One of the most exciting things to do when starting a new project is to find the pattern for what it is you are wanting to make. Not every project has a pattern, but a lot of them do. Quilts have patterns, clothing has patterns, and so on. Let’s talk about how to choose that pattern.
What do you want to make?
That’s the first step – what exactly are you wanting to make? You wouldn’t look at quilt patterns to make a skirt, so you have to decide what you want to do. At this stage, you will need to ask yourself a series of questions to really narrow down what it is you want to make. Let’s say you want to make a skirt. What kind of skirt? How long? And so on.
Buying a pattern
These days, patterns are mostly found online. While you can definitely find paper patterns at your local fabric store, it can be hard to find those stores. Online has probably the best access, and a lot of indie pattern designers will never be in stores anyway.
For clothing, probably the easiest place to start is with the Big 4 pattern companies. These include McCalls, Simplicity, Butterick, and Vogue patterns. I’ll be super honest, I kind of hate using Vogue patterns, but they do have some nice vintage patterns if you can get through the making.
For quilting, these tend to be more individual designer based. You can look at magazines or books in those local fabric shops. One of the biggest online places to find patterns would be Missouri Star Quilt Company. This is one of the times where Google is going to be your friend, unfortunately.
For anything else, you’re probably going to have to search online with a “insert your project here” pattern search. The Big 4 pattern makers so have some patterns for things like bags or home décor, but not a ton. Etsy also has a ton of patterns from small designers in one place, but sometimes they can be iffy as I find not all patterns are well tested.
Where do you find patterns? Share your resources if you have any I’ve missed, or your favorite designer!