The One with the Great Discovery

Everyone who knows me a bit, knows that I hate tracing patterns. That would be Hate with a capital H.

But they would also know that I’m too much of a chicken to cut into my patterns.  So that leaves me with a huge dilemma each time I want to try a new pattern. For the last few weeks my hate for tracing was so big I only made patterns that I had made before (read: traced before) or Megan Nielsen’s patterns because I know my size in her patterns so I’m not afraid to cut into them.

I’ve tried many types of paper before, I tried

• the sturdy IKEA paper which is great but only for pattern drafting (because it’s not sheer at all)
• the flimsy and cheap tracing paper which wrinkels like crazy and ripps by just looking at it. It comes in rolls but they are flimsy as well. It’s sheer but not sheer enough.
• the slightly better paper with a 1cm grid on it.  Great for pattern drafting but the grid is just confusing when tracing and it’s still not sheer enough
• the pattern paper which comes in separate sheets but is folded so the foldlines bother me.

All in all I just hadn’t found the right paper yet. I had been looking at the fantastic Swedish Tracing Paper a lot of you swear by, but by the time I get that stuff shipped over here and pay the import taxes it’ll have cost more than my engagement ring (figure of speech).

I was getting kind of desperate because I’ve got all these patterns that I’ve been dying to try out but I just can’t get myself to trace them. Then I had an idea today. When I was in college and studying Interior Design I used tracing paper for blueprints. It’s satinized but it’s really sheer. It comes in rolls and separate sheets. I decided to drive down to my local arts supply store and pick up some.

I tell you, that stuff is amazing! They will write songs about this paper, this paper will go down in history as the greatest paper ever made. Sure it doesn’t come as cheap as regular tracing paper but I’m happy to pay that for the amount of comfort it provides.

Just look at how sheer this is!
( Can you guess which pattern I’m tracing?)

For those that are interested. I got a roll which was 29cm wide and 20m long and one that was 75cm wide and 20m long. I forgot to check the weight of the paper so one is a bit thicker than the other and that’s not really necessary but it’s okay for now. I’m just so happy with it that I traced three patterns already! And for me that’s seriously awesome!

Don’t worry that I haven’t blogged in a while, I have been sewing and I will write about those makes but I’ve been working in our house so it’s been quite busy!