dhsewsalittle

I agree 100%. Something else to consider is that many apparel patterns include several garment, and all include versions of at least one garment (different necklines, sleeves, etc.), so good patterns are used over and over again to create different garments/outfits. There's a lot of value in a go-to pattern.

As for having multiple sizes per pattern, as others mentioned, I'm thankful for them! Quilters who haven't sewn much apparel may not realize it, but one very seldom gets a good fit just following a pattern. Achieving a good fit often requires using more than one of the marked sizes as well as making adjustments to the pattern itself.

popover

I kept my old stash of basic patterns. They are great for creating a modification from.

romanojg

I agree that you can find some really expensive patterns but....you can find some others that are a low price or free. Most of the stores sell some of the quick patterns and some of them are only a few dollars. I recently downloaded a free hoodie pattern and have made two hoodies so far and now they have a pattern for the sweatpants. There are lots of free ones on the net as well.

As far as the sizing, patterns still go by old school sizing. Meaning, they didn't change their sizing to match people's ego. If you used to buy a size 10 pants and due to ego sizing you now wear a 6, still buy the 10 for the pattern. We are all made different and due to that many sizes are included, it would cost more if they made a different pattern for each size because they'd be making more patterns so more paper, instead of just adding more sizes to the existing pattern. Plus, one person might be a 10 on the top and a 6 at the waist, by having the sizes and the measurements all in the same pattern you can alter the pattern easier and get it sized to your size. I made pj's for kids from age 1 to 10 and an adult, thanks to the sizing being included, I made them for 6 kids/adults and only used 2 patterns for them all. If there was one size in each pattern, I would have had to buy many, many patterns to get them all.

You can find them on sale, you can get coupons and you can find them at good prices and you can get them for free, you just have to look around. Don't be so concerned about the size of a pattern, look at the final measurements on the back to make sure it'll fit. I'm just getting back into garment making and loving all the education on how things have changed in the past 20 yrs. I'm also learning how to take a pattern that is close to what I want and then changing it to be what I want.