Sophie pattern
Does this pattern include a seam allowance ? I tried to sew it without adding a seam allowance because I thought it was included but the dress turned out to be way too tight.
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All FreeSewing patterns come with (optional) seam allowance.
By default, seam allowance is not included. However, you can enable seam allowance and also choose the size of the seam allowance if you so please.
Iād recommend taking the time to akim the documentation about the editor, because youāre missing a lot of features:
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Oh, and in case you (or others) are wondering why we donāt include seam allowance by default, that is covered in our FAQ:
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That makes sense. But I wonder, in order for new usersā experience to be positive, if itās worth alerting the new user that seam allowance isnāt included before printing/exporting a final pattern?
It feels like a hard lesson to learn after investing time in making a garment.
This is one (of many) reasons to make a mock up of the pattern in cheaper fabric, before making the final garment. It used to be standard practice, but at sometime in the last 20 or so years, has been lost from the collective knowledge
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Thatās a good point, and I often do that[1] (not always 
).
But if you come from a third world country like the USA[2], itās understandable that some people donāt have the time and/or money to make a muslin/toile every time.
I think including that info in the overview page and the instruction page would be sufficient. For someone new to sewing, I assume theyāll read the sewing instructions. And people who have been sewing a while are more likely to check if seam allowances are included, since they arenāt standard in a lot of patterns, even commercial ones
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Fabric for toiles can be found for as little as a couple of dollars a yard, whether during sales, from creative reuse stores, thrift stores, or using cheap/old bedsheets. And calico/musin isnāt much more expensive from mood fabrics.
The landscape has changed a lot in the last few years.
I just checked Mood Fabrics. $4/yd for 44" muslin (not even 58"? That increases costs further). Put 5 yards in your basket and it offers a 5yd bundle for just $3 a yard! But click on the offer and it says āOut of Stockā. Shipping is $6.99 unless you buy $150 worth of fabric. Then tax. Now youāre talking $30+. And then when you make the final garment, good fabric is even more than this.
And what about time? I mean, the US really is a dystopia for many Americans now, regardless of income.
Maybe we could add it to the cutting instructions (where it says things like ācut 2 mirrored from main fabricā)?
Note that in many parts of the world (including mine), seam allowance is never included. For people who are new to FreeSewing but do have sewing experience (using patterns without seam allowance), an alert about the seam allowance would be superfluous to the point of being irritating.
Iām still having trouble imagining how one gets all the way to cutting without ever wondering about the seam allowance. Donāt you want to add extra in places where youāre not sure about the fit? Donāt you need to know how much seam allowance was used?
On the topic of muslin fabric getting expensive: can you get paper instead, like from newspaper? Iāve found it useful to check for glaring fit issues that way. (No seam allowance needed, just tape together along the seam lines.)
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Oh, I agree that would be dreadful, if it happened every time. Iām talking about a one-time only warning/instruction, something like this (or shorter):
By default, patterns do not include seam allowance. Seam allowance settings are in [menu X].
You can change the default settings in [menu Y].
More information [explaining why, for performance reasons etc.] is in [help topic Z].
Judging by the number of forum threads about sizing & measurement, I think this would be an easy win, and lead to more first-time great experiences.
Experienced crafters often forget how difficult all these terms & instructions were when they first started out. With YouTube & online tutorials, people often start with an incomplete understanding of sewing.
With the many easy (levels 1-3) patterns here, I often see forum threads with āthis is the first time Iāve ever sewn anythingā sort of comments. Itās so gratifying when things work. Letās give users a great first experience.
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Judging by the number of forum threads about sizing & measurement, I think this would be an easy win, and lead to more first-time great experiences.
There are ā generally speaking ā 2 ways to convey information:
- in-your-face popups or warnings or whatever
- documentation that explains how things work
We have the documentation. It explains all of this. But people donāt read it. Especially new people donāt.
Using yhe first would be a detriment to the more experienced users as this would get annoying real fast.
The simple fact of the matter is that FreeSewing is financially carried predominantly by the experienced users.
So we will never implement changes that are a detriment of our most valued users to please the (much larger) group of new users who just want a quick free pattern.
They are of course very welcome. And all of our regular users were new users at some point. If we can make their life better without negative impact on our patrons, then letās go for it.
But suggestions of why donāt you just typically come from expectations of how commercial companies operate, rather than how a community functions.
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It was actually much less frequent to make a muslin 20 years ago. In great part because there were very few small patternmakers (distributing paper was a bear few would take on), so most people were trapped in the Big 4 or a subscription to a locally-accessible magazine. Without getting into how not/good their blocks were, they were consistent. Once you had made and fitted one, you could just throw those same changes onto every subsequent pattern you made from that company and be pretty much guaranteed a decent result.
In contemporary sewing, many now use patterns from a large variety of independent designers, who naturally each have their own ideas about fit and start from different blocks. So this leads people whoāve been burned that way to advocate for more toiles, not unreasonably. But thatās been very much exaggerated by social media, where things like broken needles and endless toiles are often interpreted as great couture performance instead of incompetence.
Note that the easiest/cheapest way to get good fit is still to fit a personal block for yourself (let me recommend bella in passing) and then to use it systematically to check the fit of patterns before cutting anything. That brings the number of toiles down to maybe one, only if youāre using rare or expensive fabric, making a garment entirely new to you etc. And itās still a good idea to make that toile wearable by making a first version in a similar but cheaper fabric, so you donāt waste any fabric or money.