I'm sure other (frugal) people have devised clever ways to make multiple patterns out of multi-sized patterns, but I don't know what those are. When I was sewing my lemon dress last week I didn't want to cut into the pattern to make a size small since most of the dresses I plan to make will probably be larger. I had saved a bunch of butcher paper that had been used as packaging with the idea that I would use it to trace patterns. But, of course, it was really too thick to use as tracing paper (and I don't have a ready supply for large tracing paper - do you?). So I cleared off our glass desk, put a flashlight between my knees and that provided plenty of light to transfer the pattern to butcher paper. Voila, I thought! Then I had an even better idea. I usually resent the closet space that my husband's photography equipment takes up and I try not to touch it as it's mostly expensive and I already have a (somewhat well-deserved) reputation for breaking things. But I remembered he had a large lightbox which he rarely uses so I set that up on the dining room table and it was fabulous! It gives off tons of light and made pattern tracing super easy. So if you have access to one, I recommend it. But the glass table trick works well too. If you have other ideas, please share!
I usually tape the pieces up in the window and use let the sun shine in. This post just reminded me that I specifically bought a glass worktable so that I could use it as a lightbox, but never have done so. Gotta remember that!
Posted by: meg | August 04, 2007 at 09:52 PM