Has anyone ever found any clothing patterns that were actually nice?

[HeadFairy]

I quite fancy trying my hand at making a few things, but everything I've looked at is so dreadful.

Is there such a thing as a website that sells clothes that someone under the age of 70 might want to wear?

quite tempted to treat myself to this next payday

I know what you mean about patterns looking awful, I think the main pattern companies are clueless about design. Not that I'm an expert.

I googled 'contemporary sewing patterns' and this list of websites came up

agoodwardrobe.com/2011/12/22/independent-pattern-designers/

Sorry, posted too soon. I haven't looked at many of the links but there might be something of interest there!

ooh, thanks for those! I'm going to spend some time going through them all :o

Have a look on pinterest there's loads of contemporary patterns on there. Also think a lot of it is down to the fabric. The shape of the clothkits one is ok it's the pattern that's a bit busy.

There are loads of great patterns available, have a look at the ones on the Village Haberdashery or Ray Stitch or any of the other modern fabric stores online. Also you can download patterns eg Wiksten tank or on this site. Tilly and the Buttons (from great British sewing bee) had some lovely patterns too. Pinterest is a good place to start.

I think it is sometimes the fabric chosen that makes the patterns look so bad. If you do find one that may be ok try googling the pattern number, it often brings up images from sewing pattern review and/or blogs so you can see what other people have done and it often looks a lot better. The A line skirt pattern they used on GBSB looks awful on the packet but after watching what the competitors did with it I am tempted to get it.

oh dear SilverSixpence, you have introduced me to some veeeery tempting websites! I'm going to have to sell a child or two to pay for all the fabric and patterns I want to buy! Thanks so much.

I'm sure you're right Caffinequeen, I'm going to have to get more imaginative!