Thursday, March 3, 2011

How to List Your Vintage Patterns

Simplicity 9843
Nothing bugs me more than spending tireless hours pouring through listings and scouring shops looking for a specific pattern, only to find it buried amidst thousands of generic "vintage sewing pattern" descriptions. I absolutely despise listing title words like cute, sweet, lil, tot, frilly, frock, darlin, adorable, lovely, quick and easy. These descriptors waste valuable time when someone is looking for what you have to sell. You only get three seconds to tell a browser what you're selling before they move on, so give a collector or sewer what they want. "Super Cute Child's Quick and Easy Retro Dress and Smock Sewing Pattern" means squat to the buyer looking for Simplicity 9843, Girls Dress and Smock, c.1971, Size 6.

This is how you list to get buyers into your shop and to the listing they really want. List the manufacturer, pattern #, description from the envelope (please don't make up your own), size (actual size not descriptive word like toddler, girls, boys, tween, teen - that should already be in the description), copyright/print date or circa (if you don't know the print date). It doesn't really matter what order you list these items in so long as you list them all.
Butterick 9492
  • 1960's Butterick 4463, Girls Dress and Jacket, Size 5
  • 1964 Simplicity 5854, Size 3, Boys Suit Pattern
  • Toddlers' Yoked Dress & Slip, Butterick 9492, Size 1/2, c. 1968
  • 50's Toddlers' Playsuit and Coat Simplicity 2094 Sz 2
If you absolutely must add adjectives to your listing  - and sometimes you must - put it at the beginning of the listing title. For example...
  • Rare Vintage Girls' Dress with Detachable Collar and Cuffs, Simplicity 1254, Size 10, c. 1955
  • UNCUT Vintage 50's Girls Rockabilly Dress and Jacket, Advance 7706  Size 14
One could put "Rockabilly" as part of the description but keep in mind that terms such as Rockabilly, Atomic, Classic and Retro are subjective, even though they are indicative of the print era. Sites like eBay, Etsy and eCRATER, provide plenty of ways to use your descriptive words, simply add it with tagging.

Simplicity 2094
Keep your descriptions concise - eBay only gives you 55 characters for your listing title, make each one work for you. Vintage Embroidered Layette Set Butterick 6426 Size 1/2 ca 1960 will not fit in the space allotted shorten it appropriately...  VTG 60's Embroidered Layette Set Butterick 6426 6M. If your listing is going to be in the Collectibles > Sewing (1930-Now) > Patterns > Children category you can drop the VTG altogether, however if your listing is going to be in the Crafts category as well, keep it. 


Spell out the manufacture's name whenever possible for search purposes. Some collectors only want Simplicity patterns. However the abbreviations B, S, M, or A will work in a pinch. Also remember that it is not necessary to include the words vintage or pattern in your listing title, those should be included in your tags. If you categorize or tag your listings correctly you will not need to create verbose listings to attract customers.

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