Turn a Commercial Pattern Into a Permanent Pattern

This instructable details how to turn a commercial pattern (those awful tissue patterns) into a permanent, easily reusable pattern. The benefits of having a permanent pattern is that they're much harder to destroy, they're easier to work with (no pinning!), and a single pattern can be used to create multiple sizes without needing to buy addition pattern packages. Once you have a permanent pattern, you can weigh it down on your material and trace directly onto material using tailor's chalk or a pencil.

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Step 1: Materials

You will need:

"Weights"
Iron and ironing board
Posterboard
Light colored marker
Black marker
Hole punch set
Hammer
Scissors
Straight-edge or ruler
Self-healing Mat
Pattern

Step 2: Loosely Cut

Loosely cut out the pattern piece. Don't worry about being precise.

Step 3: Iron

Gently iron the pattern piece on medium heat without steam. Steam can damage the pattern. Be careful!

Step 4: Weight

Weight the pattern piece down on the posterboard. Try to conserve space, but don't put lines on edges - give a little buffer room.

Step 5: Trace

Using a light-colored marker, lightly mark the pattern lines by gently marking over/through the tissue pattern piece. This takes some gentle work to keep the lines correct. Be sure to mark all the triangles, guides, darts, grainlines, etc. for the size you are making unless you already know they are not necessary for what you are making.

Note: The marker will trace through the pattern paper. This photo is just to demonstrate how the ink bleeds through which is what you want. If you look at the upper part of the photo, you will see the green marker that I used going over the pattern paper, and you can see the result at the lower part of the photo. There's no need for tracing paper or flipping the pattern paper up and down to get the lines right.

Step 6: Retrace and Label

Retrace the markings you made and label appropriately. Use a straight-edge/ruler to make nice crisp lines. It isn't necessary to mark the outside edge so long as you can easily see it.

Label the piece number, cutting instructions, size, and pattern name and number.