Fancy SchmancySeam Ripper is STILL worth it.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=hand+seam+ripper&_sacat=183268

(go to Ebay, search term: hand seam ripper)
OR

https://www.etsy.com/search?q=seam%20ripper

If you have ever wondered if buying one of these was worth it, it certainly has been for me.

Yes, you can buy all the parts online. 
https://www.pennstateind.com/store/seam-ripper-kits.html
And if you have a lathe, you're in business.

What sold me on this particular one was that the vendor specified the type of blade (and there are many out there). And then delivered on it.

It feels great in my hand, Just enough weight and size to make it easily turned, light enough not to wear my old hand out. 

Lookit them porky pinkies. Always been a big handed gal

The Japanese blade is superlative. And it's sooo pretty.

And it's been sharpened. The point is practically microscopic. Which is good, because the stitching on this chiffon is pretty tight. This showed up in the nick of time!

This is my unpaid testimonial. The fella who made this is no longer online, but plenty of other people do. 
Or you can make your own, with the steel parts and a wad of Fimo, or a hollow handle (regular flatwear knives work) and a tube of two-part epoxy.

https://www.threadsmagazine.com/2013/08/22/another-look-at-kenneth-d-kings-sewing-space#ixzz3g4NC4qTM&i

Kenneth King photo and tools, from Threads Magazine (link noted above photo)

A good tool always makes the job go better and faster and happier.

Who Survives and Who Thrives

One good thing I took from recent online seminars: the Internet is a neighborhood. The people in your neighborhood, your peers, are your neighbors and you should be....neighborly.

So the online version of shopping locally is what? 

I look to the independent pattern makers when I am shopping for a pattern.

I look for the indies first, because I assume there will be good new ideas there. Since I'm largely drafting my own stuff now, I am looking for inspiration or a kick in the pants. It's no different to me than paging through the big Two companies catalogs with their endless repetitions. 

Hey, they do have good and interesting stuff now and then. And they have a wider audience to appeal to than me.

Targeting your audience as a company is a good way to get repeat business. Lots of folks aim at the the newbie sewist, combining a sewing lesson with a pattern.  Others have a design niche (pockets! trending styles! Princess Kate! Remember when Style Arc was all over her?) This is all good news.

There are always new businesses coming up and older ones fading away (either age, death or real life intervening with business). 

https://thestitchery.wordpress.com/2010/06/19/lafred-patterns/

I miss LaFred terribly. But the patterns are still there.

https://sewingpatterns.com/collections/la-fred

And look who else is there!

https://sewingpatterns.com/collections/park-bench

This is still one of the greatest dress patterns ever. Loes Hinse made several of the best patterns ever. the pull on pants were genius - the secret is you don't pull your pants on straight up, so you can cut the waistband down a couple inches by putting two darts in the back to soak up some of the excess you need for the elastic casing. Less extra bulk around your waist is better.

In the case of the Barcelona dress, the bodice is cut on the bias, the sleeves ongrain, the 3/4 round skirt on bias so that the front seam is a chevron.

I've been reading A History of the Paper Pattern Industry, and you would not have known that the one that survived would be Butterick from the companies over the years (and even that is just a nameplate since 2001). And when the PDF format turns into something more practical for the home sewer (and when we find a better term than that, cause I am not sewing a home)....

I have a tight deadline on those grey hems. More later.