patterns on the cheap

[greenwitch]

What are everyone's best recommendations for finding cheap patterns? I know that some big box stores (Joann's, Hancock Fabrics) run $.99 sales every once in a while, but unfortunately I don't live near enough to just run in and check weekly whether or not a particular brand is on sale. Do you sign up for marketing e-mails on official sites? (I just signed up for Vogue and McCalls, and they've posted a few ~$5 sales.) Ebay? Do local independent stores near you sell them for any cheaper than list price? I'm still new at sewing, and tend to mess up a lot, so paying $10+/pattern at my local shop is a little tough, even though it would be great to support the local independent business.

I'm not really looking for a specific place to get them (although if you do know of a place, that's great), more of what everyone's strategies are. Thanks for any help!

Comments

[redsnake05]

Patterns are ridiculously expensive where I live - the cheapest they will get on a half-price sale is still NZ$5 or more. I pick up a lot of patterns from op shops (thrift shops) and trace them to alter them (like, a basic princess line dress and then alter the neckline or whatever), or I make a pattern from an existing item of clothing.

[greenwitch]

When I made medieval style clothes back for my reenactment group in college, I did a lot of tracing of existing items, but now that I'm making slightly fancier stuff (for SF/F conventions), it's been saving me a lot of time and aggravation to use patterns. Unfortunately it's not cheaper :( But I suppose tracing patterns that aren't quite exact is an option as well, I just have to find out where a thrift store is around me, lol.