How do I trace a sewing pattern?

Trace rather than cut, because cutting destroys every other size on the sheet and every chance of adjusting later.

What to trace onto. Dressmaker’s tracing paper, medical examination paper, greaseproof paper or lightweight interfacing. Interfacing is the most durable and does not tear at the notches, but it is the most expensive. Plain paper works if you can see through it against a window or a light source.

The method. Press the pattern sheet flat with a cool dry iron if it is creased. Lay it on a hard surface, put the tracing medium over it, and weight both down — tins, books, pattern weights. Follow the line for your size with a fine pencil or a permanent fine-liner. Highlighting your size on the original first makes this far easier on a crowded multi-size sheet.

Copy everything, not just the outline. Grainline, notches, darts, circles, fold lines, lengthen and shorten lines, the piece name and number, and the size you traced. A traced piece with no grainline is scrap paper.

Note the seam allowance on each piece, because some patterns include it and some do not.

Then adjust the tracing, not the original. This is the whole point: you can trace a second copy in a different size, or start again when an adjustment goes wrong.

Store the tracing rolled or folded flat in a labelled envelope with the pattern name, the size and the date. Untitled tracings accumulate quickly and become unusable.