An Update on Our New Size Range and a Survey!
If you subscribe to our newsletter or follow us on Facebook, you know that we announced in our January 8th update that we have begun work on expanding our size range with a second block!
We started laying the groundwork for this new range back in September of last year with a complete redesign of our working processes and structure, which prepared us to successfully make this dream a reality. We also spent the fall researching and analyzing tons of sizing data from ASTM, Alvanon, and other sources, which has allowed us to zero in on the most important part: what questions we'd like to ask you!
At the moment we believe our new block will cover approximately US 12/14 - 28/30, but we need your help to pinpoint exactly where our sizing will land. If you're a size US 12/14 or above, we'd love if you took a minute to fill out our survey below. We're asking questions about basic body measurements, pattern habits and preferences, sizing language and imagery, and a few questions about our existing patterns since we are planning on re-drafting our existing patterns with this new block.
Due to the fact that we are using two separate blocks, the patterns from each block will likely not be able to be nested with each other. Our plan to accommodate people who fall between sizes is to offer two ranges with an overlap of 3-4 sizes (approximately 12-18). I personally am 3 sizes in our patterns so I'm very sensitive to the fact that the vast majority of us don't cut one size in a pattern.
As far as how these patterns are delivered to you, our goal is to offer paper patterns in both size ranges. We've included a few questions on the survey about this and we'd love to get your opinion on that topic. At the moment, most pattern companies who offer patterns based on two blocks are not offering both ranges in print, so we have a lot to research. We may be sending out a second survey about that as we get further along in the process, since it’s something that will likely need to be decided once we have a pattern fully graded in both ranges.
We've received a lot of questions about our timeline so I want to be as clear as possible about this. Our pattern development typically takes approximately a year from idea to delivering you a quality finished product. Because of this we expect the new size range to debut before the end of the year, though I don't have an exact date yet. This launch will contain brand new designs, and after that we'll begin work on updating our existing patterns. As we get further along in the process and cross off a few more milestones on the development timeline I'll be able to update you with more release date information.
Between now and then we will have a few new patterns in our existing size range for release this spring due to the fact that they were started prior to September of last year. We will be updating these with our new block as soon as possible though. If you have a moment, we'd love it if you'd take our survey below, and feel free to share it with anyone you think might be interested by using this link: https://grainlinestudio.typeform.com/to/xMp5pw
Thank you!
Edited to add the following: If you're outside the US and are looking for a conversion from US sizing to see if you're a US 12/14 and above, you can find more info on that here. Also as most indie patterns are very close to RTW sizing feel free to fill out the survey if you fit this description in either RTW or sewing sizes. The more info the better!