Designer tips - Reducing your tech editing time
This might seem like an odd post topic for a tech editor to write, but I have been on the designer side too and know that you probably need to keep your costs low, so here are some tips for reducing your editing time.
Review the pattern with fresh eyes. Although it is impossible to spot all your own mistakes as you know what you are intending to say (which is why editors exist), you can often pick up on some typos and errors by leaving the text a day or two and then re-reading with fresh eyes.
If anything is still in progress on the first edit - photos, romance copy, schematic etc, let your editor know when you send the pattern over so they skip those comments.
If you send the pattern back for a second review (very much recommended), it is worth doing this within a week or two of the first edit if you can. Your pattern will be fresh in your editor's mind.
On that second review, if you have made any major changes it is is a good idea to add a note to your editor so they know to focus on that area - "I've re-worked the sleeve cap" for example.
You can do this at any point of the edit- if there is a particular area you want focused on you can ask your editor to look at it, it might just be part of the pattern that you need a hand with. And if there is something you are confident is fine you can tell your editor to skim it, like a chart motif you have used before or written instructions generated from charting software (these are honestly worth checking for style though).
It is worth having a style sheet, particularly if you are moving between editors. You can use this to check your work as well - have you used the same repeat style throughout? Are your spacings consistent?
And similarly it is worth having a note sheet for your self of recurring edits and things to check. For example, in my patterns I often forget to update the pattern name in the footer, so I have a note to check before I send it for editing.
Use of find and replace can speed up corrections if you change your mind on how you want to say something.
For pattern numbers, spreadsheets are your friend. They allow you to edit the numbers as you work through the pattern without having to redo all the numbers by hand and can reduce opportunities for errors to creep in.