The Sisterhood of the Traveling Halter Tops

Is this pattern magical? It says ONE SIZE, but please note: it does not say, "One size fits all", or "One top to rule them all", it just states: ONE SIZE.

At first I wondered, maybe it has additional pattern pieces included, because I know from living in the material world that not all women are the same ONE SIZE, no matter what clothing manufacturers and fashion magazines might think.

But no. There is ONE MAJOR PATTERN PIECE in ONE SIZE.
Then I realized that this must be from Simplicity's "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" Collection.
It's for stretch knits only.Magical stretch knits.
Imagine the practicality of having a pattern that truly was ONE SIZE - whatever size you were.
My guess is that this was left accidentally from a person from a parallel universe where either everyone is ONE SIZE or their patterns magically fit everyone.

Perchance to Dream

Our friends at Simplicity think that we are either getting very sleepy or that all that we require for our fall wardrobe sewing projects are Pajamas. Twelve Pajama Patterns!
I blame myself. Earlier this year I made a list of sewing projects, and one of my projects was Make Pajamas.  Simplicity must have  misunderstood and thought that I wanted to make nothing BUT pajamas. Of course, with the world becoming much more casual, Simplicity might think that pajamas are all we need.
It is a little known fact among sewists that you do not really even need a pajama pattern at all. Anything can be pajamas. Basically they are nothing more than loosely fitting pants, a T shirt top or a basic shirt. My kids wear their pajamas all the time when they are home. I've seen teenagers wearing them to school, and my daughter reported seeing people, both men and women, wearing them around campus when she was in college.
I hate to buy pajamas because they are so easy to make, but I seldom make them because they are so simple that they are boring. Therefore my existing pajamas had become somewhat threadbare. I've made three pairs this summer, two for Mr. Hunting Creek ( I had to surreptitiously seize and destroy some of his old ones) and one for myself. I dd not use an official Pajama Pattern; instead, I used an elastic waist pants pattern that I designated Pajamas, by virtue of using classic car fabric for Mr. Hunting Creek and a pretty paisley cotton print for mine.They are are boring to make, yet so amazingly useful.Like the potholders, lap quilts and pillowcases I sometimes make, these get used all the time. (there's a message there somewhere about utilitarian sewing,but I am willfully ignoring it. I like to have fun in the sewing room. I like a challenge. Pajamas are not remotely challenging to make .Not even silk ones.)
So why did did Simplicity make the majority of their fall patterns "loungewear"?
Is it because many new sewists don't really know how to sew anything more complicated? Are they dumbing down their offerings? Do they think that all we want to make for fall is sleepwear?
If I could tell them what I'd like, my fantasy sewing list would include a chic winter coat, a stylish jacket, cute, different t shirts that remind me of the stuff at Anthropologie and J Crew, a dress or two and a nice men's shirt and pants pattern. Is that too much to ask?
Instead all I get is pajamas..Thank goodness for Independent Designers.
What would be on your fantasy sewing list, if you could have any pattern you wanted? I'm betting it's not pajamas.

New Favorite Pattern

Normally, I'm not a sucker for cute, but this one was too cute. Reader, I bought it.
I imagined a teeny tiny clothesline along the wall of my sewing room with little bitty clothespins holding the eensy weensy aprons.
Simplicity should made super small versions of all of their patterns. It would make great art!

'Tis a gift to be simple

Would it be churlish of me to say that I really dislike, nay, HATE is not too strong a word; I hate Simplicity's new website. The way the patterns are displayed is counter intuitive. The What's New section has everything all mixed together regardless of category, so I have to wade through the costumes and kid clothes to see the new women's clothes. And what happened to the line drawings? I used to display the line drawings and the back of the envelopes to decide if I wanted a pattern or not. Now I can't find those - if they are even still there they are well hidden.
Also the website is clunky, and it has so much going on it takes forever to move on to next thing. I used to like looking through the old site and deciding what new patterns I needed. It was quick and easy! SIGH - I liked the way it was before!
What say you, fellow sewistas? Do you like the new website? Or do we have to go back to looking at the books of patterns in the fabric store?

Fitting Issues

I love old patterns for both the actual patterns and also the anthropological aspects. Here we have the primary sources of an era, so to speak, with the attitudes of that time frozen for a moment and laid out before us. Who can not look at this lovely tableau and not know that women of that time were deeply concerned with their weight and appearance? (as my history professors would say, the more things change the more they stay the same). Whenever I read a statement that says, "Oh women in the 50's were lucky, they could have shapely figures," I want to laugh hysterically and point out that these are the people who brought you the girdle.
I have been thinking about weight and sizes recently because I have lost weight and now none of my clothes fit. And I was whining to a friend about how now I have to resolve all of my fitting issues all over again and how lucky she was that she was such a small size and could just buy off the rack. (every time I am in Banana Republic, it seems like all the cool stuff is in size 6. C. says whenever she is there, everything is size 14.) She quickly set me straight. She said that even though she is a small size, nothing fits her in RTW either. And my former boss, who is tall and slender (and looks like Malibu Barbie) also revealed that she has the same problem.
(So if these clothes fit no one, who buys them? A puzzlement. I am so glad I know how to sew.)
We discussed our sewing fitting challenges and it was a revelation to me that every single woman I know who sews had the same challenges. Even tall skinny people have fitting issues? I guess we are all in the same boat.
In my fantasy RTW design company, all of the clothes would come in every size. There would be no size apartheid as practiced now. The poor plus size people and petite people would not be made to feel like social outcasts. And the blouses and dresses would also be available in ABCD and DD cup sizes.
Oh yes, and while I am fantasizing, all of the patterns would come with these adjustments as well.

Simplicity made me cross recently by printing a super cute dress pattern without the bust adjusted bodices. They have a whole line of patterns with them. IMHO, all patterns should come that way. And this dress is so cute, but the way that the bodice is constructed it looks like it will be a Rubik's cube puzzle to figure out how to upgrade, so to speak, to a D cup. (Also they changed their website and no longer feature the complete line drawings. Grrrr).
It would be nice if we as consumers could put a little bit of pressure on the pattern making companies to expand their offerings to all include the bust adjusted option. I've given up on trying to change the RTW companies. I just make my clothes instead.