How to read a Sewing Pattern for Beginners - Creating your first sewing pattern!

- Welcome everybody, I'm TockCustom.

And on today's video, I'm
gonna show you how to read

and create your own pattern from scratch.

If you're new to sewing

and you feel comfortable
running a sewing machine,

getting a pattern is the best way

to create whatever you're trying to make.

But if you've never read a pattern before,

it can be kind of confusing.

So I'm gonna show you
everything you need to know

and keep it nice and simple.

All right, so to get started,
you're gonna need some kind

of a pattern of what you
want to make, a marker,

and something to cut with.

And I've got a ruler,

which really helps with making patterns.

The other thing I use for making patterns

is this easy pattern tracing cloth.

I'll talk more about this as
we get farther into the video,

but this stuff is perfect
for making patterns.

So what we need to look at
is the front of the pattern.

So this pattern comes with
four different variations

of a button down shirt.

Now I wanna make pattern A,

which is the short sleeve
button down collared shirt.

Something you need to
be aware of is the size

that comes in this pattern.

So this is small, medium, and large.

I'm a large, so I'm gonna be doing that,

but sometimes they'll
sell a different pattern

that has XL, 2XL, 3XL.

So make sure you get
the one that you need.

Now I'm gonna be doing pattern A,

which is the short sleeve button down.

So I need to look at the back of this now.

Now as you look at the back,

there's a ton of information here,

so I'm gonna cover what you need to know.

The first thing we need to look
at is the suggested fabrics.

And this recommends a
cotton, a cotton blend,

or something woven, something
that will not stretch.

Now these are all the different
styles of shirts here.

So I'm gonna be doing
shirt A, and I'm a large,

so I'm gonna be looking right here.

Now by shirt A, it says if
you have 45 inch wide fabric,

you need two yards of fabric.

And if you have 60 inch wide fabric,

you need one and 5/8 yard.

I always buy a little bit

of extra fabric just in
case I wanna pattern match

or if I make mistakes.

So when you're buying a
pattern at the fabric store,

this will tell you exactly
how much fabric you need

to complete your project.

Now after you find out
how much fabric you need,

it says that we need 7/8 of a yard

of fusible interfacing for shirt A.

Feasible interfacing is the stuff

that goes into the collar and the cuffs.

We'll talk more about
that in the next video.

Now we're gonna move
down a little bit here.

Now we're gonna look at
where it says notions,

and notions are anything
that's not fabric.

So for shirt A, it says I
need seven half inch buttons.

Other things that are notions
might be like a zipper

or Velcro or other things like that.

Now that is everything you need to know

from the front and back of a pattern

to make sure that you've
got the pattern you want,

the amount of fabric that you need,

any other notions that you have

in the style that you want to complete.

Now we're gonna take our
pattern and instructions out.

So this is the instructions,
and this is the actual pattern.

So we're gonna put the
patterns aside for right now

and just look at the instructions.

So I'm going to unfold this

and just look at page
one of our pattern here.

All right, now this is the
opening page of our instructions,

and I know it looks very intimidating,

but I'm gonna break this
down and make it very simple.

All right, so this first box shows you

all the different
variations of this pattern.

So I am going to circle A

because that's what we're gonna make.

And now as I move down,

this shows you all the different panels

that come in your pattern.

So what I wanna do is I'm gonna put a dot

next to everything that's in pattern A.

So the pocket, the front
panel, the flap I don't need

because that says D and E,

the yolk, I don't need, the
yolk back, I don't need,

the back, I do need, which is panel six,

sleeve A, I want that.

Then sleeve eight and nine,

I don't need those because
those aren't part of A,

I don't need a cuff.

I do need a front band or a placket.

I need the collar,

and I need the collar
band or collar stand.

So in this pattern,

I only need to cut out one,
two, three, four, five, six,

seven things to make this shirt.

Now the next thing is
at the top of the page.

So this is the pattern marking.

So you're gonna mark these
on your actual pattern.

And the first thing is the grain line,

which is this is the direction
in which you cut it out

on the fabric.

And I'll show you that as
we're making the pattern.

If you see this symbol,

which is kind of like a box

with two arrows pointing at a line,

that means you're gonna
cut it on the fold line.

Again, I'll talk more
about that as we get there.

If you see something that looks like this,

that is where you're
gonna do a button hole.

If you see an X, that's
where a button will go.

And then there's all
your notches and symbols,

and I will show you how these work

as we start making our pattern.

All these notches and
markings are very important.

So I'll make sure to point
that out when we get there.

The most important thing in this pattern

is this thing right here
that says seam allowance.

So the entire project is
gonna be done at a 5/8

of an inch seam allowance,

and that goes throughout
the entire project

unless otherwise indicated.

And I'll talk more about that

as we're cutting out the pattern

and as we're actually
putting this shirt together

in the next video.

Now we were just looking at these four

or five things right here.

Everything else up here, you
don't need to know right now.

So don't worry about that at all.

Okay, now we're at the part

where we need our actual pattern.

Now this is very thin paper,
so it can tear easily.

So be very delicate while
you're opening this up.

Now the reason I figure
out which panels I need

is because you're gonna get

all these different shapes,

and you need to know which
ones you want to cut out

for your specific project.

All right, so let's take a
closer look at panel six here.

So this is my back panel.

Something this particular panel has

is it has this fold line mark right here.

So that means I'm gonna
fold the fabric in half,

and I'm gonna put this right
on the edge of that fold

and cut this out so that it
opens up to one big back panel.

Now up here,

you're gonna see all these
different styles of lines.

Now these are your sizes.

