It’s been a long time since I’ve done a life catch-up post. So long, that some of the things I’ve been collecting for it feel like they happened years ago… I’m pretty sure it’s only been months, but life is moving very fast for me! So what have I been up to? 1. Lots of visits to Zealandia My lovely in-laws gave us annual passes to Zealandia for Christmas (best present ever) and I’ve been blissfully indulging my love of/obsession with New Zealand’s native birds at every possible opportunity. Mr D is not quite so obsessed with birds, but he’s delighted to go along with any activity that doesn’t involve costumes, movies with subtitles, or the weekend vege markets, so he’s been loving the weekly (or more) trips to Zealandia. Zealandia has been such a feature of our lives this summer that I’m probably going to gift/inflict you with a post all about it, so I’ll try to restrain myself from posting 1000 pictures in this one. The photo above is a hihi (stitchbird) – …

Testers are such an important part of the indie pattern design process. They help ensure that a pattern fits just right on a wide range of bodies and makes sense to the average sewist across the world. Good testers help me to polish off any last bits of roughness from a pattern, asking all the questions I might have missed answering. I had a fabulous group of testers for the Scroop Patterns Eastbourne Trousers. They went above and beyond with providing feedback – even in the midst of horrible storms, and hospital visits.  I am phenomenally grateful for their help. Here are the tester makes! Mandy @make_it_sew_number1 Mandy made no alterations at all to her View A Eastbourne’s, except to shorten them at the hem. Her Eastbourne’s are made in a wonderful wool crepe. I’ve never considered them in pink, and now I want my own pink pair. (this is the drawback to being a pattern designer. People make awesome versions of your patterns, and then you want to copy them, and then you end …