Sewing Pattern Weights

With just a few sewing scraps or some recycled clothing, you can make your own pattern weights instead of buying expensive ones from the store. They also make great gifts for anyone you know who sews. Using weights saves your sewing patterns from pin damage, and speeds up pattern cutting.

Approximate Time: Under 10 minutes each.

Supplies:

• pattern (2 inch circle cut from stiff paper or light cardboard)
• two 4 inch (or larger) squares of two-way stretch fabric (such as swim suits are made of)
• one 4 inch square of any woven fabric for stability (such as men's shirt fabric)
• one individual dispenser pack of BBs
• any color of standard sewing thread

Instructions:

1. Draw a 2 inch circle onto heavy paper, for your pattern and cut it out. It might help to draw a 1 inch opening mark on your pattern to remind you to leave an area open.

 
2. Sandwich your 4 inch squares so that the stretchy fabrics are on the outside, the woven shirt fabric square on the inside. Pin your circle pattern near the middle and zig-zag around outside it, remembering to leave about an inch unstitched for filling.

 
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3. Tuck the tip of a funnel (or paper shaped into a funnel ) into the opening (picking either side of the fabric square sandwiched inside) and empty the whole packet of BB's into it. Be careful to just let a few at a time roll in so that the funnel tip won't get clogged.
4. Zig-zag the opening closed, and continue stitching all the way around the circle again for stability. Make sure you have the BB's on the top side here as you stitch, they'll stretch the fabric upwards and the bottom layers will lay flat so you get a smoother rounded circle. (If you'd not put the stabilizing woven fabric inside, you'd have a floppy mess at this point.)

 
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5. Using your pinking shears, cut outside the stitching, through all layers at once, all the way around the circle.
6. There. You're all done. Since I'm a sewer and made my own set of about a dozen just for myself, I used any old bits of leftover fabrics and thread, never minding the colors really.

   If you're making these for a friend, use whatever pretty colors they might like. If you sew with fleece, you can get creative and make these shaped like a flower. Simply cut petal shapes freehand as you're cutting around the circle at the end. They're not quite as good as the stretchy swimsuit type fabric, but they will work.

*Note: The reason for using swimsuit type stretch fabric, is that it holds its shape better while holding the weight of the BB's, letting them roll and distribute evenly. The "shirt fabric" inside provides just enough stability to keep it from stretching too much. If you're using fleece scraps, you may not need the extra fabric square inside.

Do start with a square at least 2 inches larger than your pattern either way though, as it's much easier to guide under the sewing machine foot, and also makes it easier to put in the BB's and hold them there before stitching the opening shut. Trust me on this, I'm still picking up BB's from before figuring that out.

By Mary from Mountain Pine, AR