Best Free Sewing Patterns Online
My initial question when I decided to take up sewing was: “Where can I get the best free (but stylish) sewing patterns online that I can print off in the comfort of my own home?” I was hesitant to spend a lot of money on patterns I wasn’t sure I would know how to use.
I looked everywhere for these free PDF sewing patterns, but I couldn’t find any (and what I did find consisted mostly of shapeless boxes). Since then, the internet has expanded, and now you can get free sewing patterns for any article of clothing you could want to make, be it a top, dress, skirt, pants, coat, jumpsuit, or even swimwear and lingerie.
Plus, despite being free, these patterns aren’t lacking in the chic professional touches that set them apart from the norm. You can make your own comfortable clothing with as many decorations, embroidered touches and accessories to reveal your own fashion sense.
Table of Contents
- 1 Who Are the Best Websites for Free Online Sewing Patterns?
- 1.1 MOOD FABRIC
- 1.2 The fabric business made famous on Project Runway has greatly expanded its online presence in recent years, and now provides a large collection of free sewing patterns for a wide variety of clothing items (including tops, slacks, a large number of gowns, jackets, and coats) (e.g. lingerie, swimwear, athletic wear). Paper-bag waist jeans, a pussy bow top (like the one recently worn by Kamala Harris), a maxi shirt dress, and so many other items are all examples of highly fashionable designs. There’s a “basics collection” that seems intended for newbies, but I wouldn’t recommend every single one of the tasks included there for someone with no prior experience.
- 2 2. https://amzn.to/4b6kxLB
- 3 11. VIKISEWS
- 4 12. MODAFACIL.COM
- 5 13. PATTERN-VAULT.COM
Who Are the Best Websites for Free Online Sewing Patterns?
Mood Fabrics, fabrics-store.com, Peppermint Mag, Fibre Mood, BurdaStyle (Russia), Bernina, Lekala Patterns, Grasser, Marfy, and pattern-vault.com are a few of the websites that offer free sewing patterns for fashionable, in-season wear. You can trust these patterns because reputable fabric stores, pattern companies, and sewing magazines sell or give them out.
The varieties of free sewing patterns offered by each website are briefly described below. If you’re interested in purchasing fabric and other sewing supplies to make these patterns, I’ve included some of my recommendations for those items as well.
MOOD FABRIC
The fabric business made famous on Project Runway has greatly expanded its online presence in recent years, and now provides a large collection of free sewing patterns for a wide variety of clothing items (including tops, slacks, a large number of gowns, jackets, and coats) (e.g. lingerie, swimwear, athletic wear). Paper-bag waist jeans, a pussy bow top (like the one recently worn by Kamala Harris), a maxi shirt dress, and so many other items are all examples of highly fashionable designs. There’s a “basics collection” that seems intended for newbies, but I wouldn’t recommend every single one of the tasks included there for someone with no prior experience.
Even though their patterns don’t come with instructions, you can learn how to sew the garment by reading blog entries about it (with photos). If you want access to the free patterns, you’ll need to sign up for their mailing list.
As a minor complaint, I would prefer a view that would allow me to see the line drawings of all the patterns in a given category at once. The blog entries can be filtered by category (e.g., outerwear patterns, dress patterns, etc.), however this only limits the results to those that include photographs of the completed outfits rather than the patterns themselves. It would be much simpler to filter through the large number of patterns if they made it easy to search by line drawing, as it may be hard to identify all of the construction intricacies (or sometimes even the basic silhouette!) in the photographs of the final clothes.
It is recommended to check patternreview.com first to determine if the pattern has been reviewed. Second, you shouldn’t use their sizing table; instead, you should measure the pattern and the final garment to determine the size to cut. Finally, before cutting into your expensive designer fabric, always try on a muslin first. The Primrose pant, which I approached in this manner, turned out to be a success (though it took a muslin and a few alterations to get there).
