Many times over the past few years we have had sewing patterns in Petite Purls. The question will sometimes come up as to how to create them and how they are printed. I have asked around a few times but not gotten a lot of straight answers, I’ve even asked publishers and still not found a clear answer. So here is what I do and the process I came up with for myself and for Petite Purls. I am not saying this is the correct way to do it, it is simply the way that I do it.

1. First I draw my pattern piece with pencil onto paper, this is usually how I draft my sewing patterns anyway. Sometimes it starts on tracing paper and works its way up to regular paper or even cardboard paper.

2. Once I feel like it’s good to go, then I will place it in my scanner and scan it and open it in photoshop. In photoshop I convert it to black and white (you could just skip this step and go straight to step 4 and illustrator if you prefer):

Image > Adjustments > Back & White > Okay

3. Then I adjust the brightness and contrast so its as white and clean looking as possible (to personal taste):

Image > Adjustments > Brightness and Contrast

Save the photo to your desktop.

4. Next I place or import the photo into a blank Adobe Illustrator Document (This would work for In-Design, or Fireworks or possibly even Photoshop but I like Illustrator as we are creating an illustration, line art). I open the layers pallet and I LOCK the layer that my art is on so that it won’t move while I am working to trace it.

File > Place > Select your hand-drawn file

Window > Layers > Select the New Layer icon > Then lock the original layer with the art on it, by selecting the little empty box next to the eye icon.

Select the Pen Tool > Make sure black is selected as the color to draw with > select the first point or corner to begin and click once, it will place a point, then select a secont point near the next corner or center of a curve. For a corner simply click again and it will create a simple straight line from the first place you clicked, to the second place you clicked. If its a curve then I click on the center line of the curve and I click and DRAG/PULL which will create a smooth curve to the point.

Here in this shot below I use the white arrow tool to select an existing curved point so I can tweak it:

This next bit involves trial and error of learning how to use the pen tool, making straight lines vs curved lines as needed. When you come all the way around to the beginning and click on the original point it will “close” the shape you just created. If it fills in with white or another color you need to set the fill color to none.

5. I delete the layer that had my hand drawn art on it so it no longer appears, or you could just click the eye so it becomes invisible but I prefer to delete it.

6. Next I go back to my hand drawing, the original one before I scanned it and I measure how tall it is from the top most to bottom most point. This is very important so that I make sure my illustrator document is the right size for printing.

View > Rulers > Show Rulers

I like to drag guides out of the rulers (click in the ruler and hold and drag a line out of it, its like magic!) to mark the measurements I want to hit.

File > Document Setup > Units > Make this inches (or your preferred measuring unit)

Back in my illustration I select all “ctrl+a” then “ctrl-t” (not sure that last step is necessary but just in case) then I HOLD DOWN the SHIFT key and I will drag and pull the bottom most corner of this new scalable box surrounding my illustration. Now you may make it smaller or bigger and make sure its the right amount of inches to match your hand drawings scale. Holding shift makes sure that is scales at a proper ratio, otherwise you could accidentally only make it taller but not wider.

So if my pattern peice was 6″ high, I make sure it is also 6″ high in illustrator. Next I may change the color of the lines or add notes as needed.

7. Next I will create a PDF file of the drawing:

File > Print > Options section > select “DO NOT SCALE”

I’ve also gone into the “Page Setup” option under print and made sure the scale was 100% to make extra sure.

Make sure the “Printer” section/option is set to Adobe PDF so that it prints to a PDF and not your printer. I use this method vs the “Save As” method because it gives me the options for scale which I need to make sure are set right.

Now it prints a PDF to my computer. I will often then open the PDF and print it at 100% on my printer and compare it to my hand drawing to make sure everything is correct.

Having done this in illustrator it would be very easy now to scale the pattern a little up or down if I find the piece was a little small  or a little big. Its super easy to tweak in Illustrator, no more cutting or re-tracing, just make the change and print! Always make sure to have a note in the PDF instructing the person to print it at 100% as sometimes printers will be set differently  and can mess up the dimensions of your print.

This is my little hacked out way I’ve found to do this, and I am sure their is room for improvement!

I have an idea for a cute boys vest I’ve yet to get too, sadly. It’s a cute one and I should knit it right this minute but I find myself wanting to revel in the stress-free experience of knitting something I don’t have to calculate and tweak, letting someone else have gone through all the stress for me. I have a Ysolda pattern and a Marnie McLean pattern lined up to knit but they are both fairly large and before I get too deep I want something small and quick.

