Patterns

Where can I buy patterns?

There are a number of companies which sell a wide variety of sewing patterns. Some of the companies listed below are publishers. Others merely resell patterns. You'll no doubt find patterns from at least some of these companies at your friendly neighborhood fabric store.

Amazon Drygoods

2218 E 11th Street, Davenport, IA 52803
800/798-7979
There is a charge of several dollars for the Amazon Drygoods catalog but it's reported to be well worth it.

Butterick

http://www.butterick.com/
Butterick and Vogue are produced by the same company. They use the same sloper, so they have the same fit. Butterick is the line of patterns for more everyday purposes.

Burda

GLP International
153 So.Dean St.
Englewood, NJ 07631
Tel: 201-871-1010
Burda patterns did not, until recently, include seam allowances, so you would have to add them yourself before cutting. New Burda patterns, which are indicated with a star in the pattern book and which come in paper (rather than plastic) envelopes, include seam allowances. The patterns included with the various Burda pattern magazines do not include seam allowances.

Burda menswear patterns, in my experience, don't run to very large sizes, so larger men (and anyone buying patterns for them) may wish to avoid their clothing patterns. This is rather a pity, because they have rather nice looking menswear.

Burda patterns tend to be stylish and interesting. They also have a reputation for making womenswear that fits better than average on the lower body. Their pattern magazines are equally stylish and interesting, and unlike American pattern magazines, Burda magazines include the patterns for the garments they show. Burda also publishes Burda Anna magazine, with attractive home decorating craft projects and knitting patterns. Note that a few of of Burda's less popular magazines are published exclusively in German, so if you don't read German you will need to be able to make do with just the pattern and not the instructions. (Their pacakged clothing patterns are sold with instructions in the local language, so that is not a concern.)

Lois Ericson's Design&Sew

http://www.designandsew.com
[Tom writes:]
This is one of those pattern companies that really aggravates me that all of their designs are for women, because everything is so fabulous I would love to have such marvelous clothes. There are only 19 patterns (as of 4/6/98) but they're all wonderful. Ms. Ericson is a frequent contributor to Threads magazine, and you'll find her fantastic garments in the articles.

Elizabeth Lee Designs

http://www.snj.com/eldesigns/
"Patterns for the Breastfeeding Mother and her Child"
[Tom writes:]
These patterns are often recommended on the sewing newsgroups, apparently because they seem to have a variety of tasteful patterns to meet the needs of breastfeeding mothers.

Folkwear

http://www.larkbooks.com/
This acclaimed line of patterns is back in print, and you may request a catalog from the new publisher, Lark Books, by email. (note: I filled out their form to request a catalog and got a catalog of their books, not including the patterns. I'm given to understand that you have to email them and ask for the pattern catalog specifically.)

Harper House

http://www.longago.com/
Past era style patterns.

Kwik*Sew

http://www.kwiksew.com
Many people like the fact that Kwik*Sew patterns are printed on much nicer paper than the standard pattern tissue, and usually include all available sizes. They often have patterns for very large size people. They have a good collection of menswear. (Their selection of mens casual wear is unrivaled among major pattern companies.) They also have a fair number of patterns designed for easy construction with sergers. Their designs tend more toward casual clothing and activewear. They're the only major pattern company with patterns for a variety of undergarments.

McCall's

http://www.mccall.com/
McCall's patterns tend toward rather boxy clothes... which is great if you have a rather boxy body, as one of your authors does. They have a lot of patterns where they take one basic garment and include a variety of minor variations, so that you can mix and match pieces like collars or cuffs or decorative details to get the garment you want. They often have simple yet nice dresses.

Nancy's Notions

http://www.nancysnotions.com/

The Sewing Workshop

http://www.sewingworkshop.com
[Tom writes:]
The Sewing Workshop offers a variety of very interesting womens' garments. The designs are unusual, and despite illustrations which may make them look blocky or weird or unpleasant, when made in actual fabric the garments drape beautifully and appear quite flattering. They're favorites among authors in Threads magazine, so if you have back issues of Threads, look for the garments.

Simplicity

http://www.simplicitypatt.com/
Simplicity is often criticized for making patterns for shapeless tentlike garments, but really, they have a lot of nice patterns too. Simplicity also publishes New Look brand name patterns.

Smoke and Fire Company

1-800-SMOKE-FI
Smoke & Fire Company carries a number of patterns for American Revolution era garments and some faux-renaissance garments, as well as books about same, various notions, pre-made-garments, garment kits, and a lot of other stuff.

Stretch And Sew

http://www.stretch-and-sew.com/
Stretch And Sew has a lot of activewear and casual clothes patterns designed primarily for stretch knits. They advertise that their patterns include all available sizes.

Used patterns

http://www.tiac.net/users/misch/patterns.html

Vogue

http://www.voguepatterns.com/
Butterick and Vogue are produced by the same company. They use the same sloper, so they have the same fit. Vogue is the dressier line of clothes. Many Vogue patterns are designed by major fashion designers - the pattern catalog will indicate these patterns. This gives them a particularly stylish range of patterns for women. They have also recently started a line of reproductions of their vintage patterns from the 30's and 40's, which still look fresh and attractive today. Vogue also has an excellent, if small, line of menswear, including a number of suit patterns.

Where can I get free patterns on the web?

There are a number of sources for free patterns or free pattern drafting instructions on the web.

