Stop!

This isn’t your pattern.

You don’t need to print this out.

This is a beginner’s guide for Oh Me Oh My PDF Sewing

Patterns. Whether you’re new to sewing, new to pdf
patterns, or just need a little extra support, the beginners
guide is here to help!

How to Print and Prepare Your Pattern ............................ 2

How to Read and Cut Your Pattern Pieces ........................ 5
What to Know Before You Sew ............................................. 10
Glossary ......................................................................................... 13
FAQ .................................................................................................. 20

OhMeOhMySewing.com
 How to Print and Prepare Your Pattern
The first part of using any PDF pattern
is printing it out. It’s important that
when you print out your pattern you do
it without scaling. Depending on what
program you’re using to print out your
pattern things can look a little different.
If there’s an option to choose between
fit to page and actual size you want to
choose “Actual Size”. If there’s a scaling
percent option you want it to be set to
100%. There is also sometimes a box
that says fit content to page and you
want that unchecked.

Tip: If you want to save paper and ink you only need to print out the pag-
es with the pattern pieces on them. You can use a computer to read the
instructions while you sew. Use the “Page Range” to choose which pages
you’d like to be printed. (It’s sometimes under a “Pages” drop down menu.)

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 Now find the page with the print-
er check squares on it. Use a
ruler to check if the squares are
what they say they are. If they’re
correct you know your pattern
has printed correctly.

Cut out each pattern page along

the black line.

Lay out patterns according to

the numbers in the top left cor-
ner where 1A, 2A, 3A,... are side
by side in a row and 1B, 2B, 3B,...
are side by side in a row right
beneath your row of “A” pattern
pieces. Continue until you use all
your pattern pieces. Tape togeth-
er these pattern pieces. The Pat-
tern Layout page shows you how
it will look all taped together.

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 Choose the size you’d like to
make and find which colored line
corresponds with it.

Cut out your pattern pieces along

the colored line. Be aware that
some Oh Me Oh My Patterns in-
clude variations so you may not
need every pattern piece.

Seam allowance is included in all Oh Me Oh My Sewing Patterns so no

need to add anything to your pattern pieces.

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 How to Read and Cut Your Pattern
There are three lines of text on
each pattern piece. The first is
the title of the pattern piece.
This tells you a little bit about the
piece.

The next says how many pieces

should be cut and if the pieces
need to be cut on the fold.

When cutting a piece that is cut 2 or

more make sure to cut the pieces so
that they are mirror images of each
other. A good way to think about this
is that you can cut your first piece
with the paper pattern right side up
and your second piece with the paper
pattern facing down.

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 Right Side Up Cut Facing Down Cut

When a pattern says to “Cut 1 on Fold” it means

you should cut it once on the edge of a fold-
ed piece of fabric. You want to line up the edge
that’s closest to the grainline up to the folded
edge.

“Cut 2 on Fold” would just mean doing the same

process twice.

On newer Oh Me Oh My Patterns the grain-

line will have arrows pointing to the edge that
should line up with the fold.
Newer Pattern

How the Piece Looks Unfolded

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 The last line tells you what fab-
ric you should cut the pieces out
of. Most of the time this will say
Self which just means your main
fabric. If you have multiple main
fabrics it could say Self 2 or Self
3 etc.

Contrast is a fabric other than

your main fabric. This will often Contrast
be a fabric similar to your self but
just in a different color. Self

Interfacing is a fabric that you

adhere (usually through ironing)
to a different fabric to make it
more stiff.

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If you see Lining you will want to use a lining fabric. Lining is a technique that
finishes the inside of a garment with an additional layer of fabric. Fabrics used
for lining are usually lightweight.

It’s also possible you will see specific types of fabric like lace or denim.

On every piece you will also find

a grainline. The grainline shows
you the angle the piece should be
cut at. To understand the grain-
line we’ll have to learn a couple
other terms.

WEFT
SELVAGE

WARP
S
A
BI

The selvage is at the sides of your fabric. It usually has little holes in it. The sel-
vage may be a different color or texture. It’s there to keep the fabric from fraying.

The warp is the fabric direction that runs parallel to the selvage.

The weft runs perpendicular to the selvage.

The bias runs diagonal to the selvage.

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 You want your grainline to go the
same direction as the warp of
the fabric. So when you pin your
pieces to the fabric, the grainline
should be parallel to the selvage.
You may see pattern pieces made
to be cut on the bias or weft
but the grainline should always
match up with the warp.

Notches are used as a reference point on a pattern piece. They are usually used
to help you match up pattern pieces. If your Oh Me Oh My pattern has them, the
instructions will explain what your specific notches do as you need them.

