My Favorite Sewing & Pattern Making Supplies

Here are some of my new favorite sewing & pattern making supplies, and why you may need them too!

I almost felt like “Oprah” when I said that….with the exception of the giveaway (for those of you that have seen the Oprah show know what I mean.) Some of you may be familiar with these supplies and some of you may have a need for them now, or in the future. Some of the items were suggested in the PDF pattern making workshop and of course I’m always on the lookout for items that are essential for doing a good job or that will make my life easier. All I can say after using these items is…”Why didn’t I think of that?” As most of you know I’m frugal so my first stop was Amazon.com.

I’ve shopped on Amazon.com so much that this year that I decided to become a prime member and now an *affiliate. The first time I ordered a prime item I received it the next day on a Sunday morning, and I’ve been hooked ever since. My husband liked to coordinate our orders in the past so that we could save on shipping costs and there are some products that you need to order over $35 to qualify for free shipping or next day shipping, which drove me crazy especially if I needed something immediately. Now if he needs something we don’t have to coordinate our order we can just buy when ever we need something.

So What are my Favorite Things?

I’ve shared my first favorite thing with you during 2013. The recycled brown paper drop cloth , which I purchased from my local hardware store “Lowes” costing between $5 to $10. I still have a small amount remaining in 2015, so it was definitely a great buy.

Now I’m not saying that I wont have a need for the brown paper in the future, but for now my new favorite paper is the *Medical Pattern Paper: 21″ x 225′ Single Roll of Patternmaking, Drafting, and Tracing Paper I found on Amazon starting at $10. I had to get use to the light weight consistency, because I’m so use to handling a heavier weight paper for drawing and storing my pattern designs. But now I need the light weight consistency for feeding it through a printer in order to upload my patterns in a PDF format. The paper is sturdy enough and thin that if you wanted to trace an existing pattern you could see right through it to copy any darts or notches you need to mark for later use. So both paper rolls in my opinion have different purposes and are a must have for pattern making or preserving your patterns!

I used the medical pattern paper for the first time to draw out my yoga bag pattern so that I can upload it into a PDF format later.

20151127_135108 — Medical Pattern Paper for Pattern Making

I want to focus on the *1 X Pattern Notcher in the photo below right above the tweezers used to thread your Serger. The pattern notcher punches notches on the edge of your pattern and can be used on your fabric too! It saves you a little time from cutting all those little triangles with your scissors. This one makes a 1/4 inch square-cut notch to mark your spot on sale for $5.95.

I also needed a new sketchbook preferably one with graph paper, but I also found one with 366 croquis templates that will inspire me to sketch more fashion designs. The black hardcover *Essentials Fashion Sketchbook (366 Figure Templates to create your own designs!) Fashion Sketchpad for $7.99 was a such a great deal that I couldn’t pass it up. Besides the proportional figures in varied poses the journal provides depictions of basic garments, body measuring tips and a fashion industry glossary from products to textile terms.

Okay, so don’t laugh at this next picture of my first sketch! The outfit is not bad, but I need to work on drawing faces. The face was so bad that I added more hair to cover up the bad drawing. I’m really considering making this jacket since fleece material is on sale now.

Next on my to do list is an assignment to create a sloper or block pattern from my measurements. I plan to use the pattern for my first fleece jacket design from my sketchbook. I will share how I use the *Dritz Styling Design Ruler and the *Dritz 24 in. Hip Curve Ruler to create my pattern using these rulers next week.