Though it’s not historical, I’ve been doing some quite exciting sewing lately – and pattern drafting. The result? The Mackenzie Cardigan! Which is (squee!) almost certainly going to be my first commercially available pattern! Being able to make my patterns available to other sewers has been a huge goal for me for the past few years.  Teaching sewing as I do, it’s become very obvious how few well really well drafted patterns there are available to sewers.  The gap is particularly bad for some garments that I consider absolute wardrobe classics – cardigans, knit wrap dresses, simple darted blouses, the iconic fitted dresses with set in sleeves, slim skirts, and at least 5 darts for fitting, and interesting shift dresses.  The rise of independent pattern companies has been fantastic, as their patterns are often much better than the big five, but here in NZ they are really expensive.  People are always asking about the patterns I draft for myself, but I haven’t had a way to pass them on. I’ve been pattern drafting and and …