Sewing Pattern Guide

MAKE Roanoke boasts an impressive collection of sewing patterns for use by our members. These patterns are all donated, so sizing and styles is limited by the donations we receive. They are stored in the file cabinet in the locker area.

• When cutting out a pattern, always cut out on the largest size available. This keeps the patterns to be usable by more people. When cutting your fabric out using the pattern, you can just fold up the paper to the right size
  • Alternatively, you can trace the pattern on to tracing paper first, and go from there.
• Always pack up every pattern piece back into the envelope. If the envelope is ripping, tape it up or store the whole thing in a ziploc bag.
• Always put the pattern back where you found it in the file cabinet. Their drawer numbers are listed in the catalog, and they are sorted by brand first and then stored numerically. Patterns that start with a letter are stored separately than the ones that start with a number. There are dividers in the drawers to help.
• Please do not just add a new pattern to the drawer, contact the Fiber Arts Shop Captain first so it can be properly added to our catalog

• The Sewing Pattern Catalog can be found here
• To best use this catalog, you'll need to know your basic measurements (Chest/Bust, Waist, Hip). Child patterns might also need Height/Length and Weight. Pets have their own measurments
• Filter the pattern down by Fit (labeled as the Pattern Industry labels them):
  • Men's
  • Misses (this is what we typically call Women's clothing)
  • Unisex (this means that the pattern has both Men's and Misses patterns in the envelope)
  • Children's (this includes everything from babies to young teens)
  • Other (this includes home decor, pet accessories, toys and pretty much everything that's not clothing for humans)
• Filter down by the type of garment you want (we hope to add specificity to these filters later)
  • Top (clothing worn above the waist)
  • Bottom (clothing worn below the waist: skirts, pants, etc)
  • Dress (one piece clothing that ends in a skirt)
  • Outerwear (clothing that's worn over other clothing: vests, suit jackets, boleros, coats, robes, etc)
  • Costume (clothing that isn't typically worn in normal life. Note: a crazy 80s wedding dress might be a fun costume to wear, but it's just a dress in our system. A fabulous cloak would be under costume and also outerwear)
  • Jumpsuit (one piece clothing that ends in shorts or pants, including overalls and rompers)
  • Pajamas (clothing that is worn to bed)
  • Headwear (hats, ear muffs, etc)
  • Undergarment (clothing worn underneath normal clothing: bras, underwear, but also shoulder pads)
• Filter down to your measurements +/- your comfort level in grading the pattern.
  • For example if your chest measurement is 40, you would click 40 and that would return all patterns with the chest measurement 40. If you clicked 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, and 44 that would return all patterns with any of those chest sizes
• Click a pattern to see more, including the back of the envelope where fabric requirements are.
  • It is strongly recommended that you look at the pattern in person to ensure your size is there before committing to purchasing fabric for it.
• You can also use the search function on the website to search things like the pattern number or brand or even “dress”.

All filters are inclusive. So if you click Top and Bottom that shows you all patterns that have either a top OR a bottom, not both. Same for sizing.

If you spot an error in the sewing pattern catalog, please fill out this form and we'll fix it as soon as we can!