About Them: The Ladies Behind Tape-Free Patterns
-- Written By Dad
Most About pages are written by the business owners themselves.
This one isn’t.
This one’s written by me — the husband and dad behind the scenes — because the two ladies who run TapeFree Patterns would never brag about themselves the way I believe they could.
So here it is.
Kathe, my wife, is the sewist. She’s the reason this business even exists.
A while back, she was working on a sewing project and decided to try using one of our large-format printers from another business we ran. She printed her pattern full-size — no tiling, no taping. Just clean, crisp lines. Ready to cut. Ready to sew.
A few days later, she told me: “That was the easiest project I’ve sewn in a long time. It was actually fun. I still had energy after printing — because I didn’t spend all those hours crawling around on the floor, taping sheets together, trying to get everything to line up.”
She said the worst part about sewing wasn’t the sewing. It was the prep. Taping all those 8½ x 11 pages used to kill her enthusiasm. She’d lose her excitement before she even touched the fabric. Sometimes she’d finish taping a pattern… and not touch it again for weeks.
But after that first full-size print? She was sewing again — that same day.
That’s when I said, “If this makes your sewing life easier… maybe you could help others with it too.”
She wasn’t so sure.
So — in classic Dad fashion — I went ahead and did it anyway. I built the website. Hooked up all the backend stuff. Did the nerdy tech setup.
And on July 15, 2023 — boom — I turned the site on. Then I turned to Kathe and said: “Check this out! . . . Oh — by the way, you got some orders. I guess you'll need to fill them.”
And just like that… the business was born.
Now, she runs it—every day.
Kathe does the printing. The folding. The packing.
She handles customer calls and shapes how the business improves over time.
She still sews — when she can — but these days, her craft is helping thousands of other sewists reclaim their joy. Because she knows exactly what it’s like to lose it under a pile of taped-up paper.
Then there’s our daughter, Sophia.
She’s the artist in the family.
A graphic designer. An anime creative. A force.
She’s the one who designed the envelopes. She’s the one who gave TapeFree its look and feel.
She helps fold, print, and pack — just like her mom.
If you’ve ever received a custom layout, a special touch, or anything just a little extra…
That was probably Sophia — she brings the artistry.
Every now and then, I wander into the office and get in Sophia’s way —just like the little brother she never had...even though she already has two bigger ones.
They both answer the phone. They both care.
And they both make sure what you receive feels personal — because it is.
Kathe and Sophia have built something real, something thoughtful, and something that’s quietly become very special to a lot of people.
I just get to witness it — and keep the backend humming.
So that’s who’s behind TapeFree Patterns.
Not a print warehouse.
Not a faceless corporation.
Just two great ladies — helping other sewists skip the noise and get straight to the joy of making.
Thanks for trusting them with your patterns.
I sure do.
— Dad