Mens' swimwear patterns

http://geocities.com/thestitchboy/
[Tom writes:]
These are designed for men with really good physiques.

Sloper generator

http://www.panix.com/~aqn/tailoring/

Where can I get patterns for Star Trek uniforms?

Official patterns for Star Trek uniforms are available through Lincoln Enterprises at http://www.roddenberry.com/

What size pattern should I use? or
How come my size is larger in patterns than it is in the clothing store?

Once upon a time, a long time ago, the US Government came up with a set of standardized sizes. They did this by doing a study of people and what proportions most commonly went together, and producing a set of standard sizes corresponding to common sets of proportions. Everyone used these sizes. You could buy one garment in one place and a pattern in another and if the sizes were the same they would fit together. The world was a bright and happy place.

Then clothing manufacturers discovered that women like to think of themselves as being thin, and believe that a smaller size number means they're thinner and better. They also learned that women will pay more for a smaller size number... so if their size on the standard sizing charts is 18 and you offer them a size 18 dress that fits for $50 or a size "12" dress that fits for $300 they'll pay the $300 and try to convince themselves that they're really a size 12 and that the manufaturers of the $50 dress must be wrong because they're cheap. Clothing manufacturers all began to create vanity sizing, and the more you're willing to pay, the smaller your size number is. Soon there was no real standard sizing, and the world was in chaos.

Yet, despite all this turmoil, clothing pattern companies have largely stuck to the standard size charts. Vanity sizing doesn't earn them any more money, so they don't bother.

So, to determine your actual size in patterns, first you look in the pattern book and find the pattern company's sizing charts. These are often found in the back of the pattern book. In the sizing charts you will see what measurements the pattern company uses to determine the size of the garment. (For women, this is often bust, waist, and hip. For men, this is often chest and waist, and may include inseam.) Some pattern companies even go to the trouble of publishing a "how to measure yourself" guide in the pattern book.

Using a measuring tape, take your measurements. Compare your actual measurements to the sizes in the chart. If you're lucky enough to correspond exactly to one of the listed sizes, that's your size for that pattern company. (There isn't a lot of variation in numerical sizes between pattern companies in your author's experience.) If you don't correspond exactly (and many people don't), you have several choices. You could just buy the pattern corresponding to your largest measurement and then live with everything else being a bit big or alter the garment. You could choose the size which corresponds to most of your measurements and then alter for the remaining measurement. You could choose the size of your most problem measurement and alter the rest, on the theory that that way you don't have to alter for the one that's the biggest problem. Many women who find that their bust measurement is the one different from the others choose the size that they would wear if they wore a b-cup (the standard cup size) and alter the bust to fit.

Simple S-M-L-XL type sizing varies more from pattern company to pattern company, so when purchasing patterns that use that sizing scheme, make sure to look up what these sizes mean and find out which one you should wear based on your actual body measurements.

Where do I get the pattern for the Kinsale cloak?

It's available from Folkwear patterns, published by Lark Books, at http://www.larkbooks.com/

It's also available through Keepsake Quilting at http://www.keepsakequilting.com/

Why everybody's so excited about it, I have no idea. I have the pattern and don't find it that thrilling.

Isn't it OK if my friend gives me a copy of the pattern they bought?

No - that's illegal. Sewing patterns from any major pattern company (and presumably from almost any minor pattern company) are copyrighted material. Duplicating the pattern and giving or selling the duplicate to anyone is a violation of copyright law. If you own a sewing pattern and want your friend to use it you may loan it to them or give it to them or sell it to them, but you must give them the original. You may make duplicates for your own use while you own the original (as a backup copy in case the original is damaged or to prevent the original from becoming damaged), but if you sell or give away the original you must either include all duplicates you have made or destroy them.

As many people are quick to point out in rather heated argument about this topic, no, the pattern company isn't likely to come after you for making one copy of one pattern, but that doesn't mean doing so is legal, and if they found out about it they could come after you for it, so your author strongly recommends that you don't do it. Further, while you may think "oh, but it's just me", if too many people do this the pattern company won't realize sufficient profit to stay in business and we might not have patterns any more.

Lastly, PLEASE do not make offers or discuss on the newsgroup this sort of illegal duplication of patterns - that sort of thing has the potential of getting the FBI interested in the newsgroup, and it seems silly to have the US government investigating us all for sewing.

How do I preserve my patterns? That tissue looks awfully flimsy.

It is. You will wear it out quickly if you re-use it a lot. There are several ways to preserve your patterns.
• Many contributors to alt.sewing and rec.crafts.textiles.sewing recommend gently ironing the pattern tissue onto freezer paper with a warm iron.
• You can fuse the pattern tissue onto fusible interfacing. You probably shouldn't use steam for this no matter what the interfacing instructions say.
• There are commercial pattern tracing materials available, usually a form of nonwoven nylon (they just spray nylon fibers onto a flat surface) thin enough to be semitransparent. You can trace the pattern onto this and then store the original for safekeeping.
• You can duplicate the pattern pieces in something more durable, such as Tyvek.
• Some users apply spray-adhesive to cardboard and glue the pattern pieces to the cardboard, then cut out the pattern pieces from the cardboard. This yields rigid pieces which are nice to work with but difficult to store.
• Kwik*Sew brand patterns are printed on a sturdier, higher quality paper.

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