I picked up two lovely skeins of Malabrigo sock in a lovely un-dyed cream colorway. I think knee socks would be super cute styled with tall leather boots and a skirt. I also would like to knit a hat with some of the yarn I picked up from Bijou Basin at MDS&W. I have to pick a pattern for the hat, thinking a simple Petite Purls Back to Basics hat will do the trick. I find myself wanting to re-knit a few of my older patterns and things I designed for the book, in larges sizes to fit the girls this fall.

Here is a pretty cream shawl from MDS&W, just my style (and those pretty pins) but in this photo, what I really want is that amazing vintage dress form. I have a little list of vintage things I covert: A pink Royal Typewriter (CHECK!), a Rollieflex (Semi-Check as I have a rolliecord but it badly needs to be cleaned inside) and one of these neat dress forms from NYC with the cool metal base, from the 1950′s the exact same time frame as the other items on my list. Apparently I really love mechanical items from the 50′s. If I ever get my own true studio/office space I hope all of these items will decorate it, and even better yet, still be used. There is something nostalgic about a typewriter written note, and somehow more meaningful given that if you mess up you have to start ALL over, you don’t just get to copy paste.

Aren’t they pretty? My favorite vintage items. I replaced the ribbon in the typewriter all by myself (boy what a mess that was) but both of these items need a cleaning from a professional, badly! BG loved the typewriter and it actually lives in her room in its box, and every once in a while she see’s the box and immediately asks me if we can type on it. The keys stick a bit, so another reason I want to get it cleaned is so that she can type on it easier. It strips away all the confusion of a computer, and brings you to the very basics of typing. No youtube or video games to distract her, just working on writing one word at a time.

The camera came from my FIL and was his fathers. The screen needs to be badly cleaned but the lens appears to be in perfect condition, thanks to a filter that was on the outside which took any beats and had to be removed, underneath it was perfect. I ordered a brand new double cover for the lens’s to better protect them and a little vintage lens hood to protect it when shooting. I’ve not really shot with it yet because it really needs to be cleaned. It’s one of those things where you have to just wait for the opportunity to present itself and keep your eyes open because taking them to the wrong person could mean they get ruined. So I’ll wait until the right time presents itself to have them fixed up and cleaned.

When I was away for the weekend, LG went to daycare one of the days and just like that, caught Hand Foot and Mouth. This is the second time she has had it this year. She caught a very light version of it during my work on the book when she was in a child care before. She can’t even go one day without catching something and I am left hoping BG doesn’t catch strep, so far only one child caught it in the front half of the room she is in. We’ve had a horrible run of it this year with illness. I’m ready for some change.

I’ve never been a big shoe girl, or a purse girl. I do LIKE a cute purse and cute shoes but I don’t have a lot of either. I once bought a $400 Dooney & Burke purse, remember when they first came out with that girrafe print right before it became so big and was EVERY PLACE YOU WENT. Well I got the purse as I love animal prints and I just felt like a total idiot walking around with a purse I knew cost $400 (my sister has kate spade and Coach so I am not hating on anyone who has an expensive purse, I get it trust me It’s just not for me!).

I also tried a Kate Spade once and it broke after a short amount of time, they replaced it and it broke again so I swore those off as well (that one was $200). I returned the Dooney & Burke, it just felt weird. I kept thinking about what I COULD have done with that $400. 1 night in NYC, a LOT of yarn, even a super cute pair of boots in black and another pair in brown. So I’ve given up on the expensive purses, even if I still admire them from afar. If someone offered me a Birkin, I would take it!

My Newphew, my sisters son.

I love fashion, big time, but at the end of the day I want a tank and jeans, and some cute leather boots with a 1.5″ heel, a nice thick heel too. At the same time as all that, I have problems with knitting shawls. If I even show my husband a bit of lace he’ll pull out the grandma card, and as much as I love and respect all grandmothers, I don’t want my husband thinking I look like one while I am 33. So I never knit much lace and certainly not any big lace shawls. This works fairly well as I’ve never been too big into fabric that has holes in it unless its very specifically layered over a tank and the entire thing is meant to be mesh. This is my aesthetic, this is my-weird-me-fashion-sense which my sister will sometimes call a bit hippy. She’s *very* kate spade.

BG in the car on the way to Virginia.

