Where to Find Sewing Patterns: Vintage, Dress and PDF Patterns Compared

For a first dress, buy a current multi-sized paper pattern from a big pattern company or a PDF from an indie designer. Both list your size range, finished measurements and instructions up front. Vintage patterns are the best place to find period styles, but they are often a single size, can be sized very differently from today's, and may be incomplete. Whichever you pick, choose the size from your own measurements, not the number on the envelope.

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The five places to get a pattern, compared

Big-company paper patterns are the simplest. Simplicity explains that the envelope shows the size range, a difficulty rating, fabric amounts in yards and metres, notions, finished garment measurements and line drawings, and the instruction sheet comes inside with the tissue pieces. PDF patterns trade that for convenience: you print them yourself.

📏Check the size before you buy anything

Pattern sizes do not match shop sizes. Simplicity says patterns are based on standard body measurements, not ready-to-wear sizing, and that your pattern size may be one or two sizes larger than your shop size. For tops, dresses and jackets use your bust measurement; for skirts and trousers use your hip. Simplicity's Misses chart gives size 16 as a 38 inch bust, 30 inch waist and 40 inch hip, and size 12 as 34 inches at the bust (Simplicity).

Two more things to read on the envelope or product page:

• Finished garment measurements. Compare them with your body measurements to see the ease, the room added for comfort and the designer's intended fit. Simplicity says a close-fitting garment may have as little as 1/2 inch (12 mm) of ease and a very loose one 8 inches (20 cm).
• Multi-sized or single size. Current patterns are multi-sized, so if you fall between sizes you can blend from one size line to another. Many vintage patterns are one size only.

Vintage sizes

Never rely on a vintage size number alone. Past Patterns warns that vintage size numbers often differ from today's, that historical patterns were often drafted for structured figures with little ease, and that some are available in one size only and need grading. Measure your bust at the fullest part, your waist at the natural waistline and your hips at the fullest part, then compare with the pattern's own chart.

The label can also be off. American Duchess describes a pattern marked bust 30 that actually measured 29 inches, and notes that vintage waist and hip differences were bigger than the bust difference. Her method for enlarging adds a fraction of the difference at each seam, and suits differences of up to about 5 to 6 inches in total. For a bigger gap, buy a reprint in current sizes or a modern pattern.

Condition checks for vintage patterns

Collectors Weekly gives practical checks that apply to any second-hand pattern:

• Ask whether it is complete if you are paying more than a few dollars.
• Factory folded (unused, original tissue folds) leaves no doubt about completeness. If the seller does not know, check the instructions are in the envelope and compare the thickness of the folded tissue with the piece count on the envelope.
• Check the back of the envelope is intact; it lists the fabric amounts.
• Cut patterns can still be worth buying if every piece is there, but you will need to count. Sewers swapped pieces between envelopes, so a messy lot can hold a missing piece.
• Dates: McCall's is always dated, Vogue rarely was, and Butterick was undated until the late 1970s, so the era may need judging from the style.

Tissue is fragile. Collectors Weekly suggests tracing onto interfacing or tissue to protect an original you want to keep.

Printing PDF patterns correctly

PDF patterns are cheap to buy and quick to get, but a wrong print gives a wrong-sized garment. Simplicity's PDF guide says to:

1. Set the page to portrait and Actual Size (100%), not fit to page.
2. Print the first tiled page and measure the test square (1 inch on its patterns). If it is not exactly 1 inch, fix the print settings before printing the rest.
3. Turn off the size layers you do not need if the file has them, so you print only your size. Leave two layers on if you will blend between sizes.
4. Assemble the pages using the layout diagram and tape them together.

PDF files come as US Letter, US Legal and A4 for home printers, and many designs also come as A0 copyshop files printed on a 36 by 48 inch sheet at 100%. In Europe and the UK, A4 is the standard paper; in the US it is Letter. Check which your pattern includes before you buy.

Licence, instructions and the small print

Digital patterns are normally for private home use. Simplicity states its digital patterns are for individual private home use only, not for commercial or manufacturing purposes, and that digital patterns are not refundable. If you plan to sell what you sew, read the designer's licence first; terms differ by designer.

Check these before you pay:

• [ ] Your bust, waist and hip measurements fall inside the size range
• [ ] The finished garment measurements are listed
• [ ] It is multi-sized (or you are happy to grade one size)
• [ ] The instructions are included, with a layout for your fabric width
• [ ] Seam allowance: Simplicity's tissue includes 5/8 inch (1.5 cm) but does not print it, so read the instruction sheet for each pattern
• [ ] PDF: your paper size (A4 or Letter) or an A0 file, and layers
• [ ] The licence matches how you will use it
• [ ] Vintage: complete, factory folded or checked, back of envelope present

US and UK terms

Simplicity's envelope shows fabric in yards and metres. Expect US patterns to say pattern and tissue, with sizes such as Misses and Women's, and UK sellers to say paper pattern and give metres and A4. A shop's size 14 is not a pattern's size 14 in either country, so always go by inches or centimetres.

🛒What to buy, if anything

An e-book on pattern making and drafting, such as the ClickBank title "Sewing Pattern Secrets", is a different thing from a pattern: the seller describes it as a guide to drafting your own patterns, rather than handing you ready-made tissue. We have not tested it. A book like that can explain how to take measurements and build a basic block, which is useful if you want to stop depending on other people's sizing. It cannot replace your own fitting, a real size chart, or a pattern with printed instructions for a particular dress. If you only want to make one dress soon, a multi-sized paper pattern or a well-reviewed PDF is quicker. For general reading on fabric and sizing, our guides on how to read clothing size charts online and fabric labels may help.

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