Sunday 4 October 2015

Pattern organizing

I seem to have a problem with patterns (I know I'm not alone )

As my stash was growing I was finding it harder to control them so that I knew what I had and didn't end up with double's. I found a solution which I blogged about here
The problem I then found was that if I was out shopping I was never sure of how much fabric to purchase for a pattern or what notions were required.
My solution to this problem is a programme called Evernote.

I have been using evernote for a while now for other things and decided to start exploring it more and then realised I could use it as an effective sewing tool. It syncs between all my devices so no matter where I am I can access my patterns to see what fabric, etc is required.

Here is step by step of how I filed my patterns.

I have them stored differently to my physical patterns but can still find them easily thanks to tags.

In evernote you can have various notebooks, these then contain notes which you can then tag.
The below photo shows a list of all my notebooks to the left.



 The next picture shows my notes for each pattern brand in my main sewing patterns notebook


The last picture shows how I have a note for each separate pattern I have within each brand.
Each note contains a picture of both the front and back of the pattern envelope.
This includes tags so that I can search for items, eg dresses.

Now when I am out shopping and see a fabric I like I can easily search all my patterns to see if I have a suitable one.
An example - if I search for trousers it will show all my trouser patterns regardless of brand as they are tagged.
I can also add text to each picture so if I have made a particular pattern I add this information.

I am now planning on doing the same for all the fabric I own.


If you would like to try evernote for yourself please use this referral link, I get no money just more evernote space.
evernote referral


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