And the winner is.....

Check out the evil stare that the illustrated lady is giving the real life lady on that pattern envelope! Nothing to do with anything, but I thought it was quite funny and worth sharing.

So the winner of the pattern give-away is.....well, the winner is actually me and anyone else who ever thought about irons - so much good advice! Thanks to everyone that pitched in with their experience, it is all very useful. I haven't actually made a decision yet, because I plan to go into the store and actually handle the irons as Jessica Malcolm suggested, instead of just relying on technical data and reviews. I'm still tossing up between the Philips or Tefal though, because the Laurastar irons are a bit out of my budget and I don't think the Rowenta irons or Maytag are sold in Australia. I am leaning towards the Tefal though, because like a few of you I have dropped my current one several times and it is still working.

Also, I love how Sofie M and Heber were having a running conversation in the comments about the iron Heber received from her boyfriend - too funny! And thanks to Melissa Lee for answering the question about which pattern I was referring to when I said there was a modern copy of the 70s wrap skirt pattern - I was trying to be diplomatic and not name any names!

Ok, so on to the pattern giveaway. I separated all the commenters into three groups depending on which (if any pattern) they nominated, and then did a random number generator to pick the winners. The names that came up are:

Simplicity 4930 Sundress Pattern - Tina Briggs
Simplicity 2080 mens swimwear pattern - Jessica Malcolm
Simplicity 7189 skirt pattern - jjuzzy

If you could all email me at KristyLChan@outlook.com with your postal addresses, I'll get them out to you shortly.

A big thanks too to Melissa Zillman who not only very kindly emailed me with advice on the Philips iron but even attached photos of the spluttering marks left on her jeans after ironing - I so hate it when that happen.

And a special mention goes to Mike Dunlap - I think you are my first male commentator ever!

Vintage pattern giveaway and request for iron recommendations

There I go again with the most literal and most boring blog post title ever!

Before I get into that I must apologise for being a bad blogger - I haven't gotten around to responding to comments I received on my last post as yet.  Plus, an email I received just recently from a lovely reader named Hannah who has bought an Orange Viking 3600 Husqvarna sewing machine just like this one I blogged about back in 2013 made me realise that people are commenting on some of my older posts but I'm not getting email notifications of them via blogger and hence I had no idea. So my apologies to anyone who has posted a comment on an older post of mine and I didn't respond - if you're still reading I promise you I didn't mean to ignore you.

Ok, so on to this vintage pattern giveaway. I've been extremely busy these last few weeks and it has been super super hot so I haven't been doing much sewing at all, but I've reacted in that classic way of "if not sewing then buy sewing related stuff"! Admittedly the patterns and few pieces of fabric I bought in the last two weeks were from an op shop, but stash addition is still stash addition regardless of where it comes from.

I bought a big box of patterns of mixed vintage (1950s-1990s) for the happy price of $10, which ended up having a few patterns that I already owned. In the interest of managing my pattern collection, and sharing the love around I'm offering these patterns to any reader who would like them (happy to post internationally).

First up is Simplicity 4930, undated but probably early 1960s sundress and jacket pattern. It's for a size 14 - bust 34", waist 26" and hips 36". The envelope is a little battered but the instructions and pattern pieces are ok. I actually made a dress from this pattern back in 2010 in an aqua/white stripe cotton which I still wear quite a lot, especially in this hot weather, so I can attest to this pattern being simple to make and just lovely.

Next is Simplicity 2080, which even if you don't intend making it up is worth having just for the very cool cover art! It's also undated but again I think it's probably 1960s. It's described as a men's beach set - a raglan shirt pattern and swim shorts. The medium size is chest 38-40" and waist 34-36".

Lastly, there is Simplicity 7189, which is a 1978 skirt pattern with three variations: 1) a pleated front, 2) top stitched details and 3) a wrap skirt with waist band ties and gloriously oversized patch pockets. It's a size 12, which will fit a waist of 67cm/26.5" and hip 92cm/36". The wrap skirt version looks very much like a certain indie pattern released in recent years - why pay big $$ for the indie version when you can have the original design?

In case you think I'm doing this purely because I am a lovely person - I do have an ulterior motive and I will make you work for it! In the comments please tell me what iron you're using and whether it's any good. I am in the market for a steam station irons, mainly because my iron seems to need refilling with water every two minutes but also because I have weak wrists and lifting a heavy iron is just no good for me.

At the moment I'm leaning towards either the Philips PerfectCare Viva which has good reviews and is on sale at the moment, or the Tefal Effective Easy Steam Generator which also has good reviews and I've had great experiences with Tefal irons in the past. Both have large water tanks, long cords and are light which are my main criteria.

Even if you don't want one of these patterns, feel free to leave a comment - it's a great opportunity to  rant about a leaking iron ruining a beautiful nearly finished project to people who will sympathise, or to boast about your bulletproof iron that has withstood your cheeky cat knocking it to the floor to get your attention!

Please tell me in your comment which pattern you'd like - if there is more than one request per pattern   I'll do a random draw next Monday.

And thank you all in advance for what I know will be your very helpful comments.