My Sewing Pattern Organization System

Whether I am gardening, cooking or crafting, I am a big time notetaker and organizer. Keeping my sewing projects organized is partly a necessity, as my studio is on the small side, but I also kind of just love buying office supplies. The notetaking is so I can remember what I did and refer back to it if need be.

As with planting the same crops year and after and learning from that, patterns can be sewn over and over again. Once you cut the pattern out and have adjusted it for fit, making that pattern again is a snap if you save your pattern pieces.

I found these great Martha Stewart binders and accessories that I am hooked on now. I have already filled one binder, and am just starting a new one, so I figured this would be a good time to show you guys my system.

Like I said, my studio is pretty small, so I have to utilize the space wisely. I installed hooks behind the door to my studio, for storing works in progress, but there are only enough hooks for one or two projects at a time. When I have completed a project, I have to put my pattern pieces somewhere else, in order to make room for the next project.

All I do is take the pattern pieces, fold them up and put them in a sleeve in a binder. If and when I do go to sew that pattern again, the pattern pieces can be ironed flat again at a low setting. I am a tracer, not a cutter (of patterns) and use Swedish tracing paper for my patterns, but this will work with any kind of pattern pieces.

I also include a fabric swatch and notes about the project.

I have a smaller book that I write more detailed notes in as I sew and I’ll review those to write notes in my binder, about what adjustments I made and how the fit turned out. I write notes on top of notes! It may seem like overkill, but that way if I do sew that pattern again, I can quickly see if I need to do more adjustments or do anything differently.

It’s a pretty simple system and since I haven’t sewn too many patterns yet, it is working out for me so far. These binders only hold about five patterns before they get too thick, so I could potentially end up with quite a few of them. If anyone has a good system for storing larger quantities of patterns, I would love to hear it!

Also, what do you sewers do with your muslins? So far, I have just been throwing them in a scrap box. I keep thinking it would be funny to pull them all out at some point, when I have more of them, and make people wear them at a party or bar crawl or something!