You don't have one sewing app. You have six.

Pinterest for inspiration. A spreadsheet for your fabric stash. The notes app on your phone for measurements. Google Calendar for that birthday dress deadline. A paper notebook for pattern adjustments. And a shopping cart open on three different fabric store tabs.

I've been sewing for 14 years and I still catch myself toggling between five apps to answer a simple question: "Do I have enough of that navy linen to cut the Vogue 1723 bodice, and is it in budget?" Nothing talks to each other. Your inspiration lives in one place, your materials in another, your timeline nowhere.

The problem isn't that sewists lack tools. It's that none of them were built for how we actually work. You don't just need a pattern organizer or a fabric database. You need a workspace where your fabric stash, your pattern queue, your project budget, and your construction timeline all live together.

I tested seven apps that try to solve this. Here's what actually works.

Quick verdict

Short on time? Here's who should use what:

• Best for fabric stash management: Threadloop. Barcode scanning, yardage tracking, and a searchable library that finally makes sense of the chaos.
• Best all-in-one sewing organizer: Stash Hub. Fabrics, patterns, notions, projects, and measurements across iOS, Android, and web. 25,000+ users.
• Best for project planning (everything in one place): Costumary. References, materials, budget, timeline, and build log in a single workspace.
• Best for custom pattern drafting: Sewist. Generate made-to-measure slopers and full patterns from your measurements.
• Best for garment sketching and visualization: My Body Model. Custom croquis based on your actual body proportions.
• Best free option: Patterned. Social pattern library with community reviews. Completely free.
• Best iOS-only experience: Cora. Clean, focused pattern and fabric tracker if you're all-in on Apple.

1. Threadloop

• Platforms: iOS, Android, Web
• Price: Free tier / Premium (pricing varies)
• Best for: Sewists with a serious stash who need to know what they own before buying more

Threadloop (formerly Backstitch, rebranded in 2024) is the fabric stash app that the sewing community has been asking for since the days of logging yardage in composition notebooks. If you've got an entire dresser drawer of Liberty lawn like I do, or bins of quilting cotton sorted by color family, this is the tool that finally digitizes all of it.

What it does well:

Fabric logging with barcode scanning, yardage tracking, and photo cataloging. You can tag fabrics by fiber content, width, weight, and color. Project tracking lets you assign fabrics to specific makes, so you can see at a glance what's allocated and what's still in your stash. The pattern library feature organizes your collection by designer, category, and size range.

Cross-platform access means you can check your stash from your phone while you're at the fabric store, which is exactly when you need it.

Where it falls short:

The rebrand from Backstitch caused real confusion. If you search for Backstitch sewing app, you'll find dead links and outdated reviews. Some users lost data during the migration, and community trust took a hit. The r/sewing subreddit has multiple threads about this.

Budget tracking is minimal. You can log what you paid for fabric, but there's no project-level cost rollup that includes notions, patterns, and other supplies. Timeline and construction planning don't exist. It's a stash manager first and a project planner second.

2. Cora

• Platforms: iOS only
• Price: Free with in-app purchases
• Best for: iPhone and iPad users who want a clean, focused sewing organizer

Cora is the app I wanted to love. It's beautifully designed, with pattern management, measurements tracking, and fabric logging in a sleek iOS interface. Adding a new pattern takes about 30 seconds with a photo and a few tags.

What it does well:

Pattern organization is Cora's strength. You can catalog patterns by designer, garment type, and size. Measurements tracking stores multiple profiles (handy if you sew for your family). Fabric inventory covers the basics: yardage, fiber, color, and a photo. The interface is genuinely pleasant to use.

Where it falls short:

iOS only. Full stop. If you're on Android, or if you prefer planning on a laptop with a big screen (which I do when I'm laying out a complex project), Cora doesn't exist for you. That's a dealbreaker for roughly half of all sewists.

No budget tracking, no project timeline, no construction phases. It's an organizer, not a planner. You'll still need a separate tool to track costs, manage deadlines, and log your build progress. I used Cora for about three months before I realized I was still maintaining a spreadsheet alongside it.

3. Stash Hub

• Platforms: iOS, Android, Web
• Price: Free (20 items) / Plus £3.49/mo or £34.99/yr (unlimited)
• Best for: Sewists who want fabric, patterns, notions, and projects in one app

Stash Hub is the most full-featured dedicated sewing organizer on this list. It covers fabrics, patterns, notions, projects, measurements, and shopping lists all in one app, with cross-device sync across iOS, Android, and web. 25,000+ sewists use it, which gives it the largest user base of any sewing-specific tool here.

