattern with another designer based in Portland, Oregon,” she added.
“I designed, graded and sampled some patterns at the start of last year but during the lockdown, I reached out to her and asked if she wanted to take them as her own – freely offered – as I just felt like I didn’t have the energy to do it all anymore.
“Work was really stressful, we lost three members of our team, my workload showed no signs of slowing down, and to top it all off, my sewing space was now my work from home space.
“Managing the patterns on the side was just not an option and she agreed to take it on, but only if it was a collaboration because she didn’t want me to give up.
“Her name is Becky and she runs and operates Workhorse Patterns; she has been such a great friend and support to me since I started the business, so I was so happy to have her involved.
“She created the instruction pack based on my technicals and organised pattern testing and we released the new pattern at the start of February, a little more than a year after I originally design and graded it. This is crazy as I would normally turn around a whole pattern design in about two months.
“It was really hard to give over control like that but still be involved, because I am so used to doing everything myself. However, it was a lot of fun and a great way to see how another designer operates and runs their own development process.”
Looking ahead, Joann is excited about the prospect of launching more collaborations and growing the brand further.
She said: “There are a lot of lone woman operated sewing pattern companies around and this year has definitely seen more collaborations between others than previous years.
“It is great to see other designers reaching out to each other and supporting and uplifting each other, rather than competing because we are all facing difficult challenges and we all have our own skill sets and aesthetics to bring to the table.
“Maybe this year will see some more collaborations because I would be lying if I said I did not have a few designs in various states of progress dotted around my flat, it is just a case of finding the time and space.”
For more information on Pipe Dream Patterns or to place an order, visit www.pipedreampatterns.co.uk
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