Start your sewing adventure with us.    Join Seamwork

  • What the rest of 2013 will bring…

    Now that we’re a little over halfway through 2013, I can honestly say that this has been the best year ever for CP. We’ve definitely had some moments of struggle in the last 4 1/2 years, like any small business. There was the time our first printer (long since fired) printed our covers backwards… then …

  • Colette Company Field Trip!

    We went to Sauvie Island to pick peaches and blackberries! This amazing island is just 30 minutes north of our office. You can pick fruit, veggies and flowers here, or bypass the manual labor aspect and just buy from markets. We wanted to spend some quality time together, so we opted for U-Pick. A sign …

  • Give us your thoughts & help build our new community!

    You guys might recall that we had a nifty little forum for a while, but had to close it due to the amount of spam we were getting. Unfortunately, since the forum used popular software, spammers were quite adept at gaming it. So we decided to close it for remodeling; and that’s what we’re doing, …

  • Studio sale this Saturday! Fabric + Vintage + More!

    It’s high time we cleaned out our studio. This Saturday, we’re having a huge huge sale to clean out our fabric stash, prop closet, and… pretty much everything else. I will be selling off a TON of vintage jewelery, purses, hats and other vintage bits and bobs we’ve used for photo shoots. We’ll also be …

  • Cupcake Pincushion Ring Winners!

    Here are the randomly generated winning comments for the Grey’s Fabric Cupcake Pincushion Ring Giveaway: Laura: I think any shop with a shop animal is awesome, so I learned that Grey’s is awesome! Kristin: I love the quote “I don’t have patience for ugly things”! And their weekly Crafty Foxes Sewing Club…great name! And I …

  • A new partnership program on the Coletterie

    Over the last four years, we’ve worked with some amazing small businesses. The independent fabric stores that stock our patterns often carry amazing fabrics and supplies, and have the kind of caring service you only really get from independent businesses. We’ve even had the chance to meet many of the shop owners and staff in …

  • How our sewing patterns are made

    I’m a very process-oriented person. Yes, it would be nice to be brilliant, creative, responsible, detail-oriented, alert, articulate… and to be that way all the time. But in the real world, we are all human. We all make mistakes, forget to pay attention, or have trouble digging up new ideas. That’s when I find it …

  • July Needlework Night, A Thank You Note

    I just wanted to quickly thank the lovely ladies who showed up for July’s Needlework Night. While Sarai and I were mostly caught up in their great conversation and our hemming work, we managed to snap a few great photos to share with you all. There were a lot of embroidery and crosstitch projects in …

  • July Needlework Night next Thursday 07/18/2013

    I can’t believe how fast July is zooming by! Please join us for another installment of Needlework Night at Colette Patterns World Headquarters. We’re doing it a little earlier in the month this month, since I will be out of town the following week and didn’t want to miss the fun. We had a lot …

  • Needlework Night at Colette Patterns!

    I’ve been talking about this forever, but we’re finally going to do it… a monthly craft night here at the studio! Our first one will be next Thursday, June 27 at 6:30PM. Bring along your hand sewing, your mending, your knitting, or whatever other needlework you want (I plan to work on my quilt or …

  • Thank you! (and reminder: 15% off ends today!)

    I wanted to thank all of you for the warm response you gave Hawthorn this week. We are thrilled that so far it seems to be just as popular as Laurel, which was our most popular pattern yet! Next week, I’ll be announcing all the details for the sew-along, and the accompanying sewing contest that …

  • Hawthorn: Behind the scenes, outtakes, and bloopers

    I wanted to share some cute behind the scenes photos with you all from our latest photoshoot. Scroll down to the bottom for a silly blooper (that thankfully occurred towards the end of the shoot)! We were very lucky that this happened after we’d shot lots of photos of the white seersucker version…

  • Behind the scenes: May on Instagram

    As always, May is a very colorful month in Portland. My garden is overflowing with roses and peonies right now. It’s been a super busy month in the studio. Between the Quilt Market party and getting a new pattern out to print, our serene studio has been just a wee bit more chaotic and messy …

  • Inside a designer’s studio: A visit with Alyson Clair

    I recently paid a visit to the studio of Alyson Clair, designer of Clair Vintage Inspired. Alyson specializes in adorable knit dresses, designed and produced here in Portland. It’s fascinating to me to see the process of a production designer, and how their challenges are both the same and different from my own. Small designers …

  • Our party with Amy Butler

    Quilt Market came to Portland this Spring. For those of you who don’t know about it, Quilt Market is a twice yearly sewing industry trade show, the largest of it’s kind. We thought about having a booth, like we did a couple years back. After all, so many wonderful people would be there! That’s really …

  • Thank you to the contest sponsors!

    When I first decided to do a sewing contest for the Laurel dress, I sent an email out to our retailers asking if anyone would like to participate by contributing prizes. I had no idea how many wonderful shops from all over the world would sign up. Truly, the reason the contest became so big …

  • Behind the scenes: April on Instagram

    I’m sick this week (boo!), so I’ll keep this quick. In fact, that’s fitting because this month seemed to fly. We had such a great time traveling this month and meeting so many friendly new faces, but it’s good to be back home amongst my cats and flowers again. There’s nothing quite like Portland in …

  • New York Pt. 2: Pins & Needles, Mood + More

    Nothing will make you feel like a slob more than a trip to New York City after a long winter spent in the soggy northwest. Looking around, I found myself wondering, where are all the leggings? The rainwear? The FLEECE? I suppose you get sort of inured to what’s around you. I’d forgotten that there …

  • New York Pt. 1: Party at Brooklyn General Store

    If ever there was a sister city for Portland, it would have to be Brooklyn. I know both places are considered unbearably hip these days. But it’s not just that. There’s something about the warmth and creativity of the people in both places that makes me say this (yes, I just called new yorkers “warm”). …

  • Behind the scenes: March on Instagram

    I’d forgotten what a beautiful month March can be, full of blossoms and the very occasional day of sunshine. We did lots of driving, with trips up to Seattle, the charming coastal town of Astoria, and a day trip to Mt. Hood. After releasing Laurel, these were much needed breaks. I also started working on …

  • Behind the scenes with Laurel

    Just wanted to share a few extra behind the scenes shots from our photo shoot with the lovely Jade Sheldon and Cory Burnsed and model Alex Hagel. And if you missed the short video from the Laurel post on Tuesday, take a look: