Friday, June 5, 2009

Tracing a pattern tutorial

Hello! I’ve recently branched out into sewing clothing! It’s scary. I started with this tutorial and while the pants fit I knew I was missing some experience to make them fit really well – so I decided to bite the bullet and buy a pattern. I was very surprised to find that patterns can be bought for $2.49 up to around $12.00 at my local big box store! Since I was/am such a novice I decided to start with one in the $2.49 range. These are the two that I picked -

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I decided to start with the pants pattern since I’d tried that one with the tutorial. . . it was easy! Now, for the tutorial – the pattern is sized for small to xlarge and I thought it would be great if I could make these lounging pants for the whole family. . . then I opened the pattern and realized that I’d have to cut out just my size. . . duh!! Well, I’m too cheap/thrifty to buy a pattern and cut it out for every size so this is what I decided to do – I taped some freezer paper together to get the width of the pattern, then layed it on the floor, then smoothed the pattern over it and anchored the corners with my bribes pop cans. Then I traced out my size (medium) with a sharpie marker – the marker bled right through the tissue of the pattern onto the freezer paper – easy peasy!! The second photo shows the freezer paper before I cut it out -

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Anyways, it sewed up very easily!!! Here is the finished result – my youngest took the picture – sorry for the blur – but we did have fun! You’ll notice that the legs are really wide – I like that but may have to take them in for the boys – also I made mine cropped – it’s summer!!

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I’ll try the shirt next – that kinda intimidates me!! Happy crafting!

7 comments:

Julie said...

This is a great idea, the tracing. I am going to have to try it. Love the pants too except the color, now green would be better. :o) You'll do fine with the shirt. Follow the directions and if you have questions your mama or I can help you.
I hope that your grandma is okay. Talk with you on Monday. Take care!

misschris said...

I always trace through with a sharpie to FP as well. It does work like a charm. :)

MelancholyMiss said...

This is a great idea, i found this by googling :) I dont have any tissue/tracing paper and wanted to trace off a pattern "right now"! ;)

sewb7 said...

Nancy's Notions sales a tool for tracing patterns. It works like a rotary cutter, only it's a marker. I've used one for years - works great!

Evie said...

I too found this by Googling :)
I just have a quick question, sorry if this is stupid: What is freezer paper?

Anonymous said...

There are no stupid questions. Freezer paper is for wrapping meat or other foods to put in a freezer. My question would be where do you get it besides online?

Anonymous said...

Another idea is to use the blank side of gift wrap paper. I like the kind that has the one-inch grid printed on the back. I picked some up after Christmas for 50 cents per roll.

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