It's been years in the dreaming, almost six months in the making, and I couldn't be giddier with excitement and pride to announce that our new printed patterns are finally here!
If you've been a long time follower of BHL, you'll know that when we launched our very first sewing patterns more than eight years ago, printed patterns were our thing. As well as an emphasis on exquisitely designed patterns, we wanted our packaging to be a thing of beauty in itself. Pastel coloured card, a durable, rigid structure designed to be displayed on a shelf like a proud collection of books, with unexpected details that really made them stand out from the crowd.
Fast forward eight and a half years, and the wonderful rollercoaster of highs, lows and learning curves that our business has been so far, and we're finally back in the world of print after having discontinued our original paper patterns back in 2015 and moving exclusively to PDF. If you fancy going down the BHL history rabbit hole to get a condensed snapshot of how our business has evolved, I've listed some key blog posts that tell our story at the bottom of this post ♥️
Our new and improved printed patterns still have some of our favourite features from the original patterns that we all loved - the sturdy book-like structure, a clean and contemporary design, pretty pastel colours - with some excellent new upgrades to make them even more functional and beautiful:
- The old slipcase is gone in favour of a new wrap around tab closure making the pattern easier to access and all the info you need at a glance on the back.
- Instead of printing on coloured card, we've cleaned up the design and gone for an off white card but added the splash of pastel colour that has always been our trademark to the fashion illustrations on the front cover and highlight headings throughout.
- To add a whimsically "designer" flourish, we went for an all-over logo print on the inside of the folder!
- Each size band (UK 6-24 & 16-34) has -and will always have- its own printed pattern!
Given the extensive library of sewing patterns that we have built up over the years, it simply wasn't financially possible to go all in and print them all. We decided to start by printing the three designs that we now have available in both size bands (UK 6-24 and 16-34) and the kids' patterns. Moving forward, all patterns we print will have both size bands available. As we go back through our existing patterns to update them with the new extended size band, that's when they will go into print. Most future pattern releases will be printed, with the exception of some simpler designs that will be PDF only. All of our patterns will still be available as PDFs; we are not discontinuing PDF patterns.
These are the patterns that are now available in print:
The printed patterns cost £16.50 each. If you want to buy both size bands of the same design, you'll find that option in the drop down menu for £30, saving you £3. Please pay close attention to the different options in the drop down menu on the product pages and make sure that you choose the right option for you:
You can also choose to have the price shown in GBP, CAD or USD. Please be aware that our website has been known to have a bit of a mind of itself and choose its own display currency (?!), but please rest assured that our prices are fixed in GBP, and you will be charged in your country's currency (according to real time exchange rates) when you get to checkout. Between you and me, I'm soooo over our current website which is in desperate need of a makeover! A shiny new site will be our next big investment and I can't WAIT!
We are slowly building back our network of wonderful stockists all over the world, so if you want to support your local haberdashery, please take a look through our updated stockists page to see if there are BHL patterns near you (please note that some of them might not have received their order yet due to varying shipping times, so if you can't find our patterns in their online stores just yet, please check back with them in a few days/week). If you don't see your local haberdashery in our stockists list, you could always drop them an email to let them know you'd love to see our patterns in their store! And if you are a shop owner and would like to carry our patterns, please drop us an email at help@byhandlondon.com and we'll get you set up with a brand new wholesale account :)
Before I wrap this up, I'd like to extend some huge and heartfelt thank yous to everyone who made this new chapter in our business possible: Jessica McNab, Eleanor Nichols, Anna Walker, the guys at Tadberry Evedale, Patrick Grant and every single one of you who has supported us along the way and gotten us to where we are today!
With love,
Elisalex
xxx
*
Our very first blog post introducing ourselves to the world (and our first short-lived logo!) - https://byhandlondon.com/blogs/by-hand-london/11628385-hello-nice-to-meet-you
Our first pattern launch! - https://byhandlondon.com/blogs/by-hand-london/11628417-by-hand-londons-very-first-collection & https://byhandlondon.com/blogs/by-hand-london/11628497-by-hand-london-is-live
The OG printed patterns - https://byhandlondon.com/blogs/by-hand-london/11628529-some-serious-paper-porn-aka-by-hand-packaging
The pattern that went cult: Anna dress launch! - https://byhandlondon.com/blogs/by-hand-london/11628741-we-have-a-new-sewing-pattern-please-say-hello-to-the-anna-dress
That time we launched a Kickstarter campaign for our on demand, custom print fabric service! - https://byhandlondon.com/blogs/by-hand-london/12802269-design-and-print-your-own-fabric-with-us
Aaaaaand when we tried really hard, but it ended up not working out - https://byhandlondon.com/blogs/by-hand-london/17991392-some-heavy-hearts-and-some-pretty-big-news-from-us
A renewed commitment to doing business better - https://byhandlondon.com/blogs/by-hand-london/how-were-going-to-do-business-better
Anna became our first pattern to get the extended sizing treatment - https://byhandlondon.com/blogs/by-hand-london/the-anna-dress-is-now-available-in-extended-d-cup-sizing
-
Elisalex de Castro Peake
Comments on this post (1)
So awesome that you have returned!. Cannot wait to make the Anna dress!
— Marsha Nikooforsat