Finally received some patterns I ordered from Butterick.com!

I’m super-excited to make B5559, Maggy London’s pintuck pullover dress. No zipper! Hooray for stretch pullover dresses! I bought some Ponte de Roma from Downtown Fabrics in purple (I just realized it’s the same colour as the model on the package). It was a tough choice between purple and a lovely chartreuse colour, but I figured I’d been going a little chartreuse-crazy lately and the purple would see me through more seasons than the more summery chartreuse.

I wasn’t too happy with the service from Butterick.com. It took them 3 days from the time I placed my order to the time I received notice that the 4 patterns had been shipped. That seems like a long time to find 4 patterns and pop them in an envelope. (Or maybe it just seems like a long time to an obsessive person like me — fair enough.) In the shipping confirmation email it said I would be sent a tracking number shortly. About a week later I emailed saying that I had never received a tracking number and they replied that they didn’t use tracking numbers for shipments to Canada and they were sorry about sending me the standard US email. But then here’s the weird part. The shipment was sent from Whitby, Ontario, which is a city less than 60 km east of Toronto where I am. They charged me $8 for shipping, but the shipping charge on the envelope was only $2.20. I don’t have a problem paying more than the actual mailing cost — I know there’s the cost of the envelope, and, you know, the saliva needed to seal it, and whatever — but that’s a bit spendy for one flat manilla envelope. It’s just frustrating that I had to pay US dollars and ‘international shipping’ rates for one lousy envelope of patterns that, as it turns out, was sent from just down the highway from me. WTF, Butterick.com?

I wish that of all the dozens and dozens of fabric stores on Queen Street West in Toronto, just ONE of them sold paper patterns. I don’t know of any stores in the downtown/central area of Toronto that sell them (which is why I figured buying them online and paying for shipping would be less hassle than getting into the car to go on a long-distance pilgrimage to buy them at the nearest Fabricland). It’s got me wondering whether it’s too much trouble and not enough profit for retailers to carry them or something. Know anything about that? Do you have trouble getting paper patterns where you live?