7 reasons why you should print sewing patterns yourself | Tips & Tricks

Printing sewing patterns yourself: It can be quite a hassle. But there are good reasons why you should do it anyway. What are they? I'll tell you in this blog post.

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1. Printing sewing patterns yourself saves money

Printing costs money? Of course, nothing comes from nothing! But having your sewing patterns plotted is much more expensive. The costs usually range between 5 and 20 euros. For this reason, you might be tempted to choose cheaper fabrics when buying materials. My tip: If you really want to save money, print your sewing pattern yourself and use the money you've saved for high-quality fabrics^* instead. Then you'll enjoy your new garment for much longer.  

2. Changes can be made directly

It's a really good idea to make changes directly after assembling the pattern. For example, I look at the finished measurements and immediately adapt the pattern to my body size of a good 1.83 m. This means that where the pattern allows it, I add 8 - 10 cm in length. I usually distribute this length so that the waist sits in the right place. Sometimes I also sew a muslin model from the "unaltered" pattern and then see what changes I want to make to the sewing pattern.  Then I cut here and there, change a bust dart, enlarge or reduce a neckline. Whatever is necessary at the time. I probably wouldn't do that with an expensive plot. But it's precisely these changes that turn handmade into real custom-made. A pattern specially tailored to you. And you can see it in the finished piece, I bet?

3. Print sewing patterns as many times as you want

You only get one version of a plot. Okay. You can trace it. By the way, I do that with my self-printed patterns too. The super pattern, adapted to me as described above, is traced and used. I keep the print with all the changes safe. But sometimes you need a second print. Often it's enough to print the sewing pattern in "normal quality". Every professionally created sewing pattern should actually be designed that way. You can download instructions here on how to change the printer settings: Instructions for changing printer settings  

4. Get to know the new pattern

One aspect that is important to me as to why I like to assemble my sewing patterns myself is that I can familiarize myself with the peculiarities of the pattern step by step (or rather: sheet by sheet). I look at where the markings and pass marks are, how the darts are to be worked, whether zippers or button plackets are provided, and how the seams are supposed to be. All this makes the work easier for me when sewing later, because I have simply already visualized all the work steps in my head beforehand. This means, conversely, that my error rate is very low. :) For example, with my LOVIS softshell jacket, I cut the sleeves longer right away. You can get the pattern for the softshell jacket here:  

5. As eco-friendly as possible

Something you can hardly influence when having a plot made is the environmental friendliness of the process. This is completely different when printing the sewing pattern yourself. Here you can use printer toner refills or recycled paper that didn't require cutting down a tree. I think that sewing patterns stand out best on white paper. But there is also classic white paper^* that is made from 100% recycled paper.

6. From dream to dream garment

Do you know what I especially enjoy? Visualizing my finished garment in all its details while gluing and preparing the sewing pattern. Then I remember that I might add a contrast stripe here and there, incorporate a small label, or make a seam decorative. In this way, my sewing results become more detailed and better thought out. Because I mentally play through the entire work process. I am then much more confident during implementation. And that makes you want more.  

7. Get started right away instead of waiting

Actually, I have nothing against plotted sewing patterns. What really annoys me is the waiting: When I come across a pattern that I really like, I don't want to wait. Then I want to get started and sew right away! Waiting time that I cannot influence myself sensitively disturbs my workflow, my work rhythm, my sewing feel. Maybe it's also because I have little patience. :) That's why gluing myself makes me much more satisfied than having a plot made.  

Bonus: How can you easily print and glue sewing patterns together?

For the sewing patterns from SewSimple, the following applies: Print the sewing pattern on A4 without any scaling. Check that the control square is 3 x 3 centimeters. For bag patterns, we sometimes also use 4 x 4 cm as a measure. Glue the sides of the sewing pattern together along the narrow black border, and only then cut out the individual pattern pieces. A really hot tip by the way is to cut the sides diagonally back to the border at the corners. Then you can assemble the borders neatly and won't have to do as much fiddly cutting. Did this post help you? Feel free to write your opinion in the comments! Happy simple sewing, your Sabine