So I would rather collect yarn then shoe’s and purses, I’m not above a nice pair of Bandolino’s though. My purse is a cute gray slouchy thing from TJ MAXX. It’s Vera Wang as it happens, but it costs $60 and I’m not sure I’ll ever find another bag I like as much. Besides if I DID buy more expensive shoe and purses the truth is I wouldn’t be able to get the crafty stuff I like and well that would make me much happier then the purse. I am trying to say “sorry I am not so fashionable, but I like my yarn, but I still TRY to be fashionable”.

Okay so back to shawl’s and lace and looking fashionable. So I went to Maryland Sheep and Wool all proud of my Whipporwill. It’s a pattern by Carina Spencer and I love it, adore it. It is so cute and fun to knit. The 550 stitches at the end nearly did me in but I made it through and I love it. I’m very proud of it. I had seen an FO from another knitting on Ravelry who always knits things I like and I fell in love with the yarn she used on the main part of the shawl. “Becoming Art Eos Fingering” in Sanguine Sky. It’s so pretty. Anyone who has seen the skein has asked about it. It knits up so wonderful and nothing pools, not even a little.

Right before my 2.5 hour drive to Maryland.

I have no good pictures of it but I’ll show the crappy ones I did take. I finished it the night before I left for Virginia. I drove 9 hours to VA, went to bed then woke up and drove 2.5 to Maryland for the day, 2.5 BACK to VA and then a few days later another 9 back to GA. This momma is tired. BG went with me, we had a great time – she stayed with Grandma and her Aunt for the day. I was pretty excited, because I got to meet Joan Beebe in person for the first time. She visited her own sister in Maryland and we met up and walked around for the day together. Sadly, I had a headache the entire time I think from allergies and too much driving, but despite that I still was very happy to have gone. I am crossing my fingers I am happier and better rested at TNNA in June (the big needle arts convention for all the publishers and distributers to show off their new wares to the yarn shop owners).

Joan and I, meeting for the first time. Check out that hand-knit she’s wearing!

I love this pattern, I love how it fits in such a modern way. Its basically a fitted shawl and it doesn’t fall off your shoulders or need to be re-adjusted very often (wearing a purse did mean I had to fix it when I would move my purse around but it never feel off my shoulders). My husband didn’t say too much about it. I’ve knit an entire sweater before and had him look at me and say “Granny Startrek” which is fairly disappointing considering the time you spend knitting it AND the money on the yarn, as I didn’t get any odd comments this time I’ll take it as a good thing.

I felt good wearing it and it was perfect to keep the breeze off if it was a little chilly. So, onward to the pattern notes:

Whipporwill by Carina Spencer

Larges Size
2 skiens Becoming Art Eos Fingering in Sanguine Sky
1 skein Wollmese (possibly Versuchskaninchen) a golden yellow color
Size 6 needles

I used up very little of the second skein of Becoming Art, which is a bit sad for the $$ but I an use it for something else. The trim color used more then you would expect but not even half of the Wollmeise. The earthy neutral tones mean it looks good over many different colors (including a pretty royal blue which I love). I plan to wear it to every knitting even in the foreseeable future, hah! I may go to spinning guild this saturday, which means wearing it again and I can’t wait. I was slightly amused at Maryland because when I first arrived I was all ready to show it off, knitters pride you know. I knit something with 550 stitches at the end, and it was massive and I’ve not gotten to wear something I’ve knit (ehem, not kid sized) to an event in well over a year. I love how knitters are always oggling over what the other is wearing, I mean thats the thing right. Wearing your knits to knitting events IS the thing to do.

So here I finally had something to wear and I wanted to show everyone how beautiful this yarn was and how clever Carina’s pattern was. I arrived, and I had on a very large hat to keep the sun off my face. An hour passed, I walked through the barns and looked at the vendors, got a nice fair style gigantic lemonaid. Not one person noticed my shawl. I have to admit being a little disappointed. As it was not many people even wore knits as it was pretty hot. The shawl was perfect for protecting my shoulders from the sun and I didn’t need to take it off for several hours. Okay so I was disappointed no one said anything, tease me all you want now!

