Can I make weights like in Great British Sewing Bee?

Yes, they are really easy. You just need a triangle of fabric. Fold it into a tetrahedron and sew 2 seams. Sew half of third seam, turn right side out and fill with rice. Now stitch up while attaching a ribbon. All finished.

Are dressmaking weights easy to make?

Yes, full details in this article with step by step photos. Make a set of them in under an hour and use them for years.

Make your own Pattern Weights ~ Christine's Crafts

This is the third part in the series showing you how to make your own sewing supplies. The first part was a pincushion that sharpens your pins that you can find here. The second part was a needlebook to store all your needles safely and that is available here. This tutorial will show you how to make your own pattern weights so that you no longer need to pin your pattern pieces to your fabric. You may well have seen them used on television programmes like The Great British Sewing Bee. Pattern weights save you time and prevent pin marks on fine fabrics.

I am loving them so I have made some to match my other sewing supplies and some in other fabrics. I am definitely going to make more as they are so useful.

This page contains affiliate links meaning I earn a small commission if you use those links at no cost to you. I only recommend brands I use and trust.

Table of Contents

You will need:

Fabric – great project for fat quarters like these from Amazon

Template (or patchwork cutting shape) – Pattern Weights Template

Rice or beans to fill

Basic sewing equipment

Ribbon (optional)

Amazon links via pictures below

Step 1: Cut out fabric

Cut out the template, pin it to your fabric and cut around it. Note that it is an equilateral triangle so the shapes should tessellate perfectly allowing you to cut out many triangles from your fabric with minimal wastage.

Step 2: Sew first seam

Fold the triangle, right sides facing, so that two of the points meet. Pin along the short edge that you have made.

Sew it in place

Step 3: Sew second seam

Now fold the remaining point up to join the other two (that are now sewn together). Pin along one of the new seams. Sew the seam.

Step 4: Sew half of last seam

Now pin the remaining seam.

Sew the seam halfway to make sure you have a large enough hole to turn the weight out. Leave the hole at the top of the weight where the points meet.

Step 5: Turn right side out

Turn the weight the right way out and poke the corners out to form your tetrahedron shape.

Step 6: Fill the weight

Now fill your weight with rice or beans. I used a funnel to help get mine in through the small hole!

Step 7: Sew up hole

Now you just need to sew up the remaining hole to stop your filling escaping. If you want a ribbon hook on your weight like mine then now is the time to cut a length (I used 5cm (2″)) and insert it into the hole. Then slipstitch the seam incorporating the ribbon if you have one.

You are finished. Now, if it sounds complicated or fiddly let me assure you that it is not. These are harder to explain than to make! If you produce several at the same time it becomes like a little production line and you can make them up really quickly. Depending what you generally make when you are sewing you might need quite a few pattern weights but they are so quick and easy to make and they will last for years.

You can easily enlarge the template and make larger weights if they would help you with large pattern pieces.

Remember you can find the other sewing supplies tutorials at:

How to make a pincushion that sharpens your pins

Make your own simple needlebook

You can always pin this tutorial for later. If you follow me on Pinterest you will find lots of great ideas curated just for you crafters!