How To Shorten Your Dressmaking Patterns If you are starting to make your own clothes and finding that you need to shorten your patterns, here’s how in 6 easy steps! 1 - Decide how much you need to shorten the pattern by. 2 - Take your pattern piece and look for the double line. It might even have ' lengthen / shorten ' written on it. Most patterns will have at least one lengthen / shorten line but don’t worry if yours doesn’t - you can create your own by drawing a line whic