Sorting through my sewing supplies is one of my favorite pastimes. It motivates me to find out what I’ve been storing and start something fresh. I’d wanted to make something with one of my sewing patterns, so I decided to arrange them after bringing them out.
Here’s how to keep your sewing patterns organized.
It might be difficult to figure out how to organize sewing patterns since you aren’t always sure how to keep them. It’s simpler to store sewing patterns if you organize them first.
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Why Should You Keep Your Sewing Patterns Organized?
You do not need to arrange your sewing patterns, but I feel that no matter how modest your collection is, you should make your life simpler and ensure that your patterns survive a long time.
If you enjoy a sewing pattern, make sure you take care of it, especially if you aren’t making copies.
Even so, you’ll need to be able to refer back to the original if you want to obtain additional information, trace bigger or smaller sizes, or try out a new format of that pattern.
- To prevent tearing, breaking, and folding of sewing patterns
- Make it easy to locate a certain sewing pattern.
- Make it easy to replace or add patterns to your collection by making it easier to put them back.
- Make storage solutions that are straightforward to use.
7 Ways to Keep Sewing Patterns Organized
First, I’d want to discuss several ways to organize sewing patterns since this may help you create divisions and sections in your pile. My clients are usually ladies with a few children, so mine are simple to distinguish.
If you have many sewing designs, such as bags, dog clothing, baby clothes, children’s clothes, men’s clothes, and women’s clothes, sorting them by kind and gender is a good place to start.
The following is a list of alternative methods to organize your sewing patterns.
1. Gender/Type
This is the most basic and straightforward method for arranging sewing patterns. The simplest and most effective method is to divide your collection into men’s, women’s, children’s, bags, and even pet clothes.
I feel that having a vast library of sewing patterns for several of these categories is ideal. This will make finding a storage option easier in the future.
You may make categories that fit your personality and thinking style. These are just a few suggestions to get you started.
2. Style/Clothing Type
If you’re like me and have many women’s sewing designs but don’t know how to tell them apart, you can do it by type. Sort the sewing designs into skirts, blouses, and dresses, for example.
You may keep them separate or organize them in the order you like to make it simpler to discover what you need. You might also use labeled cardboard dividers to help you skip to skirts or bags, for example.
3. By Sizes
I don’t have many size-specific patterns. Thus this wouldn’t work for me. This is a fantastic method to organize sewing patterns if you have size-specific or trimmed to a certain size.
You may organize your varied sizes by creating sections or baskets. You may also do this and divide them into groups based on their ages, such as children aged 2-3, 4-5, and so on.
You can put them in boxes, baskets, folders or use elastic bands to hold them together. Before you start making labels and buying storage, go through your sewing patterns and make piles.
4. By Brand
I have a variety of brands, both online pdf patterns, and store-bought patterns. Many of us have a favorite brand or pattern that we return to time and time again.
Keeping your sewing patterns organized by the brand is a fantastic way to stay on top of things. Using cardboard dividers among the patterns to make it faster and simpler to jump to Simplicity or your preferred pattern/brand.
5. Alphabetically
I’m not even close to doing this with my patterns since I’m not organized enough to keep them in such precise order.
If you have a lot of sewing designs and want to flip through them, I recommend doing it this way. I don’t think this will be as useful if you only know the pattern by image; it will only work if you know the pattern’s brand, name, and even number.
6. By Decade
This is a fantastic concept, especially for people who work with antique sewing patterns and collect them. I have a couple and would want to add to my collection.
You may use a divider of some kind to keep them organized and make it simpler to find your era. You can also save them individually using one of the methods described later in this article.
7. By PDF Printed/Store Bought Or Self Drafted
These days, many of us download our sewing patterns, and I believe it’s a fantastic way to buy. I enjoy discovering internet bargains and piecing together a design, even though it may be time-consuming.
It’s just as vital to keep these as it is to keep your physical copy. These may be saved as a file on your computer/desktop. laptop’s
If you have a computer or laptop, I recommend keeping a backup on a memory stick or hard drive if your computer or laptop fails or develops a problem.
This will make you don’t lose any of your patterns and continue to utilize them in the other media.
I hope you found this article useful and that you now understand how to organize sewing patterns. Let me know if you have any other ideas for organizing sewing patterns in the comments section below.
Organize Your Sewing Patterns With These Tools
You want to make sure your sewing patterns are in good shape every time you use them, no matter how many times you use them. This will only work if you treat them with care when using and keeping them.
I have a comprehensive blog post on utilizing a sewing pattern without cutting it where you can learn how to maintain your sewing patterns and keep them in the best shape possible for future usage.
Not only can a well-designed and structured storage solution make you feel more organized and find your patterns more quickly, but it will also preserve them from damage, moths, and natural decay.
Here are a few tips for preserving your sewing patterns, making them easier to use, and storing them for the long term.
1. Use comic book sleeves
Comic book sleeves are a wonderful method to safeguard your sewing patterns since they’re constructed of a unique material that protects the contents while also acting as a creative barrier to keep grease and dust out (or, in this case, sewing pattern).
You may also include an acid-free cardboard backing, which will stabilize your sewing pattern and prevent it from deteriorating and losing color.
If your comic book sleeves aren’t clear, remember to mark them so you can keep track of which sewing design is in which sleeve.
2. Use Cardboard Boxes
Collectors of comic books know how to safeguard their collections and how to keep them. You may discover various cardboard boxes that are appropriate for keeping your sewing patterns on the market.
The advantages of utilizing storage boxes include that they are breathable, simple to use, and very affordable to purchase.
This is also a good idea because they may be kept on a shelf in your sewing area and quickly reached when you need one.
3. Use plastic sleeves and a ring binder
A ring binder and plastic sleeves may be used to store and arrange your sewing patterns on a more budget-friendly basis.
This is a fantastic method to protect your sewing patterns more usefully while also saving money.
I recommend using some cards as a backing to add extra solidity to each sleeve, especially on smaller sewing patterns.
These may then be stacked on a bookshelf and utilized whenever you want.