BurdaStyle: The Best Place for Free Online Sewing Patterns

Do you love to sew? Are you annoyed by the high price of patterns, and wish there was a reliable place to get free patterns and sewing support online? Oh boy, are you ever going to be glad to hear about http://www.burdastyle.com/. It's a fantastic website I discovered some time ago, and it's brought me hours and hours of crafty enjoyment.

BurdaStyle is a small online sewing community, which offers numerous free downloadable Sewing patterns and a lovely community of seamstresses of all skill levels, sharing photos of their creations and friendly tips. There is good-sized database of free women's clothing and accessory patterns, as well as a few that are for sale for a few dollars apiece. You can choose to print patterns in full size (at a copy store, on giant printers), or chopped up into ordinary home-printer-sized pages that you then have to glue together to form one full pattern.

I have to say that I was skeptical of this method at first, and didn't much like the idea of getting down on my knees to fit every 8.5X11" page of my pattern in place. But I have to admit that cutting pieces from a computer-weight paper pattern is much, much easier than using the usual thinner-than-newsprint-weight stuff they give you in store-bought patterns, and the pattern itself lasts longer than a store-bought one, so it will remain functional for future uses. Also, once you've downloaded a free pattern from BurdaStyle, you have it forever in digital format, and can re-print it to your heart's content. This is great if the cat walks on it, or if part of your pattern gets blown away, or accidentally thrown into the fireplace, or whatever.

Are you new to sewing? BurdaStyle is the perfect place to begin! All of the patterns have been rated on a scale of difficulty from 1-4, so you won't innocently bite off more than you can realistically chew. Also, there are great how-to tutorials submitted by users, which give instructions for specific techniques and mini-projects, in case you need a guide or some inspiration.

And, in case you're really, really green, BurdaStyle even contains a 'Sewpedia:' an encyclopedia of sewing terms and technical language used in patterns, so if you do get stuck, there's a comprehensive resource right at your fingertips. If you come up with a specific question and want a human's touch, BurdaStyle has a large, friendly forum where you can post your problems and have a community of experienced users flock to your rescue.

I personally sewed the Franzi 9302 pattern, and was very successful. I found the instructions clear and readable, and very easy to adapt to my personal preferences and skill level. This pattern is for a cropped vest, which was labeled as easy/medium difficulty. I found it an easy and surprisingly quick project to complete, with very satisfying results. I chose to do this pattern because it didn't require as much paper to print out as some of the other patterns. If you have reservations about printing a large pattern, you should weigh the cost benefits that might come from printing the document at a copy store, and consider how much a comparable pattern would cost you if purchased in a craft store.

I hope you enjoy the free patterns available at BurdaStyle, and get inspired to add some fresh pieces to your wardrobe!