My sewing pattern tracing paper roll is about to run out, so I decided to research some affordable options in the US! I started by polling my sewing friends on Instagram, then looked into the options and made a table in my notes app. I thought it might be a useful guide for other sewing fanatics, so here you go! :)

What/Where

Size

Price

Notes

Medical Pattern Paper - Amazon

21” by 225’ (75 yd)

$18

Narrow width = waste 

Lasted 6 yrs

Alvin Tracing Paper - Amazon (NA)

30” by 20 yd

$23

Smooth / Durable /  

Lasted 3 years

Swedish Tracing Paper - WAWAK

29” by 10 yd

$13.45

Durable / Sewable / Very popular

Bienfang Tracing Paper - BLICK or Amazon

24" by 20/50 yd 36” by 50 yd

$33

Widely available

Bee Paper Sketch and Trace Roll - Various

24” by 20 yd / 50 yd / 36" by 10 yd

$17 / $27 / $17

Widely available

Pellon 111 Tracing Paper - Joann's

30” by 70 yd

$16.50 on sale (50% off) ($20 w S&H)

Good value for money (if on sale :) Wider width

The first two listed are ones I have used in the past. 

1. Medical Pattern Paper was fine, but the narrow width couldn't always fit pieces I needed. However, the amount of paper for the price is great!

2. Alvin Tracing Paper (not currently available) is the one I have now, that's almost gone! I definitely liked the wider width - it makes the roll last much longer :)

3. Swedish Tracing Paper from Wawak - so many people recommended / raved about this. However, for my own use, I need something that I don't feel bad "wasting" - I use it mostly to trial and error fitting, and often retrace over and over with all the new mods. This would be great for the final perfected version - lol.

4. Bienfang Tracing Paper - BLICK but also available elsewhere. I like that this is extra wide!

5. Bee Paper - recommended by this very helpful Seamwork article. Seems to be available from several places in many different widths. One reviewer noted that ink takes forever to dry and smears a lot, which means it's a pass for me. I don't want to risk smearing ink onto fabric and not being able to get it out :/

6. Pellon 111 Tracing Paper - Joann's - this seemed to be the best of both worlds. Wide and extra long roll, while still being affordable. I found it on sale for 50% off, but if not there are often 40 or 50 percent off coupons floating around. I also snagged a shipping discount, so the price was only $22 total (w/ tax). Based on my other roll use, that might last me almost 10 years! Lolol

EDIT / UPDATE: After purchasing this Pellon paper, I cannot recommend it. When it shipped it was only wrapped in plastic and had warped, so the first several several yards were wrinkled and unusable. Thankfully, Joann's customer service was very quick to respond and issued me a full refund. Instead, I decided to get two of the others: the Bienfang and the Wawak Swedish Tracing Paper, which I will use for different things. So far I have used the Bienfang for several projects and it is GREAT! It also came shipped in a box, perfectly smooth and usable :) The Wawak swedish tracing paper is also so nice, but I plan to use this for fitting and also "final" versions of TnT patterns!


P.S. The product photo is misleading - the actual paper is white, not tan / beige

Hopefully this is useful to you! If you have another recommendation, please leave it in the comments below. Happy tracing :)

♥ Sally