Patterns! Patterns! Patterns!

I am the queen of fabric store bargin tables. I love grabbing a bunch of yards of damaged fabric for $1 or $.50 a yard, taking it home and crafting something lovely for next to nothing.
The sticking point in the plan, though, is the pattern. It's so hard to spend $3 on all the materials, and then $15 for a pattern! Sometimes I can find cheaper ones, but all too often I spend more on that flimsy piece of tissue than on all the rest of the garment. Since all the sewing stores closed down in my town it's only gotten worse. Now even getting a pattern requires a 45 minute drive each way.

But last week I found a lovely little solution on the internet I'd like to share- Burda style. Welcome to open source sewing! This website has scores of sewing patterns, many from Burda, many from individuals. Some charge $4-$7 to download, most are free. Once you've registered, you can download pdf files of the patterns and instructions, print them out, tape them together, and start sewing. I'm finishing up my first attempt, a skirt, and though the design came out a little odd for me (quite stylish, just not the best cut for me) the pattern went together nicely and came out true to size.