WOW! Welcome 2019! Happy New Year, Everyone!

The last few weeks have been insane, and not because of the holidays (although seeing fireworks from our balcony was nice, we love living in a small town!) Just a few days before Christmas, designers selling PDF patterns on Craftsy got an email saying that “after Friday, 12/28, you may see the selection of patterns on your store reduced.” You can read more about the situation on the Craft Industry Alliance blog. I had JUST finished a new pattern, and the email was clear that no recent patterns would be kept or could be added, and there was no way to know how many patterns would remain. I frantically emailed everyone on my mailing lists, letting them know to purchase anything they needed before Friday, and then got started on a new website. The web guy I was going to hire obviously couldn’t meet my new deadline of “yesterday”, but he thankfully agreed to handle the last bit of FTP/SQL/DNS backend stuff to get the new shop turned on. (Thank you Tweak Social Media for saving me!) I will still have them work on a re-design of the blog half later in the year. For now, the two halves won’t match in style, but I think the new shopping cart will make up for that! I have some work cut out for me on the blog side anyway, since some of the oldest posts are outdated and need to updated or removed. I’m planning to design and write a few new patterns and then circle back to re-designing the blog.

The blog and all of the tutorials will now be located at blog.dogundermydesk.com and the pattern shop will stay at www.dogundermydesk.com. We set things up to re-direct, but if you run into a link that doesn’t work, just search for it on the appropriate half of the site and it should come right up.

At this point, I’m happy to move on! The final thing I will say on the subject is that, while Craftsy promised that all patterns purchased would continue to be accessible, they seem to have removed the name and image of the patterns in your order history. So if you are having trouble downloading a pattern you have purchased on Craftsy, please email me and I will help you! As always, I recommend Dropbox or a similar service for storing and backing up ALL of your patterns.

NEW WEBSITE: 

I LOVE the new website! When my shopping cart on this site imploded back in April (long story short, it stopped allowing downloads to Mac and iOS devices after an update, and it was “end of life” so it was no longer supported by the company), I knew I wanted to switch over to Shopify. However, I wanted to keep my WordPress blog. I started off as a blogger, and the old tutorials work best for me, right now, in a blog format rather than as “free downloads”. But I didn’t know exactly how to do it, and I wanted to hold off until I could hire a web developer. I had gotten a quote in early December for a total overhaul of the site, but the completion date was going to be April at the earliest. So when I got the Craftsy news, I had no choice but to do it myself and I’ve spent every waking moment setting it up. I really hope you love it, too!

The most important thing I want to address is accounts: The new site will require an account because then you can log back in and find your purchases. However the caveat is that it will, for now at least, only have purchases going forward. My old shopping cart DID NOT have accounts (I’ve had a few emails from people saying they could not find their old account – that is because there weren’t any) so I am not confident that old orders will be able to be transferred over, or if they can be, I’m not sure they can be transferred into your accounts. I am almost certain that anything purchased on Craftsy won’t be able to be transferred, as they barely provided me with enough data to even know you purchased a pattern at all. I DO have Paypal and other records going back to nearly the beginning of time, so if you are missing a pattern file that you need, please email me and I’ll do everything I can to find it. As I learn more about Shopify, I may find a better solution. 

The new shop has some really nice features. You can now change the display currency (checkout is still in USD) and you can still use Paypal, but you don’t have to.

 

You can also sort and filter patterns by a variety of categories. This wasn’t necessary when I had just a few patterns, but there are nearly 25 and it really helps you find what you’re looking for!

NEW PATTERN:

Just before the Craftsy nonsense, I finished a new pattern, and I was so sad that I couldn’t promote it right away! Now I can finally introduce the Retail Therapy Reusable Shopping Bag!

I had made one of these for fun, and asked if anyone would like a pattern and the response was overwhelming! Lately my bags have become more complex, so I absolutely loved writing a simple one. I think everyone is enjoying sewing something so simple, too.

I use a few different nylon reusable bags and my favorites are the ones that don’t have a separate pouch and roll up small. Of course we have those giant boxy cooler bags for major grocery shopping, but I leave those in the car. I wanted something to go beyond grocery shopping, because I find it harder to re-use or recycle the odd bags you get from clothing and other retail stores, especially those crisp plastic bags that don’t work as a trash can liner and you can’t tie up. So I called it a “shopping bag” instead of a grocery bag, because I’m hoping you find it just as useful for those situations as I do!

It’s not fully lined, but rather faced so that the handles can still be finished instead of bound. Lining it would take up twice the amount of space, so I went with this option because a reusable bag that fits in your purse or pocket is far more likely to be remembered and used. Several options to finish the side seams are included, and several group members have also used French seams. (This one is not included because it requires modification to the pattern piece, but simply add 1/4″ to the side seams for French seams!) I am planning to do a video (after the next pattern is released) and also try fully lining it, which I think will work. The bottom seam is triple stitched with no raw edges. The Facebook group has made dozens of these, so please pop in for some inspiration. 

One really nice thing about this bag, besides the roll-up closure and size, is that it makes for an awesome stash buster. Since you won’t be displaying it – it doesn’t matter what fabric you use, or even if it matches. Your broccoli and oranges will not care! Use up your “ugly” fabric – the fabric that no longer matches your style. For me this is tons of novelty fabric – while I’m less likely to make a Star Trek handbag, I would totally use a Star Trek reusable shopping bag. Or a watermelon one!

In addition, I made sure you don’t need ANY hardware or interfacing. The three strap closures use hook and loop tape, elastic, or snaps (or you could eliminate it and wrap it with an elastic hair band, I won’t judge!) I did treat myself to a KAMsnaps pliers starter kit, after realizing the hammer set metal snaps are not late-night-sewing-in-an-upstairs-apartment friendly. (This is an Amazon affiliate link – which means if you purchase I may receive a small commission.) You can also find all things KAMsnaps on their website, although I admit I found it difficult to not want to purchase every single style and color once I started browsing. Like these Star Trek snaps!

 Even though it’s so simple, I did not skimp on the instructions at all. You still get 11 pages of full color instructions, with my usual detail. You can get your copy today on the fancy new website for just $5!

That’s it, back to (fun) work for me… I’m prototyping a new duffel bag, which clearly needs a bit more refinement.

Thank you everyone for your patience and support!