Woven notches look like a line

with a half oval around them.
When you see them cut that line
into the fabric 1/8”.

Knit notches look like little trian-

gles. When you see knit notches
just cut them along the given cut
line.

Now that you know how to cut your pattern you can pin your pieces to the fabric
you’ll be using. Then cut them out along the patterns edge.
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 What to Know Before You Sew
Backstitching
Back stitching is ending a sewn line by sewing in reverse about 3/8” or starting a
sewn line by sewing a little, sewing in reverse 3/8” and then continuing on. This
keeps the sewn line from unravelling. You should do this on every line you sew.

Right Sides Together

Right sides together means the
right sides (patterned or pret-
ty side that you want to end up
on the outside of your garment)
of your pieces should be facing
each other. When you’re sewing
two pieces together, assume they
should be sewn right sides to-
gether unless told otherwise.

Attaching Snaps
Prongs Attaching snaps is easy peasy
when you know how to do it. I’ll
show you how to attach snaps
with snap pliers but doing it with
another tool will be very simi-
lar. I use size 16 11mm snaps but
it’s okay to use a slightly smaller
or larger size. Each set of snaps
comes with a couple different
Socket Stud parts: a stud, a socket, and two
prongs.

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 First you want to
take the top layer
of your placket/
whatever you are
adding snaps to.
Place a prong piece
on top of it. Then
push the spikes
through the fabric.

Now place your stud piece into

the stud/ socket side of your
snap pliers. (Or your socket piece,
it doesn’t matter which is first.)
Then fit the prong into the prong
side of your pliers.

Squeeze the pliers firmly. You did

it! Snap attached!

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 Repeat for the other side except
this time the socket should be on
top and the prong should be on
the bottom of your fabric.

And now you have some lovely

snaps! In general they are inter-
changeable with buttons.

Buttonholes
TIP:If If
you have
you anan
have automatic
automaticbuttonhole
buttonhole function onon
function your
yourmachine
machine
that will be best but if not you’ll have to do it manually. They can be a
little tricky so I suggest trying them out on some scrap fabric first.

Startat
Start the mark
at half you made
a button’s widthearlier. First set
from where youyour
wantsewing machine
the center to
of your
zigzag,
button it’s to
hole widest stitch
be. Set yourwidth,
sewingand almostto
machine noastitch length.
zig zag stitchSew
with
your widest setting and a very maybe
short1/8”.
length setting. Sew maybe 1/8”.

Change your stitch width to half the widest setting. Sew on one side,
down from the stitching you just made to the second mark you made.

Switch back to the widest setting. Sew an 1/8” below what you just
sewed.

Switch back to the half width and sew parallel to your other half width
line. Make sure not to overlap so you can open your
buttonhole without snipping threads.

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Seam rip your buttonhole

 Glossary
Here you can find many terms and techniques used in Oh Me Oh My sewing pat-
terns. It’s not everything but it’s a good place to start.

Back Stitch
Back stitching is ending a sewn line by sewing
in reverse about 3/8” or starting a sewn line by
sewing a little, sewing in reverse 3/8” and then
continuing on. This keeps the sewn line from un-
ravelling.

Bias
The bias runs diagonal to the selvage. See page 8 for more info.

Bias Tape
Bias tape is a long piece of fabric cut on the bias. It’s used to finish edges.

Center Back
The center back is the very middle of the back of
the pattern. It’s often used as the reference point
on pattern pieces.

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 Center Front
The center front is the very middle of the front of
the pattern. It’s often used as the reference point
on pattern pieces.

Contrast
Contrast is a fabric other than your main fabric. This will often be a fabric similar
to your main fabric but just in a different color.

Crimping
Crimping is a technique that is used to make a
sleeve fit into an armhole when the sleeve would
otherwise be too large. You can do this by sew-
ing from one of the sleeve notches to the others.
While your sewing put your finger right behind
the foot and press down so that the fabric bunch-
es up behind the foot as you sew. This can be
tricky for newbies so as an alternative you can
gather the tops of your sleeves instead.

Dot
Dots are used as a reference point. They can be the end of a
dart, where to sew a button or all sorts of things. If you see
dots on your pattern pieces the instructions will explain what
your specific dots do as you need them.

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Double Needle
A double needle is a sewing tool used to sew two lines at once. What makes it
special is that it does not stretch out knit fabrics like a straight stitch would. Not
to mention the double lines just look really nice. You do need to sew on the right
side of the fabric to get the double lines. The right side of the stitch looks like two
lines and the back side of the stitch looks like a zig zag.

