Ever ruined a tissue pattern trying to trace it, or hesitated to cut into your one good copy of a favorite design? There is a reason pattern-drafting rooms in apparel shops keep bolts of Pellon 830 Easy-Pattern on hand. It is a lightweight, sew-in interfacing made for a completely different job than your shirt collars: it is pattern material — strong enough to trace, copy, alter, and reuse again and again.
What Easy-Pattern actually is
Pellon 830 Easy-Pattern is a nonwoven sew-in interfacing built from 70% polyester and 30% viscose. Unlike tissue paper, it does not tear when you pin through it, fold it, or handle it for the twentieth time. It cuts cleanly, drapes a bit like real fabric, and comes on a generous 45-inch-wide, 10-yard bolt, so you can run off full-size pattern copies for coats, quilts, and upholstery as easily as for a blouse.
Because it is non-fusible, there is no adhesive to worry about — you simply trace, cut, and work with it. And in a genuinely useful twist, it is inkjet printer safe, so you can print digital pattern pieces directly onto the material instead of taping together reams of printer paper.
What it is best for
Preserving originals. Trace your tissue or vintage pattern onto Easy-Pattern and cut into the copy. The original stays intact, and you still have the pattern when your altered copy wears out.
Pattern alterations. Need to add length, blend sizes, or draft a muslin? Trace once, then mark and true your changes on the copy. The material takes pencil and marker marks clearly.
Duplicating patterns. Running a class, sewing for a client, or making the same bag in three colorways? One bolt gives you plenty of yardage for multiple copies.
Trial fittings. Because it behaves a little like fabric, you can baste or pin pieces together for a quick fitting check before you touch your good material.
How to use it
Using Easy-Pattern is as simple as tracing. Lay it over your pattern piece (no adhesive means no shifting from a hot iron), trace with a pencil or fine marker, and cut with scissors or a rotary cutter. Transfer all markings — notches, grainlines, darts, and seam allowances — just as you would on paper.
If you are printing digital patterns, feed sheets through your inkjet printer per the printer's guidelines for heavyweight media, then trim and join the tiles as usual. For fittings, pin or baste the pieces together; the material is easy to mark, re-mark, and recut.
Tips and care
- Use a different color marker for each size when grading — copies stay readable at a glance.
- Store copies rolled rather than folded to avoid creases that throw off your tracings.
- Label every piece with the pattern number, size, and date; ten yards of copies blur together fast.
- Test your inkjet on a scrap first so the print density is right for your printer model.
Easy-Pattern is meant to be worked with and reused, not laundered — it is pattern material, not a garment layer. Keep bolts stored flat or rolled in a dry spot.
Is it right for your project?
If your sewing life involves tracing, altering, or saving patterns, this is the material those jobs were designed for. Garment sewists use it to protect investment patterns; quilters use it to enlarge and duplicate appliqué or whole-quilt layouts; crafters use it for repeatable toy, bag, and home-décor templates. One bolt stretches across a lot of projects.
Shop the Pellon® 830 Easy-Pattern® Pattern Tracing & Drafting Interfacing, White, 45" x 10 Yard Bolt at Linda's Electric Quilters.
