Make Your Own Pattern Weights

DIY Weights for Sewing

Pattern weights are a sewing basic if you are into making clothes with patterns. This tutorial explains how to make easy triangular sewing weights filled with rice.

You can buy fabric weights in a store, but they are also very easy to make and are great scrap busters. I use rice for the filling. Between leftover fabric from projects past and pantry staples, I bet you have everything at hand to get started with these DIY pattern weights! And it doesn’t take long to make one.

Why and When Use Pattern Weights in Sewing?

Instead of pinning the pattern pieces to your fabric, you can just lay the pieces on top of your fabric and trace them. If you are cutting pattern pieces with a rotary cutter and you want to move fast, you can also position the fabric on your cutting mat, place the pattern piece on top, and carefully maneuver around the pattern pieces. Even when I’m not working with patterns, I frequently use my pattern weights on my cutting mat to prevent big fabric pieces from sliding off my cutting table or to just keep them in place.

What you Need to Make Fabric Weights

Gather your favorite fabric scraps and some cute matching ribbon.

For 1 little pattern weight you need:

• two 3-inch x 3-inch square pieces and

• a piece of ribbon of about 5 inches and

• about 1.5 oz of rice.

Instructions to Make Pattern Weights

1. Cut your fabric pieces and the ribbon. To cut squares fast, I cut with my rotary cutter. To make it even easier, cutting on a rotating cutting mat speeds it up a little more, as you can turn the mat, instead of rotating the fabric.

2. Fold the ribbon in half and pin or stay stitch the ribbon in a corner of a square, on the right side of the fabric piece, raw edges aligned.

3. Pin and sew 3 of the 4 edges together at 1/4 inch. Be sure to sew the 2 sides next to the ribbon.

4. Open the one side that is not sewn and rearrange it so the 2 stitched seams hit the middle of the opening. Now you should start seeing the triangle shape.

Pin the 2 seam ends together and sew this seam, leaving an opening to insert the rice in the next step.

5. Fill the bag with rice. If you like, you can even add a few drops of essential oil to the rice before you put it in the bag. Mmm, lavender in your sewing room!

6. Fold in the raw edges of the opening and press flat. Hand stitches the opening with a ladder stitch to close the hole.

The little diy pattern weight is ready!

If you don’t feel like making fabric weights yourself or you want a transparent weight that is heavy and doesn’t break easily, check out the pattern weights we sell at MadamSew.com.

Any questions? Don’t hesitate to leave a comment below.

Happy sewing!

An