I was getting  a bit hot and it was hard to wear my hat when walking through the barns so I took it off. It was so weird almost instantly I got 5 comments on my shawl. FIVE COMMENTS in a row, separately though. I walked out of that barn and put my hat back on, for about another hour. No one else noticed my shawl. So there I got hot again and I took my hat off. Boom, more comments about my shawl. So then I did a test and put my hat back on for a bit, took it off again for a bit. Same thing! It was like my hat was magically repelling people. Or I looked like a dork in my hat and people wanted to avoid me, or all they noticed was my hat so they never made it down to my shawl, or my hat had an alien on it. Fashion is strange! Now what should I do with that hat?

Every year we love to take the family down to the Emerald Coast, the western bit of Florida. The water is that wonderful translucent blue and even in April and May the weather is perfect. Last year we did not make it, so everyone was double-excited when we made the drive down to the coast to a familiar beach cottage (that we love because it has its own pool out back and a security system that beeps if any of the kids try to go out one of the doors leading to it) that sits one long block from the beach. Andy every year we say to ourselves what I am sure anyone renting cute little beach cottages say “I wish we could live here!”

BG humors me for a quick portrait on the  beach in this adorable dress by Lillipops Designs

The girls were extra delighted as their grandmother came down for the first 2 days, a special treat. LG even “accidentally” swam in her floaties all by herself. She cried a bit (she had stepped off the step in the water) and was sitting there kicking lightly with her arms and legs going “I’m done I’m done!” and we gasped realizing she was swimming with floaties! She has a lead on her big sister. I spent most of the time letting her hold my hands as we sang “I’m the floatie queen, I’m the floating queen!”

The girls loved climbing the trees in the front yard, and LG and I had a lot of fun as we decided that all of the Palm trees are actually Truffula trees, she was delighted the entire week squealing “a truf-dada-tree!” this is one of the most wonderful things about a 2 year old. Of course BG didn’t fall for it and would make a point of calling them palm trees, just to subtly let me know, that she knows!

This week was also the husbeast birthday, and the girls and I had an incredibly geeky cake made up special for him.

Now we are off to head back on the long drive home, and to pick up Toby. We return 1 family member extra, as we somehow became the owners of a hermit crab, how did that happen?

A day in which I post Instagram photos from the past few days. Post your photos in the comments to play along.

A secret spot, found while on a run.

A Whipporwill. The first knit for myself in over a year (around 230ish stitches at this point).

A sweet spring bird at the ice cream shop.

LG with her nose mere inches away from a chipmunk.

The girls hurrying to get on their shoes before another outing. 

I’ve done a bit of sewing lately and I suddenly had the urge to sew something fun with no stress, no deadline. BG always wants me to “make” her something so this was a perfect opportunity. I think it needs a thicker ribbon, and it probably should have been wider, but it does the job. BG can wear it with leggings and LG can wear it as a dress!

A pillowcase dress is probably the easiest dress on earth to make. I didn’t even to bother cut out circles for the armholes. I just sewed up to 6 or so inches before the top and stopped. I also added some other fabric to the bottom to make it longer. I considered adding the blue to the top as well but I went the lazy route instead.  I also didn’t iron it or wash it, seamstresse all over the world are tsk tsk’ing at me I am sure!

With all the photographs for the book shipped off I’ve felt confused and excited. What do I do with all this time I have now? All the things I should have been doing for one, but then also a few things I always wanted to do but never had the time to do. Like sew the girls a dress.  They’ve both gone bonkers over being able to wear all of those knits they had to model or were not allowed to touch. They both paraded all over the house on tuesday with a wonderful mis-match of knits on.

LG up and decided to potty train herself, much like her big sister did (thought she’s quiet a bit younger still!) and she’s been so incredibly proud of herself. Yesterday while sissy was at preschool I took LG to the YMCA pool. She got home and proclaimed to her daddy “I went swimming in the POOL!!” it was so cute. She’s been stuck at home with me so long, and the only places she’s used to going are the grocery store or target or a resturant. I want to spend all summer taking her wonderful new places, enjoying some alone time just the two of us.  Here is the little munchkin, having some delightful new fun;

They both keep running around the house shouting “Mr Bubbles!”. I’m considering what to knit for myself. Something to wear to TNNA would be nice. On my list, and items I already have yarn for just waiting for me are:

Whippoorwill by Carina Spencer

Pas de Valse by Marnie MacLean

Barley Sugar by Ysolda Teague

I do also have plans to design something for a toddler BOY *gasp* and something for myself but for now I want to recess in letting someone else tell me how to knit something and enjoy the freedom of not having to think of it myself!

How cute is this line of sewing patterns? WANT!

