PPC26: Our Testers Speak

April 11, 2022 / Kat /

It’s that time again! It’s time to show you what our testers created in the process of testing our pattern instructions for the Bella BiFold! And here’s the deal… after enjoying a particularly long stretch of tester stability, during the process of our last release, (the Elsie K Baglet), we had suddenly suffered the loss of several in a short period of time!

But now, let me show you what our excellent pattern testers created (including 3 NEW testers),
while testing the Bella BiFold for us!

**Nancy Rosa** is the one of our three new testers for this round of Purse Pattern Chronicles and she is very well known in our **FaceBook Sewing group** for her ability to construct bags with totally spectacular fabric combinations and her take on our **Bella BiFold** design is yet another example of her unique eye for fabrics! Welcome Nancy!

And I am so pleased to announce that **Ray McCoy** has become the very first “sewing dude” to join our Testing Panel. Ray chose to fashion his **Bella BiFold** exclusively in Laurel Burch and I adore how it came out! The red interior was an especially delightful surprise and we look forward to working more with Ray in the future! 🙂

**Mary Larson** of Rochester, MN started testing for us in the 11th cycle of Purse Pattern Chronicles with the **Triple Play** in 2015. Like me, Mary loves working with graphic prints and enjoys pairing them with bold coordinates and this **Bella BiFold** is sure to snag attention wherever Mary takes it! Great job once again Mary!

**Jeanette Jay** is the third of our 3 new testers and she chose to make up her bag in a tapestry like upholstery fabric and ran into some significant bulky-type difficulties in the seam areas along the way. It’s really pretty though

**Beth Revere** hails from Council Grove, Kansas and started testing for us WAY BACK in the 8th cycle of Purse Pattern Chronicles in 2014 with the **Wrapsody** design. I totally fell in love with her rendition of our Bella BiFold. It looks SO regal and elegant! I especially appreciate Beth complete dedication to finding every little thing that might be mis-labeled, mis-numbered, mis-spelled or otherwise mis-leading! This is SUCH a gift to me and I sure do appreciate her! Thanks Beth!

And I was SO glad to welcome **Shannon Maciejewski** back to our “Testing Panel”. Shannon had to step back from testing for our last pattern, the **Elsie K Baglet** in order to tend to some pressing family obligations and we are sure glad she’s back in the saddle again! This is a happy exterior and the fun traveling motif that Shannon chose makes me wonder if there are some interesting adventures on the horizon for her and this **Bella Bifold**!

So that’s how the testing rounds played out for this, the 26th cycle of Purse Pattern Chronicles and didn’t our SIX testers do an exceptional job? Many of you know that one of my favorite parts of the pattern development process is the testing round. I just LOVE seeing what our testers are inspired to create, especially since each one of our testers seems to have their own individual style and several have a real flair for the dramatic!

And here’s the deal… our testers perform a great service for us (and in turn for YOU) in the process of making their test bags. I can’t imagine publishing a new pattern without their input, and if you’d like to leave them some love for them in the “Comments” section” below I’m sure they’d appreciate it. And if you have any questions about the testing process in general, or any of these bag samples in particular, you can leave those there as well and I’ll do my best to answer them!

And now, it’s YOUR turn!

Might you have questions about any of these test bags or about the testing process? Several of our testers stay up-to-date on our Blog posts, so you never know, maybe one of them will answer your question directly! 🙂 And remember, we love reading your comments and answering your questions too, so please feel free to leave either or both in the space provided below.

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Posted in Bella BiFold, pattern design, PPC26, purse pattern chronicles

Kat

4 Comments

Mary Larson on April 11, 2022 at 7:05 am

Great job, everybody! Love seeing your renditions!
Nancy+Rosa on April 11, 2022 at 7:17 am

Beautiful bags, ladies & Ray! It is so much fun to see what everyone comes up with.
Mary B on April 12, 2022 at 1:26 pm

I love seeing the tester’s creations – always such a wide range of fabric selection and usage, and always such quality sewing. My favorite part with the Bella Bifold has been seeing the choice of fabrics for the fold/card slot area. It’s a fun surprise, every time I see the outside photos and then the ‘open’ shots. That’s a place where one can make something very personal, just by the choice of color and design. Ray’s cats would make me feel that I was being watched, every time I popped that bag open. Typical cats 🙂 Maybe that’s a good thing – maybe they’re asking if I really need to be spending that money! hahahaha!
- Kat on April 12, 2022 at 5:34 pm
  
  I agree, the insides are always my favorite
  🙂