Primrose Redux-15.jpg
2. https://amzn.to/4b6kxLB
[Note: https://amzn.to/4b6kxLB has ceased selling online. These patterns are from their site with attribution.”]
Deep in the bowels of this online fabric behemoth’s website are several free patterns from Hot Patterns (including a wrap tank, hooded vest and even this sultry camisole + tap pant set). Hot Patterns was one of the first pattern companies I fell in love with when I first started sewing, because their patterns are always on-trend and stylish (and, if I’m honest, because I love the adorable fashion illustrations). These freebies are no exception. A few of these are appropriate for total beginners, but the majority of these patterns are geared towards intermediate sewers.
Their patterns come with illustrated step-by-step instructions. No registration necessary to download.
Photo credit: Hot Patterns / https://amzn.to/4b6kxLB
Third, FABRICS-STORE.COM
You can select the designs by “fast & easy” or “fun & challenging” to get dozens of free patterns that cover a wide range of clothing kinds (shirts, slacks, dresses, jumpsuits, etc.) and skill levels. Although it is not surprising given the fabric store’s focus on linens that they exhibit their free pattern selections made from linen, I believe these patterns may also be utilized to create clothing from other sorts of textiles. Although the aesthetic is a little too Eileen Fisher, Elizabeth Suzann, or Alabama Chanin for my taste (possibly due to the narrow focus on linen), there’s no denying that these patterns made me want to buy a beach house or high thread count linen sheets right away (which is undoubtedly what they were designed for).
Although the patterns don’t come with directions, their blog has step-by-step guides. To get the free patterns from their website, you must create a free account.
smaller versions of the fabric+store1 and fabric+store2 files
Image source: fabrics-store.com
Fourth PEPPERMINT MAG
For those who don’t know, Peppermint is an Australian print publication that emphasizes “style, sustainability, and content.” In other words, it’s not just a magazine about sewing. Even so, Peppermint occasionally collaborates with independent pattern designers to release free sewing designs, some of which are well-liked in the sewing community. (See, for example, the jumpsuit made from Peppermint and In the Folds, which for a moment appeared to be everywhere in the sewing blogosphere.) The majority of these patterns are for straightforward basics with clear lines, making them appropriate for novices.
Detailed instructions are included with the patterns. The patterns can be downloaded without registering.
mint-colored skirt.jpg
Jumpsuit with mint.jpg
Dress with mint leaves.jpg
Image courtesy of Peppermint Magazine
FIBRE MOOD 5.
Fibre Mood, in contrast to Peppermint, is a European sewing publication that includes sewing designs. Each week, Fibre Mood offers a brand-new design for free. In essence, Fibre Mood hosts weekly sewalongs on Instagram Live, and the pattern for each sewalong is offered without charge if you use the coupon code found in the sewalong’s description.
I adore Fibre Mood’s trendy selections, and European sewing pattern magazines fit me well because they are often drafted with little ease because of my boyish frame (a refreshing change from the Big 4 pattern companies). With instance, Fibre Mood is hosting a sewalong for the Carole Dress for the week of December 18, 2020, a wonderful wrap dress with puffed sleeves that I immediately purchased.
Instructions for the patterns are comprehensive and step-by-step. To get the free pattern, you must create a free account on their website.
A brief side note: European sewing magazines print all of the patterns on only a few sheets of paper (I assume to save money? ), so in the past I’ve been discouraged from using them because I abhorred tracing them out. This indicates that all of the sizes are layered on top of one another, making it challenging to determine which line represents which size. I detested that the designs had no seam allowances, which required me to waste even more of my valuable sewing time modifying the patterns to include seam allowances. Both issues have been resolved by Fibre Mood by creating a dynamic PDF that allows you to select whether to display seam allowances or not and only display the size you wish. An entirely new concept!
One more quick side note: the images below are for previous freebies; visit the website to view their current selection of free patterns.