Marissa Dress by Sis Boom

Jamie Dress (Adult Version) by Sis Boom

Leighanna Peasant Top/Dress by Sis Boom

Meghan Peasant Dress by Sis Boom

Then I found the flickr group.

I turned in the manuscript back in early January, then came the month long barrage of editorial changes and tech editing of all the patterns. As of Monday of this week, I had my last look at everything and it’s been turned in.

I wrote a post on Ravelry about my experience and things I’ve learned. They can be consolidated into this short list:

1 – Get help early on, don’t wait until the end
2 – Appreciate your tech editor, find a good one
3 – Appreciate your sample knitters and test knitters, find good ones
4 – Don’t loose YOU, don’t loose YOUR voice
5 – Know your digital rights (what happens when patterns/book are sold digitally)

I felt like a great weight was lifted off my chest, I felt so relieved and happy. I presented my proposal 2 years ago at a TNNA, then 6 months later sealed the deal, then 1 year later finish it. It’s been a long journey. I believe the book is slated for Spring 2013. I keep crossing my fingers they push it up once all the layout work is done. I have 2 photography shoots left which I am super excited about and happy to get to focus on without worrying about any knitting or patterns being due. I am SO HAPPY it’s no longer on me, the stress is gone. It’s been really hard for my family and I could not have done it without the help my my husband, my mother and my mother in-law. Everyone who helped watch the kids while I worked. All my amazing knitting friends came together to help me as well, and you will find them listed in the beginning of the book. So now will begin a time of radio silence on the book front, no more yapping about the book thankfully until it’s about to be published, however I may come bug you guys whenever it gets listed on Amazon hehehe!! I AM SO EXCITED!!!!

I have an adorable little boy pattern I plan to release in April or May on my blog/ravelry/craftsy. I feel like this experience has most certainly made me a better knitter, a better designer and now that I have done so much the smaller projects seem so much easier then they did before. I have a lot more experience and I can’t wait to show you new things!!!

I’ll leave you with some recent pics of the girls.

Two tornado warnings, Sirens blaring. Trying to keep a 2yo and 4yo in a bathtub at 10:30pm at night, harder then you think.

This week has been MAJOR go time for the end of the book stuff. The manuscript is nearly 100% wrapped up, it’s been an insane month working back and forth with my editor and she’s been wonderful. Lots of patience for this momma who lives a crazy life. My mom visited this week so I could finish up a few small samples to send to the tech editor, and to get the manuscript edits finished. Whirlwind. I knit 9 hours straight today on a hood. I am so tired!! I’ll check in later when I’ve got more to say. The weather has been really lovely aside from the storms, fun random sunny days which we have enjoyed.

I have a very particular taste and lots of ideas in the back of mine, for how I like things to look and images I want to create. They are not always very solid pictures in my mind, but little bits and pieces. I love it in a BIG WAY when those small things come together, and even better when my memory does its job and I remember I have them. I collect odd vintage items and photography props, or rather things I think would make good props.

I had to quickly photograph a cute cardigan for Petite Purls today. It was the first in a series of them we are publishing but I had the others already photographed, this one I had tried to photograph a while ago but the lil’un had not cooperated. So on went her cream colored cardigan, a white t-shirt for underneath, and then I remembered that adorable size 4 lace skirt I had snagged in cream several months ago. Who can resist lace ruffles? Easy enough to fit on a 2 year old, it didn’t even slip off because 2 and 4 year olds have fairly similar hip sizes, it’s more the length of the legs and torso that change and when she sat down it worked itself out perfectly. BG pointed to the fuzzy cream IKEA rug I had snagged for random newborn baby photos, and it all came together perfectly.

Her hair is a mess so I found something decent in a little MJ suitcase I have full of random headbands I’ve been collecting. Then came serendipity. LG found a little gold owl (a holiday ornament) and BG found a gold bracelet and somehow they worked their way into the scene, I almost took them away but realized the color combination was perfect (and it kept her still for a little bit, which is paramount with two-year-olds).

I love the lace peeking out from the lovely garter stitch. Then she made her pouty-face and I knew she wasn’t going to put up with much more. Luckily I got a few good shots and ran off to code up the page for petitepurls.com.

For the Back to Basics shots I need to nail two photos, the horizontal one that goes on the main index page for all the B2B patterns, and a vertical shot that serves as the “main” photo for the pattern. I can tell you I honestly was not sure if I had gotten them until I got back to my computer!