History & culture

A surge from around 2010 of small, independently run sewing pattern companies selling PDF and print patterns directly to consumers online, diversifying styles and sizing beyond major pattern companies.

An annual online sewing challenge, started in 2010, in which participants pledge to wear garments they made themselves throughout May and document the experience on social media.

A practice and online community centered on altering or reconstructing existing garments into new items, popularized by bloggers in the 2000s-2010s as a creative, low-waste alternative to buying new clothes.

An organized group sewing event, often hosted by a pattern company or blogger, in which participants make the same garment together over a set period while sharing progress online.

A pre-release process in which volunteer sewists make up a new pattern to check instructions, fit, and sizing, providing feedback to independent designers before public release, common since the indie pattern boom.

British sewing pattern designer and author who founded the independent pattern company Tilly and the Buttons in 2011, known for beginner-friendly patterns and a popular sewing blog and YouTube channel.