What it does well:

The "Magic Input" feature is genuinely clever. Paste a URL from an online fabric store and Stash Hub creates a record automatically with the fabric details, price, and photo. Saves real time when you're adding haul purchases. "Magic Mockup" visualizes how a fabric would look on a garment silhouette, which is fun for planning before you commit to cutting.

Bulk editing and CSV import/export make it practical for migrating from a spreadsheet. If you've been tracking your stash in Google Sheets for years, you can actually move that data over.

Where it falls short:

The free tier caps you at 20 items. That's aggressive. I have 20 fabrics in a single project bin, let alone my full stash. You're effectively on the paid plan from day one if you have any meaningful collection. At roughly $4.40/month (USD equivalent), it's not expensive, but it's not nothing for what is essentially an organizer.

Budget tracking is basic (per-item costs, no project-level rollup with notions and tools). No build log or construction phases. No timeline with deadlines. It's thorough on the inventory side but thin on the project planning side.

4. Sewist

• Platforms: Web
• Price: Free basic patterns / Paid custom patterns ($5-15 each)
• Best for: Sewists who draft custom patterns or need made-to-measure slopers

Sewist is a pattern drafting and CAD tool, not a project manager. That distinction matters. If you're looking for a way to generate a custom-fit bodice block from your measurements, Sewist does that well. If you're looking for a way to track your WIPs and UFOs, look elsewhere.

What it does well:

Enter your measurements and Sewist generates a made-to-measure pattern with seam allowances and grainline markings. The pattern library covers basics (bodice, skirt, pants, sleeves) and some more complex garments. You download a PDF, print, tape, and cut. For anyone who's spent hours grading between sizes on a Big 4 pattern, this feels like magic.

The technical drafting is solid. I've used Sewist slopers as a starting point for three projects, and the fit was closer to my body than any off-the-rack pattern I've tried. That McCalls 6696 I bought in 2019 and still haven't cut into? Partly because I know the fit will need major adjustments. A Sewist sloper would've saved me the hesitation.

Where it falls short:

It's a pattern tool, not a project tool. No fabric stash tracking, no budget management, no timeline, no build log. You generate your pattern, download it, and leave. There's no workspace to plan the rest of your project.

The pattern library, while useful, covers standard garments. If you're looking for costume-specific patterns (historical garments, cosplay, structured bodices), you'll outgrow it. The UI is functional but dated compared to newer tools.

5. My Body Model

• Platforms: Web
• Price: Free basic croquis / Paid plans for additional features
• Best for: Visual planners who sketch outfits before they sew

My Body Model does one thing and does it beautifully: it generates a fashion croquis (sketch template) based on your actual body measurements and proportions. Not a standard fashion illustration figure with unrealistic proportions. Your body, drawn to scale.

What it does well:

You enter your measurements and get a printable croquis that reflects your height, proportions, and shape. Then you sketch garments on top of it, either digitally or by printing and drawing by hand. It's a planning tool for visual thinkers. The Seamwork Magazine community has featured My Body Model sketches extensively, and many indie pattern designers recommend it for wardrobe planning.

For me, sketching a garment on my own body shape changed how I think about fit before I ever touch fabric. I used it to plan a linen jumpsuit last summer and caught a proportion issue (the rise was too long for my torso) before cutting a single piece.

Where it falls short:

It's niche by design. No fabric tracking, no budget, no timeline, no pattern management. It's a sketchpad, and once you've sketched your design, you need other tools for everything else. The free tier is limited, and the paid plans are oriented toward fashion designers and wardrobe planners rather than project-by-project sewists.

If you're not a visual planner who sketches before sewing, this won't fit your workflow at all.

6. Patterned

• Platforms: Web, iOS
• Price: Free
• Best for: Sewists who want a social pattern database and community reviews

Patterned is the Pattern Review successor that the sewing internet needed. It's a community-first platform where you can browse patterns, read reviews from real sewists, and log your makes. Think Goodreads, but for sewing patterns.

What it does well:

The pattern database is extensive, covering indie designers, Big 4 companies, and PDF pattern makers. Community reviews include fit notes, fabric suggestions, and difficulty ratings from people who've actually made the garment. You can log your completed projects, track your pattern collection, and follow other sewists whose taste you trust.

