2019 Year in review
I love the process of buying a new calendar and filling in each blank page with the goals and dreams of the year to come, but what I love even more is taking a look back at the previous year at all that was accomplished. 2019 was a great year, creatively. In total we released 46 patterns, update 4 patterns, wrote 47 blog posts and shot hundreds of photos. We added a valuable member to the SLPco team, Katie released her first collection, West Palm, with Art Gallery Fabrics, we became BERNINA ambassadors and made some fun memories.
January
January is always spent working hard behind the scenes as we prepare for our annual Anniversary sale. The first pattern of 2019 was the Lydia’s Circle Skirt Add On. I love how this pattern adds so many possibilities to the popular Lydia’s Ruffle Back Leotard. Gail showed us all how to add a modesty panel to the back of Isla. She also wrote this great guide to sewing machine needles.
February
Simple Life Pattern Co. celebrated 4 years with a huge release of 9 new patterns and our annual sale. We welcomed Riley, Seaside Shorts, Eden, Autumn, Abigail, Lana, Baby Patricia Add On, Baby Patricia, and Baby Jaimesyn Add On to the collection.
March
April was the release of Norah, Rosie, and Baby Ava. Ava was updated with the new button back. We introduced our Weekly Listing Challenge (which has since been revamped to a monthly challenge). Katie participated in Jessica Swift’s Lugu Fabric Blog Tour, Gail wrote a blog post on how to add a zipper to the Romper Add On and we showcased our favorite spring patterns.
April
April was all about swim with the release of 4 new swim patterns…Baby Cordelia, Elise, Baby Elise, Baby Marina. We also added Shelby to our girl’s dress collection. We had a few guest bloggers this month write some great tutorials. Melissa Gisiner wrote a tutorial on adding a bow to the Rosie Bloomers and Shelley Presley showed us how to add a skirt to the Elise swimsuit.
May
May was filled with free patterns. Katie and I both released 2 free patterns for BERNINA, Daisy’s Sun Bonnet and Grow With Me Romper and Gail released the Lullaby Collection. The Lullaby Collection is a beginner friendly collection of free baby patterns. On the blog Chauncey showed us how to add adjustable straps to Bella.
June
June was a busy month for all of us. I was busy moving across country while the rest of the team was enjoying summer with the kids out of school. We didn’t release any new patterns in June, however there were a few great blog posts. Chauncey showed us how to Create Fabric Covered Snaps while Gail showed us a glimpse into the Military life with a beautiful shot of her daughter and husband in the Sew Patriotic post. Being a military wife myself this picture grasps at my heart strings every time I see it.
July
July was a bit slower of a month but we release 2 great patterns, Pixie and the FREE Catalina Dress. The Cami Tank was updated and now included the cutest ruffle. Chauncey also made the cutest Saylor Pinafore hack and blogged about it HERE. Tara Rittenhouse stopped by on the blog as well with a post on a Dress Code Approved- Leah’s Wrap Crop Tutorial.
August
Back to School meant back to the grind for all of us and we were busy. Katie introduced y’all to our new women’s collection with 2 amazing new patterns, Daytona and Kendra, while I focused on back to school looks with 4 patterns perfect for school…Roxie, Baby Roxie, Harriett, and Trixie.
Gail was hard at work bringing the cutest new SVG files to our website.
On the blog, Chauncey taught us all how to add buttons to the back of Patricia and Tara showed us how to add Ruffles to the Maggie Suspenders.
September
September is for patterns beginning with S. We released 3 new patterns, Stella, Samantha, Sapphire.
Chauncey official joined our team and introduced you all to Crafterthoughts with Chauncey, where she shares her tutorials, hacks, tips and tricks. This month was all about color blocking the back of a bodice. In preparation for Halloween I made a cute DIY Unicorn Costume for BERNINA. Tara guest blogged for us with a Fall Flannel Inspiration post.
October
Gail worked on expanding our dolly collection with Dolly Roxie and Dolly Aria. Women’s Tiegan, Tiegan were a big hit this month as the weather began to change.
Tara showed us how to add some cute elbow patches and pockets to the Tiegan. Crafterthoughts with Chauncey was all about her daughter turning 3 and the adorable dress she made in celebration.
November
The blog was busy in November. We kicked the month off with our annual Holiday Blog tour. As always our bloggers did an amazing job. Chauncey shared beautiful holiday dresses, recipes and little freebies in the 25 Days of Christmas blog series. Katie designed a beautiful women’s dress perfect for the holiday, Valentina.
We also released 6 FREE patterns, Harper, Sydney, Everest, Blitzen, Mocha Me Cozy and Luna.
December
We took most of the month off of drafting to relax and spend time with our families but did manage to release the Sloane Socks, available in baby, girl and adult sizes. Gail updated Chloe and Cheyenne and she added some amazing new details.
Heather Chisolm showed us all how to Add Pom Poms to your Sloane Socks. She also added 2 other adorable variations in her post. It’s a must read! Chauncey also finished up her 25 days of Christmas series during December.
If you have made it to the end of this post, thank you so much for reading! Thanks for being a part of everything we’re doing here at Simple Life Patterns – We appreciate you so much! 2020 brings some big new plans and we can’t wait to share everything we envision with you!!
Happy Sewing!
