Blueprints for Sewing patterns are inspired by architecture and built by you! Each pattern is thoughtfully designed to be comfortable, functional, and fun.

Learn new techniques

Blueprints patterns are designed to help sewists of all levels create clothing that they love to wear. For those new to sewing, each Blueprints pattern is a mini sewing lesson, introducing techniques clearly and with helpful tips. For more experienced sewists, every pattern spotlights one or more techniques that can be applied to other projects with fabulous results.

Get a great fit!

Blueprints are designed to facilitate a variety of common fitting adjustments – not just length like conventional sewing patterns. Though they provide methods for fine tuning, they can also be sewn up without adjustment with great results! Patterns include two chest size options and a wide range of sizes. Find sizing information here.

Sewing your own clothing is a way to connect with your creativity and individuality. By making, we can better appreciate the world around us and the things we consume.

About the pattern maker

Taylor McVay, Blueprints Owner & Designer

Taylor McVay, Blueprints Owner & Designer

I have made clothing since I was very small. I never thought much of it, though it stayed a core component of my life through my early years as a punk rock teen, to recycling by-the-pound 2nd hand clothes to make outfits in college. The desire to create clothing grew and strengthened, through my dissatisfaction with available clothing (and the exploitative industry behind it) and well as the intense satisfaction I gained from creating things by hand.

At some point, I realized that sewing was an unexpected and under-represented skill. I spent most of my early adult life doing alterations, making custom clothing for others, dabbling in many areas of the fashion world, and teaching others to do the same.

Teaching sewing was what really got to the source of it all. Helping people sew, to make and design their own clothing, has been and continues to be a rewarding and liberating experience.

This love of teaching, paired with a passion for creative problem solving and design, inspired me to create a line of sewing patterns for a new wave of sewing enthusiasts. I also wanted these patterns to offer something beyond a set of plans for a garment: a story, encouragement, some historical knowledge, and foundation for creative experimentation. So, in the Fall of 2014, Blueprints for Sewing was born.

I live in on traditional Massa-adchu-es-et (Massachusett) and Wôpanâak (Wampanoag) land (outside of Boston, MA) . I teach sewing and design classes locally and abroad. I give lectures and conduct workshops on sewing, fashion, and activism and have worked with students at Harvard University, Boston University, Wellesley College, and The School of the Museum of Fine Arts. I am a member of the activist knitting collective New Craft Artists in Action.

In the winter of 2023 I opened my own textile arts studio and reuse center in Norfolk MA, Patchwork Community Craft.

When not teaching, sewing, and designing patterns, I like to knit, crochet, and weave, cook delicious food, watch movies, drink whiskey, grow things, lift weights, and spend time with my partner and my animal friends.