Kwik Sew folded and I missed it?

 I did not know this, from October 2021

https://d.facebook.com/coscraft/photos/a.202459063109082/4567919433229668/?type=3&source=48

Ten years ago, things were different with them. A lot happened in the meantime.

 https://www.threadsmagazine.com/2012/02/09/mccalls-and-kwik-sew-join-forces

 Uh, yes, the author does ignore Stretch and Sew (https://www.threadsmagazine.com/2015/08/20/ann-person-sewing-entrepreneur-dies-at-age-90) but this is about Martensson, not the industry.

I have been paying attention to the commercial pattern industry, but I have a full time job and classes and that hemming gig so I have let my attention wander. I did read this piece when it went up, which sums up the state of the commercial pattern industry at the time. I didn't bother with the comments at the time.

https://craftindustryalliance.org/css-industries-including-big-4-pattern-companies-acquired-by-design-group/

This article and the comments are worth reading if you haven't already; it touches on the snobbery of the indie fans and the nostalgia for a sewist's golden era (which for some of us was in the first era of Stretch And Sew and doubleknit, now known as ponte) but there's some good info buried in there (go to the end of the comments)(oh my god I'm in there)

and a little about Martensson herself

https://www.asg.org/files/hall/2006_Martensson.pdf

Don't you own an iron?

 

Vogue's photo not mine

Oh c'mon, this is VOGUE for goshsakes

https://somethingdelightful.com/v1789

I promised myself I would not do this again, but I have been seeing more and more of this 'handy hands at home' finishing on pattern photos, and WHY

WHY do you think this is going to sell your pattern to me?

If YOU can't finish it nicely, WHO can?

Misses' pants, high waisted, very loose-fitting through hip, have waist facings with boning, pleats, side seam pockets, invisible back zipper. B: hem band.

I have never pretended to be any more than handy homemades. I tend to rush at the end and skip nice finishing, at least for myself. I can do a super nice job if someone hands me money.

For myself, not so much.

This does not make me think I am going to be able to get better results than they did. Or if that hem and the stuff going on at the top of the waistband is intentional, well... that's a choice.