Onion Patterns

This is a very nice shape for a stretch top
Source: shoponion.com

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The other day I posted pictures of two draped t-shirts I made using an Onion pattern. Onion patterns are fairly new to me and I discovered them more or less by chance on one of my trips to Norway. I thought I'd give you a little introduction to this pattern company since they do have quite a few lovely patterns, especially for using stretch fabric. 

I could use one of each of these dresses in my wardrobe
Source: shoponion.com

Onion is a Danish pattern company and their patterns can be bought at shoponion.com and a couple of other online sewing and pattern shops as well as in brick-and-mortar shops in Scandinavia and Germany. They have their own website in Danish which shows their entire collection and is much easier to navigate than shoponion.com but their patterns can't be bought directly from the website. I bought my small selection of Onion patterns in a craft shop in Norway. 

Onion patterns are very simple to the point of being minimalist. Their instructions, packaging and paper patterns are kept very simple and straight-forward. There are no photos of the sewn-up garments on the cover and the instructions are printed directly onto the cardboard folders that hold their pattern sheets. The patterns are printed onto a sturdy paper, not tissue paper, and are intended to be traced as they are overlapping and printed on both sides of the paper. They do, however, have some patterns which can be cut out directly as I've seen in their shop.

I think their patterns are intended to be sewn quickly and to be practical and demystifying, which they really are. This what I like about these patterns. There is no faffing around about couture finishes or complicated alterations and fit and there are never too many parts to a pattern, meaning no unnecessary facings or linings. You may say they are ideal patterns for the practical Scandinavian woman.

Their stretch patterns benefit from this practical approach as they are easy and simple to put together. Where Vogue might be extra cautious and ask you to insert a zipper into a stretch dress, Onion would never do such a thing. But with other patterns this practical approach is a little lacking and even somewhat impractical.

The two jacket patterns I have both come without lining patterns and no instructions for sewing in a lining. In my opinion a proper jacket should have a lining so if I wanted to make these jackets I'd have to draft the lining pieces myself - which is a little annoying.

Love the detail on this knit dress.
Source: shoponion.com

So far I can really only recommend their stretch patterns as these are the only ones I have sewn with. They were easy to trace with only few pattern pieces and sewed up really quickly. However, you won't end up with couture pieces following their instructions but with quick and practical pieces for everyday wear. If this is what you are looking for Onion might be a good choice for you.

Many if not all of their patterns can be ordered with English instructions. Mine are in Danish as I can read Danish easily but I have seen that the shoponion.com site offers up their patterns with English instructions.

Have any of you had experience sewing Onion patterns? Would you recommend any of their patterns? I have only seen Onion patterns talked about on German language blogs so far, so the company might not be very known outside of the Germo-Scandinavian area.