Carole from Fibre Mood.jpg
Image: Fibre Mood Frikka
Image courtesy of Fibre Mood
BURDASTYLE 6. (RUSSIA)
One of the oldest sewing pattern publications available is BurdaStyle, and I have personally sewed dozens of items using its designs. (See here and here, for examples.) Unfortunately, it appears that the several fashionable free patterns that were once available on the BurdaStyle English website have vanished. Fortunately, there are still quite a few free women’s sewing patterns available on the BurdaStyle Russia website, and finding them is fairly simple if you use Google’s translate extension to automatically translate the website into English (or, just click on this link where I’ve already filtered the results for you). A couple of these designs are more distinctive than the others, such as this asymmetrical skirt, this cocoon cardigan, and this cardigan with an odd form (you can see my version here).
But there are certain drawbacks. As is customary with BurdaStyle, you must manually include the seam allowances, which may be really annoying after spending an hour printing out and taping the pattern pieces together. Additionally, you’ll have to piece together the instructions on your own, perhaps by manually pasting portions of the Russian text into Google translate. However, if you’ve already sewed some simple clothes, it shouldn’t be too difficult for you to figure out how to make these clothes on your own (and, to be honest, BurdaStyle instructions aren’t usually very detailed, even when written in English, so you aren’t really missing out on anything here).
To get the free pattern, you must create a free account on their website.
(1).jpg original (1).jpg
Image source: BurdaStyle
BERNINA 7.
One sewing pattern is provided free each month by Bernina and its sewing magazine offshoot “Inspiration” magazine, in addition to a number of other free patterns (on a seemingly random basis). Although some of these looks are a little twee, there are some chic, contemporary essentials and a few truly unique jewels buried in there as well (like this Great British Sewing Bee dress, which has really interesting seam lines).
Finding all of the free offerings on the website is difficult due to the unimpressive navigation of the website. There are, in my opinion, two major ways to find free sewing patterns: by manually browsing through the free downloads of Inspiration magazine or by conducting a search for “free sewing patterns” (not all issues have free garment patterns, but this is one gem of a fluffy coat that I found this way). Although it is a little inconvenient, who am I to grumble when everything is free?
Full instructions are included with the patterns. The patterns can be downloaded without registering.
06 Bernina FreeDownloadBilder Inspiration75.jpg
sizing-down sewing-bee-dress-2.gif
Photos by Bernina
LEKALA PATTERNS, 8.
This pattern company creates designs that are made just for you based on your dimensions, theoretically eradicating fit problems. Lekala provides a number of free patterns so that you can evaluate whether or not their designs fulfill their claims. The most of the clothing is skirts and dresses, with a few blouses thrown in, so there isn’t a lot of diversity, but some of them are pretty cute (like this tulip-sleeved dress). The best part is that they provide a large selection of sleeves (pleated, cuffed, flounce, bishop) that you can use to alter other patterns.
Full instructions are included with the patterns. You have the option to download with or without seam allowances (for 50 cents more).
Dress by Lekala.jpg
Lekala’s sleeves are cuffed.
Flounce sleeve for Lekala.
Image source: Lekala Patterns
- GRASSER
Both the English and Russian versions of this Russian pattern company’s websites provide free patterns, albeit the Russian page offers a larger selection. Several adorable dress patterns are available on the English website, like this sleeveless dress with button detail and this v-neck dress with a flowy skirt, among other things. A few more treasures may be found on the Russian website, like this dress with square shoulders and pleats at the waist.
Russian sizes 38 to 56 are available for the patterns. There are tolerances for the seams. Many of the patterns offer step-by-step written instructions or video tutorials that take you through the construction. The patterns can be downloaded without registering.
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Free clothing by GrasserRU – smaller.JPG
Image source: Grasser
- MARFY
A lovely Chanel-style jacket, halter top, and A-line skirt are among the free designs from the renowned high-end pattern business Marfy that can be downloaded from its website. These items can be worn together to create a very stylish ensemble.
