[dsaxten]

If I want to make two different sizes, say a 2 and a 4 of the Music Box Jumper do I need to buy two patterns? If I cut out for the 4 first I have cut off some of the 2 also…..

[Rebecca W]

nope- you can just buy one. people i have different ways of doing this, but I use pattern ease- i find it in the interfacing section of joanns- and trace my sizes with a sharpie and cut them out of that. Sometimes the sharpie can go through to the pattern, but if you use wax paper between the pattern ease and patten then that protects your pattern.

[dsaxten]

wonderful. Thank you!

[Loralee]

I use pattern ease as well and I love it! It also makes it easy to lengthen or shorten a pattern, if need be. And I just use a trusty sharpened old pencil to trace the pattern. It works really well.

[sayiamyou]

My sewing shop has Sew Do. It’s thin and I just use an ink pen to trace my sizes. The pen doesn’t bleed and my pattern is never ever cut!

[janimal]

I’ve been tracing using refrigerator paper. Which you can also iron on to cut around and then peel right off!

[Rpankow]

Ok Ladies:

I guess I’m just lazy or cheap, but I’ve always taken my multi-sized patterns and folded the areas under that I don’t need. If I’m on a curve, I’ll just make a few cuts to ease out the curve. It’s been working for me all these years I guess. I know things will have to change once I get my Ottobre patterns up and running, but the lazy bug just tells me to photo copy the patterns and cut. Being full time away from home, I need to reduce time anywhere I can.

[JohannaO]

I’ve been using freezer paper to trace my patterns, and then I can iron the pattern onto my fabric, and I’ve totally eliminated the need to pin anything down. That cuts massive amounts of time out of my prep work. I’ve also been rotary cutting 2-3 different fabrics at the same time of my favorite patterns, so I can make little “kits”, which also cuts down on my prep time.

[Loralee]

Oh, I love anything that cuts down on time/prep work. How do you copy or trace the pattern onto the freezer paper since it is opaque? How many uses do you get out of one copy with the freezer paper?

[JohannaO]

This is really geeky, but… here goes. I have covered my entire formal dining room table with butcher paper. (We use it once or twice a year.) I’ve found that once I have a white background under my patterns, I can see all the dark lines of the patterns through even the thickest of papers. (I started tracing patterns on very thick children’s coloring paper, moved to butcher paper, tried parchment paper, and have loved freezer paper.) I have two different rulers, a 3×18 quilting ruler with lines @ 1/4 intervals and a styling design ruler for expanding/moving armholes and hips. I’ve found the curves to be very helpful when I trace and rotary cut.

Once I iron the freezer paper, I can get up to four uses, depending on the lint left behind from the fabric. I think it would be a one time thing on fleece or flannel, but with denim and quilting material, I’ve once ironed it on four times before it lost its tack. (I made four different sets of pockets for a pair of Sandbox pants because my son didn’t like my designs. Ug.)

[janimal]

I have been able to see through the refrigerator paper well enough to trace.

Like JohannaO I have found I can iron on the patterns over and over. I’ve used it on felt and fleece and still gotten more uses from one tracing. And even after it can’t be ironed on anymore, you can still use it. If not ironing onto the fabric, I like to use pattern weights and trace around with a water soluble fabric marker then cut on the lines.

Refrigerator paper is cheap and available at the grocery store – a big plus! It’s also great to make fabric stencils. Cut out the stencil, iron it on, and you have a good enough seal to then paint with fabric paints. Peel off the freezer paper and voila!

[badskirt]

I have a multipurpose printer/copier. I photocopy each section that I need for the size I need. Then I cut that out.

For the main bodice sections, I often need 2-4 photocopies to get the whole thing in, but this is easily taped together into a complete piece. In order to make sure I’m lining things up correctly, I put a few extra strips of tape on the actual pattern to use as alignment guides along with the notches and labels already there. Once together, I compare to the actual pattern to make sure I haven’t gone crooked or omitted a bit.

With the largest size pattern sheets, I sometimes cut them into pieces to make putting them on the printer more wieldy. Still, my pattern is basically intact and I haven’t cut through any actual pieces or sizes.

Multifunction printer/copiers are dirt cheap these days and it’s worth every penny in terms of time and hassle saved.

[mela]

I never thought of myself as being particulary particular, but I see that I am. I love tracing patterns as part of my whole process. Well, love might be too strong of a word. I appreciate it. It is something I like to do when the TV night is good. I can trace in the living room with my DH, as opposed to my sewing time that I spend solo in my sewing room. I am still being productive, but also “social”.

I tried the copier thing, but I find that I love using Pattern Ease. I stock up when Joann’s has their 50% off interfacings. It is soft, easy to trace, holds up to infinite use, and I don’t have to worry about my scissors and paper. I have to admit, I have a thing against tape. I hate when I have to alter my traced patterns and tape in a section, so I’d rather not use it. it messes up the give of my pattern ease. I love that everyone has such different techniques that all lead to such beautiful finished products!

[Anonymous]

I always trace my patterns unless it’s one-off type thing like a Halloween costume or something. Even then I sometimes trace just because I prefer it. I have used pattern-ease but prefer the swedish tracing paper. I always trace using pencil. I don’t like working with the tissue patterns anyway and love that I can iron my traced patterns each time I use them. SO much nicer than crinkled and creased tissue paper. I’ve also saved my fabric on occasion when I’ve started to trace the wrong curve. Would be terrible if I were cutting instead of tracing.

[ccnigro]

amen to the swedish tracing paper. sahmcolorado, we might be kin 🙂

I do alot of my tracing with an air or water soluble marking pen – then I can mark the new traced pattern with colored sharpies (purple is my fav) however I need to mark it up.