Ashley E Horne Before you cut a single piece of fabric, learn how to become a pro reading commercial sewing patterns. It will save you time, money, and most importantly fabric. Let’s go through this from envelope to final instruction so nothing catches you off guard mid-project.
Now let me paint you a picture. You have your fabric pre-washed and pressed. Your pattern pieces are cut out. You are ready. You sit down, sew the first two pieces together and then hit an instruction that reads like it was written in ancient hieroglyphics.
Sound familiar?
Here is what nobody tells you before you open that envelope. Reading a commercial sewing pattern is a skill. And just like sewing itself, it gets easier the more you do it. But there are a few things you can do right now to make the whole experience less like decoding ancient hieroglyphics and more like following an actual road map.
Read the entire pattern before you touch your fabric
I know. I know. You want to sew. But trust me on this one.
Read every single word from the list of pattern pieces all the way through to the final seam instruction before you cut a single thing. As you read, mark ANYTHING that doesn’t make sense. You can use a pencil directly on the instruction sheet or jot it down in a notebook. Either way, flag it now so you are not mid-project trying to figure it out with pins in your mouth and fabric slipping off the table. We’ve all done it, but we listen and don’t judge over here.
Use the general directions section of commercial sewing patterns like a dictionary
Commercial patterns have a general directions section and most people skip right past it. Don’t do that. This is where the pattern explains its own language. If you hit a term in the instructions that stump you, go back to the general directions first. Chances are the explanation is there in plain language. This section is especially helpful for understanding terms like staystitching, understitching, and ease, which show up constantly and rarely have an explanation in the step-by-step instructions.
The dotted pieces will confuse you. Here is how to handle them
Patterns use dots or shading to represent either the right or wrong side of your fabric and deciphering which is which can be genuinely tricky. Before you start sewing, go through the instruction diagrams and mark every dotted piece with larger circles, hearts, or whatever shape makes sense to your brain. Use a pencil so you can erase later. This one small step has saved me from sewing wrong sides together more times than I care to admit. Been there, done that, unpicked the whole seam.
Paraphrase every instruction before you sew it
If you get stuck on a specific step, stop and paraphrase it back to yourself out. Put it in your own words. Sometimes the act of rewording an instruction is what makes it click. Then before you sew, pin or clip your fabric pieces together check that everything lines up the way it should be before your needle touches the fabric. It sounds slow. It is actually faster than unpicking.
Do not forget the envelope
The pattern envelope is not just packaging. It tells you the additional notions you need beyond the fabric. Interfacing, invisible zippers, specific buttons, twill tape, etc. It is easy to miss something on the notions list I’ve done and then had to rush out to Joann’s (may she rest in peace) to hopefully find what I was looking. Last thing you want to do at night is run out of interfacing when you were so close to being done, so read the envelope BEFORE you go to the fabric store. Better yet, pull all your notions together and match them against the pattern instructions before you start.
The honest truth about commercial sewing patterns
Here is what I want you to remember. The instructions are not written against you. They just assume a shared vocabulary that you may not have yet. The more patterns you sew, the more that language becomes second nature. Until then, read everything twice, mark what confuses you, paraphrase before you sew, and check your notions before you start.
You will get there one seam at a time.
If pattern instructions have ever put you on the floor questioning every life choice you have ever made, Julissa is your people. She is my animated alter ego — currently sitting cross-legged on the floor, surrounded by pattern tissue paper, personally victimized by the words “ease allowance.”
Shop the Julissa Collection here.
Until next time…