Image: Marfy 1756
Image: Marfy 1913
Image: Marfy 0757
Photographer: Marfy
Marfy patterns are well-drafted, figure-flattering, and fashion-forward, which is why sewists adore them. Marfy designs, however, are only suitable for experienced sewers because they lack instructions and need expert knowledge to use. Additionally, you’ll have to draft your own face and lining pieces, which can occasionally be difficult. Overall, Marfy patterns demand a significant time commitment, but the finished item is well worth it.
In Europe, the patterns are available in sizes 42 to 58. Seam allowances are not incorporated. The patterns can be downloaded without registering.
Photo credit: Marfy
Marfy patterns are beloved by sewists for a reason — impeccably drafted, figure-flattering, and fashion-forward. However, Marfy patterns are appropriate only for advanced sewists, as they do not come with instructions and you need to know what you’re doing to work with them. You’ll also need to draft your own facing and lining pieces, which can be a pain sometimes. Overall, Marfy patterns require a big investment of time but the resulting garment is well worth it.
The patterns come in European sizes 42 to 58. No seam allowances are included. No registration is required to download the patterns.
11. VIKISEWS
Russian pattern company Vikisews offers several free patterns on their website, including a cute off-the-shoulder ruffled summer dress and a prairie-style dress that would be great for creating a dress in the style of The Vampire’s Wife or Batsheva.
Photo credit: VikiSews
The feedback from the sewing blogosphere is that the patterns are well-drafted and run true to the size indicated in the size chart (with much less ease than Vogue/McCall’s/Butterick/Simplicity patterns). Unfortunately, some of the pattern instructions are only available in Russian (for example, the off-the-shoulder dress shown above comes in English, but the prairie-style dress is only available in Russian), so you’ll have to spend some time decoding them with the help of Google Translate. FWIW, I spent some time trying to use Google Translate to decipher the instructions, and it was honestly very, very difficult. I’m not sure if Google Translate works very well for Russian —> English. And if you can’t decipher the written instructions, you can still fall back on the illustrations and/or photographs, as they those for virtually every step. Also, some of their patterns have step-by-step tutorials on YouTube, so it’s worth running a search there to see if there is one for the pattern you are using.
The patterns come in European sizes 34-52. Seam allowances are included. To get the pattern, you have to add to your cart, enter your email and go through the checkout process, but you are not required to make a payment.
12. MODAFACIL.COM
Mexican pattern company Modafacil.com offers a huge selection of free patterns, including dresses, skirts, tops, jackets, and even athleticwear, sleepwear and maternity wear. Most of these patterns are basic designs with classic silhouettes, but a few stood out to me: this high-necked military-inspired coat, this puff-sleeved dress (which could be used to make a romantic nap dress), and this wrap dress with pleated skirt.
Photo credit: Modafacil.com
Sewing bloggers who have made up Modafacil’s patterns report that they are well-drafted and fit well, but the instructions, which are in Spanish, are minimal (even if you are able to decipher them using Google Translate). Still, this website is a good resource for more experienced sewists looking for basic base patterns that they can customize on their own. Even better, their website says that they offer these free patterns to empower women in Mexico to have sewing skills and own their own businesses — so you can feel good about supporting a worthwhile cause!
The patterns come in sizes 8-34. Seam allowances are included. You must register for a free account to download the patterns.
13. PATTERN-VAULT.COM
Last but certainly not least, this independent, non-profit website run by a fashion historian offers several free patterns from high-end designers. This is the stuff of a couturier’s dreams: an intricate Alexander McQueen kimono jacket, a daunting-looking Iris van Herpen dress, and this mind-boggling John Galliano jacket (seriously, how does he come up with this stuff?!). I find it’s worth working with a designer pattern every now and again just to remind myself how worlds away these masters are from the basic silhouettes we always see in regular pattern companies.
The patterns only come in one size. Some include seam allowances and instructions, others do not (just to make things even more difficult). No registration required to download the patterns.
Photo credit: Iris van Herpen; Vogue Runway