So if I was making a small,
I'd follow this line,

but I'm making a large,

so I'm gonna be following the outside line

all the way around here.

If you see any marks that have your size

that corresponds with it,

so there's an L right
next to this triangle,

I'm gonna transfer that to my pattern.

And same thing with these notches.

Same goes for any double notches.

I'll show you how those work

when we get to that on
the pattern as well.

Now because I'm making
style A of this shirt,

I know that I need the sixth panel.

And this right here is
the whole back panel,

and this is panel number six.

So this is where our
tracing cloth comes in.

So what I want to do is
I'm gonna cut out a piece

of this tracing cloth here

so that it's tall enough
to cover that entire panel.

Also, it is important to know

that this tracing cloth
comes folded in half,

so you actually get a ton of
this material when you buy it.

Something else that's great
about this tracing cloth

is you can iron it so it's
not gonna warp or stretch.

And I'm gonna iron this
before I even start tracing

so that it's nice and smooth.

So now it's time to start
tracing out our panel.

I know it's hard to see on camera,

but this material, this
tracing cloth is transparent,

so I can actually see
the lines through here.

So all I'm gonna do is I'm just going

to trace the lines

all the way around the large size

from what I can see.

And this right here tells me,

there's my little mark that tells me

I need to cut this on the fold line.

So I'm gonna transfer that
to my pattern right here.

Okay, now I'm gonna go
back and I'm gonna mark

any notches or symbols.

Like right here, there's a
notch on the shoulder seam,

and I think there's a double notch here.

And right here there's a double notch,

and the notches are what help you match up

your panels of fabric
with the other pieces

so that everything fits together.

Something else I always
do is I always write

the number of the pattern on here

so that when we get to the instructions,

I know exactly what this is.

And I'm also gonna put
what the pattern is.

So I'm gonna put back,

and then I'm gonna write cut

one piece on fold,

and that's gonna tell me I just need

to cut this once on a fold line.

Now I'm just gonna finish tracing out

the rest of this real quick,
and I'll show you what's next.

One more thing that's smart to do

is to put the size of what your panel is.

So I always put large with a circle

so that I know if this ever gets mixed up

with my medium or small patterns

that I know that this
is the large back piece.

Okay, so now I'm gonna cut this out.

You can either use scissors,

or I like to use a rotary cutter.

So for straight lines,

I am just going to use a
straight edge to do that.

For this long back panel,

I'm going to just cut this whole thing out

all the way around.

Now the rest of these
lines are not straight,

so I'm just gonna use my rotary cutter

to very carefully follow those lines.

And again, you can use a pair
of scissors just as easily,

but I find that rotary cutters
are quite a bit faster.

Excellent.

So we have our first panel done,

and I know this is panel number six.

This is my back panel.

I need to cut one on the fold line

according to this symbol down here.

I know it's a size large
and I've got all my marks

and notches all the way around this thing.

So this is perfect. This is
exactly what you wanna see.

Now the funny thing is I've
already made this pattern.

In fact, I made it in January of 2015,

which is quite a while ago,

but this is the same pattern

that we were just making earlier.

So because I made it
with that tracing cloth,

I just put it in an
envelope and labeled it.

And now I've got all my panels

folded up nicely into this envelope.

And when I open this up,

I've got everything I need
from the front, the back,

the collar, the sleeve, everything.

And it will get a little
creased and wrinkled,

but I can iron all of this so it's flat.

So let me iron this real quick.

Now when you're finished cutting out

all of your panels from
whatever pattern that you chose,

you should have something
that looks like this.

So I've got everything that I need

for style A of the shirt
that I want to make.

There's a couple other
things I wanted to point out.

So this is the front placket.

So this is where all the
buttons are gonna go.

So this would kinda line up
with the front of my shirt here.

And this has all of the
markings where buttons

and button holes need to
go all the way down here.

This line right here is where
my breast pocket will go.

So that will kind of line up like that.

And all these other notches

and markings help you figure out

how to put everything together.

All right, now there's
something else very important

I wanna point out.

Now on most of the panels you're gonna see

when you trace this out,

there is this big long arrow right here

that has a point pointing down,

and that's called the grain line arrow.

So let's say I was gonna make a shirt

out of this amazing
Beauties and Brains fabric.

I would want to make sure that
I'm following this grain line

so that when I cut this all out,

all of the graphics are right side up.

Otherwise you're gonna get
things that are sideways

or upside down and stuff like that.

So be very aware of how

you're lining up your panels

with your fabric so that
when you cut it out,

everything comes out the right way.

This is especially important
for stretchy materials,

but this isn't a stretchy material.

And same thing again, this
is another perfect example.

This is our sleeve.

So I'd want to make sure that

my green line is following
the length of this fabric.

So keep that in mind when you
start cutting out your fabric.

All right, so that is how
you read and make a pattern,

which is not that hard actually.

It takes a little bit of time,

but it's not so bad.

So with all the instructions,

I always keep these in the actual envelope

that the pattern came in, which is fine.

And then with the pattern itself,

I can literally just fold these up

and put these into a pre-labeled envelope

that I made telling me what it is

so I can make this shirt dozens

or even hundreds of times if I wanted to.

Okay, I think we've done a very good job

of covering the basics
of how to buy a pattern

and make it once you get it at home.

If you have any questions,

please let me know in the comments.

I think in our next video,

I'm actually gonna make
that shirt to teach you guys

how to make your own
button down collared shirt.

Again, thank you guys
so much for watching.

If you have any other ideas
of things you'd like to see,

please let me know in the comments.

Otherwise, I will see
you in the next video.