It can be used on basically any home sewing machine by switching out your nee-
dle and threading your machine as normal but with two lines of thread. If you
don’t have a double needle it can usually be substituted with a zig zag stitch

Right Side of the Stitch Back Side of the Stitch

Facing
Facing is a method of finishing edges. A facing
piece will be made to match the shape of the edge
being finished. After sewn, it folds into the inside
of the garment.

Gather
Gathering is used to make a piece less wide and
to create fullness. To gather a piece first set your
machine to it’s longest stitch setting. Sew along
the edge you would like to gather, leaving long
tails of thread. Then pull one of the tails of thread
until you’ve gathered your desired amount.

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Grainline
The grainline shows you the angle the piece should be cut at. More info on page 8.

Interfacing
Interfacing is a fabric that you adhere (usually through ironing) to a different fab-
ric to make it more stiff.

Knit Fabric
Knit fabrics are made to be stretchy. They are
made up of little loops rather than crisscrossing
threads. Some knit fabrics include: jersey, inter-
lock, and rib knit.

Lengthwise Fold
A fold along the length of a piece. The fold line
should be parallel to the grainline of your piece.

Lining
Lining is a technique that finishes the inside of a garment with an additional layer
of fabric. Fabrics used for lining are usually lightweight.

Notch
Notches are used as a reference point on a pattern piece. They are usually used
to help you match up pattern pieces. If your Oh Me Oh My pattern has them, the
instructions will explain what your specific notches do as you need them. See
page 9 for more info.

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Right Side
The right side of the
fabric or garment
is the side that you
want to be facing
out on your finished
garment. If you are
using a print fabric,
the side with the
pattern on it will be
your right side.
Right Side Wrong Side

Seam Allowance
Seam allowance is the extra fabric beyond a sewn
½” line. If an instruction says to sew a seam with ½”
seam allowance it means you should sew your
line a ½” from the edge of the fabric.

Self
The self is your main fabric.

Selvage
The selvage is at the sides of your fabric. It usually has little holes in it. The sel-
vage may be a different color or texture. It’s there to keep the fabric from fraying.
See page 8 for more info.

Stay stitch
A stay stitch is when you sew a normal line to keep a fabric from stretching. You
often see it on curved hems.

Tac
To tac is when you sew back and forth a couple times just a couple stitches to
keep something in place.

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 Top Stitch
Top stitching is a sewn line that will be seen on
the right side of the finished garment. It’s often
used to create clean finished edges and to keep
things in place.

Understitch
Understitching is when you sew the seam allow-
ance to one side of a seam. This makes it so the
seam folds cleanly. When you fold it there will be a
line of stitching on the inside and no stitching on
the outside.

Right Side Unfolded

Wrong Side Unfolded Wrong Side Folded Right Side Folded

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 Widthwise Fold
A widthwise fold is a fold along the width of a
piece. The fold line should be perpendicular to the
grainline of your piece.

Woven Fabric
Woven fabrics are usually not stretchy. They are
made up of crisscrossing threads. Some woven
fabrics include: quilting cotton, satin, twill, gauze,
canvas, and denim.

Wrong Side
The wrong side of
the fabric or gar-
ment is the side that
you want to end
up on the inside of
your finished gar-
ment. If you are
using a print fabric,
the side without the
pattern will be your
wrong side. Right Side Wrong Side

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 FAQ
Does my pattern include seam allowance?
Yes. All Oh Me Oh My Patterns have seam allowance. There is no need to add any-
thing extra.

Can I use this woven pattern with a knit fabric?

If you are experienced with knits and feel confident switching up finishes on the
fly, then you should be able to. You may have to change the way some edges are
finished though or make some small edits.

Can I use this knit pattern with a woven fabric?

Nope. Knit patterns rely on stretch to make them fit right.

Where do I get snaps and snap pliers?

I get all of my snaps on etsy. I buy them from a shop called “sewingmaniac” but
you can also just use the Etsy search bar to find them. I would do the same thing
for snap pliers. I use size 16 11mm snaps but it’s okay to use a slightly smaller or
larger size.

Do you have a way I can find out about new pattern releases? (Maybe this one’s
not frequently asked but it should be!)

Find us on Instagram here:

https://www.instagram.com/ohmeohmysewing/?hl=en
Or @OhMeOhMySewing

Find us on Facebook here:

https://www.facebook.com/OhMeOhMySewing/
(You can also go to our “groups” to join our sewing community to share project
photos and questions.)

Thanks for sewing with me!

Find many more patterns at OhMeOhMySewing.com
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