“I always reply personally to each email I receive, but please be patient because I am often rushing to meet a deadline or am sometimes out of the office and need to rely on finding a Wi-Fi service. However, you can be assured that I answer every email, and aim to do this well within 24 hours of receiving it.

Before writing, do check that the answer to your question doesn’t already appear on the FAQ page or elsewhere within this website, and please take time to read through it all. Answers to more than 50% of the emails I receive are already given on the site. It’s updated regularly, so even if you’ve looked before you may still discover your answer or some new piece of information.

A HUGE number of queries relate to my licensed character patterns (Beatrix Potter, Brambly Hedge, Paddington Bear, Hanna Barbera, Bob the Builder, Fireman Sam, Alice in Wonderland, Dennis the Menace, Wind in the Willows, Wombles, Magic Roundabout, Rupert Bear, Mr Men and Little Misses, Bagpuss, Shaun the Sheep, Wallace and Gromit, Kipper, Thomas the Tank Engine, Teletubbies, Postman Pat etc.), and because the licenses that allowed these to be sold have now all expired they are no longer available, so I am unable to advise you where to find them and it’s pointless for you to write and ask. The very expensive licenses for all my character patterns were originally bought by the leaflet companies or magazines that published them, and I couldn’t afford to renew these, so it will never be possible to download licensed character patterns from my website, even though I own the copyright to the pattern instructions. If you are unsure if a character is licensed, then you can read about this on the FAQ page, and can download a free list of my work from the Alan Dart page as this will show you which of my patterns were licensed.

Similarly, if you are trying to find a pattern and can’t see it on the Toy Patterns page, then I have either not designed what you are looking for or, if I have, it is currently not available, and I don’t have an additional secret list or archive from which you can order, so PLEASE DON’T WRITE AND ASK FOR A PATTERN THAT IS NOT SHOWN ON THE TOY PATTERNS PAGE OF THIS WEBSITE. The page is updated regularly, so please visit often to see what has been added – it may even be the pattern you have been looking for. My sewn toy patterns are currently not available to download, and I am unable to supply them if you write and ask.

Finally, my patterns are ONLY written in English, and there are no foreign language translations available.”

To send an email:

Please make extra sure to check that the spelling of your email address is correct, otherwise Alan’s response will not get through to you, and please do take a few moments to READ THE INFORMATION GIVEN ABOVE before writing your message.

IF THE ANSWER TO YOUR QUERY IS ALREADY GIVEN ABOVE YOU MAY NOT RECEIVE A RESPONSE.