Sewing Tip: How to Cut Out a Multiple Size Pattern

by Anne

Multiple-Size Patterns are Fabulous. I buy 1 dress pattern for my little girl and it comes in 5 different sizes! What a deal…but also what a pain! I hate ✄——- cutting them out, because it’s always a trick trying to figure out how to cut out that smallest size when you don’t want to ruin the pattern for the bigger sizes. Usually I end up folding the pattern over which works fine until you get to the curved parts—then it gets tricky and I usually start making little cuts in my pattern so I can get it to fold right. It usually turns out to be kind of a mess. Now, I vaguely remember in sewing class there was something about using tracing paper and one of those weird little bumpy rollers. (technical terms here??? anybody?) But just in case you don’t own those particular sewing supplies here is an alternative:

Just place a clear (thick plastic) garbage sack over your pattern and trace it –making sure to also trace any important markings and the size. That way you can store your plastic pattern in a separate ziplock bag or fold it up and put it back in with your original pattern so you can use it again later.