PPC20: Revealing the Gateway Pattern Cover

So…

in our last post we had a little fun letting YOU be the designer and choosing which of our bag samples YOU would choose to grace the pattern cover for our 2nd new design for 2019, the GateWay. Thanks SO much to everyone who participated! Pattern design can be rather solitary work and I always enjoy hearing the logic behind which bag my customers would choose. But as much as I enjoy these interactions, this really isn’t a democratic process and in my estimation I have good reasons for having chose the bag I have for our pattern cover. Sometimes I agree with the majority of you, but sometimes I don’t. I’ll share these details below, but right now…

It’s time for the BIG reveal!

And now… let me tell you why I chose THIS sample
over all the others for our cover!

Ornamental Rosettes
8/16/19

This really was my least favorite of all the Gateway’s I made. I thought I would like this fabric but once I got it I realized it really wasn’t my cup of tea! (Does that ever happen to you?)
So without a doubt, it was a pretty good bet that this bag wasn’t going to get on the pattern cover, right?

So…this sample was outta here before the discussion even started!

Terrarium Style
8/21/19

Have you noticed that I’ve been using a LOT of fabric by Jason Yenter of late? I fell in love with this border print the very second I saw it and even though white backgrounds are typically hard to photograph, this bag was an exception.

And it easily could have wound up on the cover but I just didn’t think it was quite as compelling or “attention-grabbing” as a couple of the others. So it was OUT!

Dragonflies – 8/26/19

I loved this bag! The fabric is SO elegant and it showcased our brand new all gold zippers SO beautifully! But if you’ve been following these bag chronologies through the years, then you know that bags that are so overwhelmingly black are just plain hard to photograph, AND bag details & features just seem to disappear.
This bag will be a hit on the show circuit… no doubt about that because so many will easily be able to picture themselves carrying it, but as far as a cover model goes… it’s OUT!

More Is More – 9/11/19

I love this Paula Nadelstern fabric and this would be a FUN bag to carry. But even though I think its cute as a button and it’ll be popular with our customers, this print is busier than I like for a cover model, because busy prints can be almost as bad as black in that important bag details become difficult to see.
For this reason, I reluctantly set is aside as a contender for the cover job. It was OUT!

Safari With Me– 9/5/19

So… by now you know that this is the sample I decided to go with for the cover of the Gateway pattern. I liked this sample the best for the cover for several reasons…

1- the coloration is bright… but not overwhelming & the black & white background area really serves to marginalize the colorized areas of this bag almost making this bag the perfect neutral to almost anything the carrier might wear! And I find that this criteria is particularly important to a LOT of potential pattern buyers, because if they cannot “picture themselves carrying it”, they tend to not buy it.

2- I liked the black and white background and contrast area which lends a “brightness” to this bag which really emphasizes the Side and Clip Link features, and …

3- It photographs like a dream. No matter what feature I want to highlight in a picture, that feature is easy to see (even in a very small picture), and the bag is still pretty from all angles and that’s important, because remember, a pattern cover needs to tell a story and we may only get to tell that story once. Our goal is for the story to be compelling enough that a customer won’t want to put it down!

So did we make the perfect choice?

Only time will tell. Truth is, the Gateway design has been very well received so far so I easily could have gone with another choice and it probably wouldn’t make a bit of difference “sales-wise” but I’m pleased with how the cover came out. This is actually the 5th pattern cover that my new graphics guy has produced for me and he’s got a much better grip on what I’m looking for now. He tells me its because he finally in touch with his “girly side”, but whatever the reason, the final result he created is very compelling and I’m VERY happy with the work he did!

But you know what?

Call me crazy but I always love knowing if you agree with our selection or if you think we totally blew it! So please feel free to leave your comments and/or questions in the space provided below!

AND PLEASE NOTE!!!! — Just as we did in our last pattern rollout in May, we’ll be announcing our pattern release with a SPECIAL edition of our Newsletter delivered later this month. It will be complete with a time-sensitive discount offer that will be extended ONLY to our Newsletter subscribers and to members of the StudioKat Designs Pattern Group.  So don’t miss out… you still have a small window of time to get in on the fun and pick up a nifty discount coupon too by clicking here to join our mailing list, OR by joining our brand new StudioKat Designs Pattern Group on FaceBook

********************************************************

Check out the best sewing pins with me on Pinterest, join in on discussions or show off your work in our FaceBook Group, or get your daily sewing fix on our Facebook Business Page or get behind the scenes scoops on Instagram, and be the 1st to know about new patterns, discount codes and sample sales by signing up for our monthly newsletter.