It's completely free, which matters. No premium tier gating the features that actually matter.

Where it falls short:

Social-first means planning-second. There's no fabric stash management, no budget tracking, no construction timeline, and no build log. You can log that you made a project, but you can't plan the project itself. It's a discovery and review tool, not a workspace.

The iOS app exists but the web experience is stronger. If you're looking for a pattern organizer that also helps you plan, budget, and track your actual sewing process, Patterned covers about 20% of what you need.

7. Costumary

• Platforms: Web
• Price: Free (2 active projects) / $9/mo (unlimited)
• Best for: Sewists who want references, materials, budget, timeline, and build log in one connected workspace

Full disclosure: this is us. I'll be honest about what we do well and where we're still catching up.

What we do well:

Everything lives in one project workspace instead of scattered across five apps. Here's what that looks like for a sewing project:

Reference board. Pin fabric swatches, pattern envelope photos, inspiration images, and construction detail shots to a visual board. Drag and arrange them however makes sense for your project. When I planned a Closet Core Patterns Sienna Maker Jacket in waxed cotton, I had the pattern photo, three fabric options, lining swatches, and hardware inspiration all on one board. You can share that board with a public link or export it as a PNG or PDF.

Materials list with status tracking. Every item gets a status: need, ordered, arrived, owned, tested, or used. When your fashion fabric arrives but your interfacing is backordered, you can see that at a glance. No more digging through order confirmation emails.

Budget that auto-calculates from materials. Add costs to your materials and the budget updates automatically. You can see total spend, cost per category (fabric, notions, patterns, tools), and how you're tracking against a target budget. We also have a free budget calculator and commission calculator that work without an account.

Timeline with sewing-specific phases. Patterning, cutting, construction, fitting, finishing. Set deadlines for each phase and see your entire project schedule. When you're sewing a wedding guest dress with a hard deadline, this is the difference between "I think I have time" and "I need to start muslining by Tuesday."

Build log with structured entries. Log what you worked on, what went well, what went wrong, and what's next. This isn't a notes app. It's a structured journal that tracks your progress over time. When I made a toile for a coat last winter, the build log captured every fitting adjustment so I didn't have to remember what I changed.

Build assistant that knows your project. It reads your materials, budget, timeline, and recent build log entries before answering. Ask "do I have enough fabric for the lining?" and it'll check your materials list, not give a generic yardage estimate.

Collaboration and sharing. Bring others into your workspace, or share a public link to your finished project or reference board. Templates for common project types get you started faster.

Where we're still catching up:

No native App Store or Google Play listing. The web app is a full PWA (progressive web app), so you can install it to your home screen from your browser and it runs like a standalone app with offline-capable caching. It's not the same as a native app, but it's not a janky mobile site either. No social features or community feed. No pattern drafting (use Sewist for that). We're focused on the project planning experience first.

The free tier gives you two active projects, which covers most casual sewists. If you're the type who has four WIPs going and three more in the planning stage (no judgment, I'm the same way), you'll want the paid plan.

Comparison table

What about Notion and Pinterest?

Let's be real. Most sewists aren't using any of the apps above. They're using Pinterest for inspiration, Notion for project tracking, and Google Sheets for fabric inventory and budgets. Maybe a physical planner too.

Pinterest is unbeatable for collecting inspiration. It's where you find the fabric combinations, the construction details, the finished garment photos that spark a project. But it has zero project management. You can't track yardage, log a budget, set a deadline, or record your fitting notes. Your pins are a mood board, not a plan.

Notion can do almost anything, which is its problem. You can build a sewing planner in Notion (there are templates for $5-15 on Etsy and the Notion marketplace), but you'll spend hours configuring databases, relations, and rollup formulas instead of actually sewing. I built a Notion sewing tracker in 2023. It took a full Saturday to set up, another evening to migrate my data, and by month three I'd stopped updating it because the friction was too high. It's also sluggish with image-heavy content, and sewing projects have a lot of images.

Google Sheets works for fabric inventory and budget tracking if you're comfortable with spreadsheets. But it's not visual, it doesn't handle images well, and it can't show you your reference photos, materials status, and timeline in one view.

All three are fine if you've already invested time building your system. None of them are worth starting from scratch when dedicated tools exist.