I purchased a few new Simplicity patterns for spring 2026. Let’s explore them together!
S3197 – this cape with 2 views is one that MimiG sewed recently. I plan to make this from some stash wool fabric. If you’ve inherited fabric you’ll know that most of us don’t wear suits or dress pants that much any more, and a lot of older sewists who sewed these things ended up selling or giving away their stashes of it. This is a great way (this and coats) to use up this type of fabric.
There are two necklines and one variation – the shawl collar has both a same-fabric and a contrast fabric option and there’s a no-collar version as well.
Next up is the KnowME 2101 cropped crossover hoodie and maxi skirt with side panel stripe. I love this crop hoodie and skirt, and this is a great way to use up some knit fabric scraps for the band and side panels. Definitely a spring look here with bare ankles and sneakers but still warm enough for chilly days.
Butterick 7103 is a set I’ve been watching for a while. The A-line skirt and wide-leg pants are both slimmer fitting at the top, and the turtleneck is a close fit. The wrap over cropped top would also be cute over a tank top or tee if you did not want it over a turtleneck. This looks like a very easy to sew pattern and useful for some of the random knits i have in my stash (inherited.)
Last but not least, Vogue 9192. There aren’t too many swim patterns released this year from the Simplicity group, and there are a ton of suits in indie patterns too. But sewing a suit requires a slight upgrade in skills (tons of great tutorials out there in video) but very little fabric. It’s also very satisfying to make. My last big swim sew was in 2019 when I made a four piece bikini mix and match set for my 50th birthday trip to the US and British Virgin Islands for 2 weeks in June. We stayed in a “west Indies cottage” in the national park on St. John and another week on a bareboat sailboat charter (we sail.) I plan to make a “swim capsule” again this year (in a bigger size, but who cares!)
Each of these patterns is from Simplicity online, and after a big scare and several months of uncertainty and a few weeks of a nonfunctional website, they are BACK, and though you can only buy them online because there really are no big sewing retailers (IDK if indie stores will start selling them), it’s worth it.
What am I going to sew first? Probably the cape, then the knit set, then move into the more “spring” finishing up with swimwear. I have several other projects in the works before this though, so like always, sew faster than you buy!
I’m almost to the point where I feel I’ve got the patterns I want and need forever. Will I buy more? Of course, but I also am slowing way down because I *almost* have stash beyond life expectancy. I’m in my mid 50s and while I believe my sewing days are still 30 years plus ahead of me, I’m aware that I have four other people’s stashes in my stash (and only 3 of those 4 are actually passed on, the other is alive but not able to sew.) The reality is, I want to honor all the other women’s stashes by sewing that fabric (and a couple of patterns, not too many) as well as sewing my own pattern stash.
When, like right now, the world seems so awful and getting worse in so many worrying ways, sewing keeps me grounded, focused on the right now. it helps me manage my weight fluctuations (fortunately downward at the moment), and gives me agency to say “here’s who I want to show up as today” as I create and then get ready for the world.