FEATURED SHOP HISTORICALLY INSPIRED PATTERNS

HISTORICALLY INSPIRED PATTERNS

Catherine with her Husband and Daughter

Catherine Dean is the owner of Historically Inspired Patterns on Etsy. She lives in a 1920's house on the Historic Register in Richmond, VA with her husband and their three year old daughter. 

McCall's 4049 

Catherine has been selling on Etsy since 2008. I got to know her in 2012 through Etsy. She has had several different shops over the years. She currently has 3 active shops with her pattern shop being her main focus. The other two are a destash shop, and a new fabrics and patterns shop. Catherine was selling vintage items, fabrics and supplies as well as upcycled jewelry. It was during a thrift shop hunt that she discovered sewing patterns and fell in love. She started collecting them until one day she realized they were taking over her office. Before she knew it, she had opened yet another shop. 

Working as a Museum Curator
for Historic Homes in Virginia

Now that you know about how she started selling patterns, you have got to read about who she is and everything she has accomplished in her life! 

Catherine is a Social Historian by trade. She is a wealth of information and is able to help other

McCall 6448

sellers with her knowledge of the correct methods of caring for vintage paper. A true romantic, Catherine has always loved old houses, period costumes, and anything else that painted a picture of "the way life used to be". 

In high school she dabbled in vintage clothing. By the time she was in college she worked in a costume shop, devoured books on social history. My appetite for vintage clothing had grown into a love for historical costumes as well as historic dance. 

Regency Dancing

While still attending college she decided that working in a museum would fit my passions well. She got a degree in Museum Studies and eventually landed a job as curator for the statewide preservation organization in Virginia. Catherine spent most of a decade working in Historic Houses in Virginia until she "retired:" to stay at home with her daughter. 

Today she still does some consulting work as well as running a wholesale jewelry business marketing to museum shops and of course, selling her patterns!  I'm also an active Babywearing Educator. She works to help families learn how to safely use a variety of baby carriers.  

DuBarry 2401B

She began selling on ETSY  as a way to pay for her first house in 2007. Once she decided to leave her day job, Catherine was able to spend more time working on my pattern shop.  As a result, Historically Inspired Patterns maintains an inventory of almost 2,000

Vogue 1549 
Diane Von Furstenberg
Wrap Dress

items. (plus lots more in various stages of preparation) and nearly 7,500 sales.  Her shop carries  a little bit of everything because she get bored quickly and likes the variety of switching from antique to vintage to out of print to contemporary. She is now branching out into doll patterns, kits, and                                                                  fabrics. 

Who wouldn't want to stay home? 

ETSY has made it possible for Catherine to supplement her family's income while being able to stay at home with her daughter while she is young. 

Catherine's Shop links:

HistoricallyPatterns

Pastcrafts
HistoricallyDestash
HistoricallyInspired  (Currently on hiatus)

Catherine is offering readers a discount. Use Coupon Code:
patternpatter10  good for 10% off through September 30 2014