By this stage you will have chosen your pattern/s and the sizes that you plan to make and are ready to get started.
Today, we will look at preparing your pattern to sew, and choosing the perfect fabric for making your garment/s. I’ve also included a little shopping list today for taking with you when you go shopping!
Printing your pattern
When you are ready to print your patterns, you have two choices
- Print at home on A4 or letter paper on your regular printer.
- Send your pattern to a print shop to have it printed on A0 paper.
Printing and preparing your pattern at home is easy (and I think fun!) and you can print out what you need, when you need it. But if you don’t have a printer, or the idea of taping all of those pages together isn't a fun one, the A0 copyshop version may be an alternate solution. This means having a copyshop print the pattern for you on large sheets of paper.
If you choose to print A0 at a copyshop, I would recommend having all of the sizes printed and then tracing off the sizes that you need onto tracing/pattern paper or lightweight (non-fusible) interfacing. That way you can store your A0 patterns and trace again if you ever want to make a different size. Cardboard postage tubes or similar make a great storage method for your A0 patterns.
If you are going to print at home, we have a comprehensive blog post outlining the steps to print and tape your patterns here.
The adult sized Rainhaven Overalls and Rainhaven Pants patterns are some of the largest patterns in the Twig + Tale collection in terms of the number of pattern pages.
If you are sewing one of the smaller sizes or if you don't require some of the options (eg. seat patches or pockets) and would like to save a few sheets of paper and some ink, we recommend printing off the ‘Page Assembly diagram’ from the pattern booklet and spending a few minutes working our exactly which pages you need and which ones you may be able to avoid printing. The example layout diagram below is for the children's overalls (other patterns and sizes will have different layouts!)
You can choose to print your pattern in every size and trace off the sizes that you need. This might be a good option if you plan to make several sizes or are making for growing children.
If you are only planning to make one size, use the layers option in Acrobat reader and choose to print only the size that you will be making. This makes your pattern clean and simple to cut out and saves a little ink too. There are detailed instructions on how to print with layers in your pattern tutorial.
Now your pattern is all ready to go!
If you have already purchased your fabric and now have your printed pattern, you may be tempted to pin your pattern to your fabric and start cutting. But before you do so...
Pins and waterproof fabrics don’t mix. Instead, use pattern weights to hold your pattern in place while you cut. Pattern weights could be anything from smooth stones you collected at the beach, to cans from the pantry.
We have put together a free pattern for a set of simple handmade pattern weights if you would like to have a go at making your own.
Choosing Suitable Fabric
You have so much choice when it comes to fabric for this collection. We have compiled this blog post that takes you through how to choose suitable fabric for your project.
Once you’ve sourced your fabric, check know how much you will need by referring to the fabric requirements chart inside your pattern tutorial, remembering to add on the extra needed for patches if you are adding them.
Tip: If you ever need to know fabric amounts and don't have your pattern tutorial handy, you can find the fabric requirements inside each pattern listing, under the "supplies and info" tab.
Inside the Twig + Tale Sew-Along group, you will find a little shopping list and planning sheet for your overalls. You can print it and take it with you when you go shopping for materials 😊. (This may only be available for a limited time.)
If you have any questions, be sure to ask us in the Twig + Tale sew-along group - we will be happy to help!
