brilliance

Every great once in a while

I have a flash of genius.

This morning

I solved my

how-to-store-patterns

problem

~

It's no surprise that I have a difficult time

using a store-bought pattern;

I mean

I can't cook from a box

and can

- only with great difficulty -

follow a recipe.

So, I often make my own patterns

based on

either

clothes that we already have

an actual pattern

or just an idea in my head.

I've tried various papers for these patterns

(which, I should identify! note to self)

most often tissue paper

because it's a good size

and it's most like purchased patterns.

Once

when patterns were on sale for a buck

I picked out the fattest pattern package I could find

with the intent of using that paper to make new patterns

but the markings made me crazy

and every time I saw the pattern envelope

I'd wonder what on earth

I'd bought that wedding dress pattern for?!

I've used newspaper

but that's distracting and messy.

Packing paper

is another thing I've tried;

it's a tad better than tissue paper

but still not great.

So I've taken to using card-stock

which works fabulously.

But after I tape pieces of cardstock together

(most pieces don't fit on an 8 1/2 x 11 inch page...)

I end up with some pretty big pattern pieces

which

up till now

I wasn't quite sure what to do with.

~

In my moment of pure brilliance

in the wee hours of the morning

it came to me:

Join the paper pieces together

without any overlap

using clear packing tape

and then I can just fold the pattern along my taped 'lines'

and store them in a 9x12 envelope.

Doesn't matter what size or shape the pattern is

it'll fit

and the pattern won't get messed up in the process

~
stroke of genius, I tell ya!