Do you ever see a sewing pattern and think to yourself, “I have to have it”? That was my reaction when I first saw Butterick 9561. I didn’t care that it was probably impossible to find, I didn’t care that it would probably cost a million dollars to buy from somewhere, I had to have it. The problem with that plan? it wasn’t for sale anywhere. I posted a plea to my favourite sewing group to see if anyone out there had a copy, and much to my surprise, someone came forward. It ended up not costing me a cent because we did a pattern swap. I had a stack of 1950s children’s patterns that I didn’t want, and she had a daughter who wanted new dresses. It was the perfect match. To this day, pattern swaps are still my favourite and I keep some rare but beautiful larger-sized patterns…