Interview with Petra Hofer (pepelinchen.de)

A highlight of the year, and we were quite excited: In autumn 2024, Petra from pepelinchen.de visited us.
Schnittmuster Berlin and pepelinchen.de have been collaborating intensively for years, and we have realized numerous incredibly great projects.

Petra and Ellen first met at the trade fair in Cologne in 2019.

After that, we saw each other briefly from time to time, but with the 480 km distance between us, meetings were rare. So it was a big "hello" when Petra walked through our glass door and her smile lit up our studio.

Over coffee and cookies, we asked her the questions that had always been burning in our minds.

What did you do before becoming self-employed and how did you get into sewing?

I worked for seven years as an industrial clerk in the private sector. In a world dominated by business attire and numbers, not creativity. Then I had two children, and my job at the time simply wasn't compatible with my daily life as a mother.
Since my husband is self-employed, I worked there for a while and during that time rediscovered sewing – quite classic for young mothers.

We live in a rural area and back then all the children in our village looked the same because the selection of children's fashion was... let's say... "limited".
I didn't like that, so I started sewing for my children.
This became noticeable in our rural area, and I was constantly asked about my children's wardrobe.
So, the first "orders" from friends followed, and I then started sewing clothes for their children as well.
However, this all came to an abrupt end during primary school, and "homemade" clothing was no longer so popular with my children.

So I started sewing bags. Not so easy when you live in an area where the nearest shop for eyelets, fasteners, straps and similar accessories isn't exactly around the corner.
That really annoyed me, and when I told my husband about it, he said, "Well, if it doesn't exist, then offer it yourself."
No sooner said than done: pepelinchen.de was born, although at first it only offered accessories - primarily for bags - and that went REALLY well.
It was so good that after 1.5 years I bought my first cotton fabrics to go with it. They were suitable for children's clothes and bags.
And then things suddenly took off so quickly that after two months we rented an office. That was in 2012.
At that time I also sewed bags and children's items myself and offered them in the online shop.

Pepelinchen used to stand for children's fabrics - when and why did you switch to women's outerwear fabrics?

Initially, I had no fabrics for women's outerwear, but concentrated on children's fabrics, as mentioned before.
And then, around 2015, I thought: why not also offer fabrics for women's clothing?

A market analysis showed that there were of course already a few providers, but not in the form I had imagined, and there wasn't such a wide range of products available.
So I started doing that and created a new, much more comprehensive online shop.
A physical store was never planned, because I've always been interested in online retail.

Why was the color consultation added, and did that change anything for you?

I booked the color consultation for purely personal reasons. There was no professional motivation behind it; I was simply interested.

But as I sat there absorbing all this information, reveling in the colors and possibilities, the idea struck me to combine the sale of fabrics with this color consultation service.

To me, the two things were very closely related, and my thoughts were racing.

This unexpectedly revealed the unique selling point of pepelinchen.de.

And speaking of "finding"... it felt like a reinvention!

I wanted to make women shine. With colors and textiles.

So I trained to become a color consultant and then...sorted fabrics according to color types. THAT was fun!

I originally just wanted to combine this with my textile offerings in the online shop, but then I kept getting more and more requests to offer personal color and textile consultations... several requests a week!
That was absolutely impossible, so I'm now combining these events with regular workshops.

What I find particularly pleasing is the incredibly positive feedback I receive from women.
They're delighted to now know which colors flatter their complexion and overall look, and they buy their fabrics directly from me based on their color type. It's a truly fantastic concept and makes me very happy.

What do you love about buying fabric?

I'm completely captivated by the different qualities and the vibrant colors. The feel of the fabric is especially important to me, and I know that's true for my customers as well. That's why we put so much effort into using photos and videos to convey online how a particular fabric behaves, feels, drapes, and has a certain volume. It's not an easy task, but we remain very creative in our approach.
Often, when I see a new fabric, I immediately have a vision of what could be made from it, and we convey this in our shop, but primarily on social media.

What is the biggest challenge for you with pepelinchen.de?

Finding the trend. I'm always very good at estimating which colors will sell well at what time, but it's very difficult with prints and patterns.

Every season we ask ourselves the same question: WHAT'S IN? Floral patterns, ornaments, stripes, checks???

And sometimes we're wrong about the structure of the fabrics. We think: cozy, but then a smooth surface is preferred.
And then I always have to decide between what is "trendy" and what I personally find beautiful.
A tightrope walk!
But since we consistently offer around 800 different fabrics, the range is actually broad enough.

You've already sewn over 50 of our patterns... That's truly incredible! But which patterns are your favorites?

Wow, this is going to be tough, but I'll give it a try: definitely the NURU trousers . I LOVE those trousers. Then the Paula blouse and the Roberta coat, or wait... before those come the Jagna trousers? Hard to say, because I also love my Ahlbeck trousers. My Benedikte jeans are practically worn out by now. And RONJA, I LOVE Ronja....

...and at that point we all just burst out laughing and left it at that.

In the end, neither Petra nor we were aware of HOW many of our patterns she had already sewn before we dedicated ourselves to this interview and the associated sale. AMAZING!

From March 27th to April 5th, 2025, almost 50 sewing patterns that Petra has already sewn and presented are on sale. Want what Petra has? Then head to the "Shop the Petra Hofer Look" sale!