About Us

Make on-trend designs, quickly & easily. All of our patterns guide you, in easy steps, to a fashionable and professional looking finish.

Pattern Emporium is all about sewing fashion at home.  You will find patterns you can download immediately and start sewing today, for yourself and your children or for your handmade business*.

We are purely a digital pdf pattern business. We do not stock or suppy pattern patterns. If you're new to the world of pdf patterns, don't be daunted. It's quick & so convenient to just download & sew. You can watch our BEGINNERS VIDEO SERIES here. 

KATE MCAULEY

I want everyone to experience the transition from ‘homemade’ to “Wow! Where did you get that!?”

Hi, I'm Kate McAuley, the owner of Pattern Emporium. 

I LOVE to design. I love to create. And I love to share (some might call it over-sharing). I love my business! Like, jump-out-of-bed-in-the-morning-excited-to-start-my-day type of love. I love the architecture of making patterns, the joy of sewing when every piece fits beautifully into the next, like a satisfying jigsaw puzzle. It fills me with glee each time. I love the two-way street of our incredible Handmade Community. It makes me proud & humbled to inspire others. It motivates me to be inspired by you.

Although I have been designing most of my adult life, life experiences forced me to dig deeper & look at what really made me happy. I completely changed my life, lifestyle & location. From that, plus a lot of encouragement from my husband, Pattern Emporium was born. Something I am always telling my kids is : find something you are passionate about, something that you love to talk about & immerse yourself in, and get yourself on the path to make it your career.

I have been sewing & creating my own patterns since I was a little girl. I’d browse through my mum’s fashion magazines picked up on her travels, and a whole world just opened up for me. I have a Bachelor of Arts in Fashion from RMIT (Victoria University) in Melbourne & I have been working professionally in the Fashion Industry since 1989.

And whilst I have had my ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ fashion experiences, for the most part, being creative has brought me so much joy, a strong centre & a sense of accomplishment.

Creativity is contagious. Pass it on.

MELANIE HALL

Melanie has the same passion for clothing, sewing & fashion as I do. She has an amazing knack for helping others find the right size & fit for their sews... and that's no easy feat when it's all digital. 

Mel manages our Facebook Group. But I also bounce all of my ideas off her. We have very similar (okay it's like we're twins) style aesthetics & sit at either end of our size range, so for a design to go ahead, we both have to love it, look great it in & want to wear it obsessively. You'll find Mel on lots of our pattern covers. 

OUR TESTING TEAM

I have the most creative, amazing, generous & thorough testing team from all over the world. Whether we are testing ladies or kids designs, we not only test every size, we also make sure we include testers who cross over sizes (multi size) so that we can advise on tweaking fit for those of us who don't fit the standard measurements chart.

My fantastic testers also test every step of the sewing process outlined in each tutorial, so that we can make it as straight forward as possible for you to sew. We all love sewing so much, we want the same for you.

LEARNING STYLES:

Pattern Emporium patterns are designed to cater to as many learning styles as possible. I'm not a traditionalist by any means. My aim with Pattern Emporium sewing patterns, is to enable you to sew fashionable pieces, quickly & easily, to create or compliment your wardrobe.

• There are loads of photos, taking you step by step through each element of putting together a successful garment.
• Sentences are short & to the point.
• I have broken elements down into simple steps so that you can even learn to love adding a zip. Yep, you heard that right. 
• There are also lots of tips, as you sew, to enable you to achieve a professional looking garment.

OUR VIDEOS

For each new pattern release I shoot a little video outlining all the option available in that pattern in styles I've sewn up. You will find them on our YouTube Channel here. 

THE PATTERN EMPORIUM FACEBOOK GROUP:

In our little handmade community I run on Facebook, the Pattern Emporium Sewing Circle.  It is all about supporting each other in this experience as we sew our PE projects. 

• We have ladies who are relatively new to sewing, having discovered it after having their first child;
• We have ladies who are just beginning their journey;
• And we have ladies who have been sewing for years who, I'm very excited to say, have learned a few awesome shortcuts from my patterns.

In our massive handmade community, we call it handmade not homemade. We love it when people say "wow, where did you get that?!" which, I'm proud to say, happens often.

I love sewing. I love clothing. I love teaching & I love that feeling of connecting & community. I want you to love it too. I want your sewing experiences to be positive & informed, in a language you can understand. 

Whether you are looking for something aimed at a toddler or young girl, I'd love for you to take a look through my website. I hope you enjoy it and come back often as we add more patterns, more styling tips, more pattern hacks, and more tips & tricks. 

Thanks for stopping by and happy sewing!
Kate x

*Small home-based handmade businesses selling items on Facebook, Etsy or similar, may sell products made from my patterns, but must reference or tag Pattern Emporium in product descriptions, for example “This skirt was made using a Pattern Emporium pattern”. All patterns are not to be reproduced or shared in any way, including print or digital. Additional parties wishing to use this pattern/tutorial must purchase their own.