Pattern matching your projects can take your garments from home sewn to high end in a matter of minutes. There is nothing more satisfying than creating a piece of clothing that to the untrained eye looks seamless, though this can be tricky with intricate designs.

I advise you equip yourself with some scrap fabrics to practice on and pop some samples into your fashion file before moving on to cutting out cloth. Due to the nature of aligning the print on all pattern pieces, this can be a more wasteful process.

With sustainability at the forefront of our sewing endeavours, it’s a good thing I offer free scrap busting patterns to tackle this by-product of luxury me-mades!

So, let’s get started with some simple to follow rules for some serious stylish results.

1. Consider Your Seam Allowance

It’s important to connect the dots and understand that we want to control what is seen on the outside of the garment. Therefore, matching the pattern only at the edge of the seam allowance is pointless and will more often than not create errors in your work.

If you pattern piece has “seam allowance included” then determine how much that is and mark it on. If your pattern has 1cm seam allowance included, simply mark this in from the very edge of the paper and draw a line to indicate it.

2. Draw your print onto your pattern

Then, lay your pattern paper over your chosen textile and trace your print through. Make sure you draw over the stitch line before aligning to the corresponding pattern piece and drawing the print again. You can then lay your pattern pieces accordingly, it’s that simple!

3. Choosing a main pattern piece

If you are intent on the design of your garment having a certain area of the print on a specific area of the article of clothing, i.e. the front left of a blazer; then cut the Front Left pattern piece first and align your print. Using an area of the garment as an anchor to pattern match around it will ensure you achieve the look you’re after.

4. You can’t pattern match on a curve

It is impossible to completely pattern match a curved line. Whether that’s a sleeve head, hip line or style line; you must focus on aligning only the horizontal plane. Use your horizontal balance lines such as the hipline as a marker and pattern match accordingly. When matching a sleeve to a bodice, focus on the horizontal matching from the underarm seam and down.

5. Pin, Pin, then pin again

If you have a main pattern piece you’re using as an anchor, try cutting this out first before moving on to laying any other pieces out. You’ll be able to pin this onto your fabric and make informed decisions moving forward for an accurate pattern match result!