One thing I do is to locate the pattern on the fabric, hold it in place with pattern weights and draw around the pattern before cutting it out. Home Ec. class taught you to pin the pattern to the fabric and cut around the pattern, but that's almost never done in a professional shop. Tracing the pattern onto the cloth allows you to concentrate on cutting and not fighting with the pattern. There's also less chance of the pattern slipping and you making a wrong cut while the pattern is misaligned.

I use washout pencils available to professionals to mark my patterns but also use tailor's crayons, pencil and/or Sharpie markers. I'd recommend using something that marks cleanly and easily without a lot of pressure. I'd also recommend using something that washes out, in case you make a mistake!

*Mark on the wrong side of the fabric

*If you make a mistake and can't erase it, make the correction in another color so you know which line to follow. This also goes for changing the pattern on the fabric, such as altering a pattern to take advantage of fabric which is wider than the pattern.

*Large (2 1/4") washers from Home Depot make fabulous pattern weights. I have about 15 and I don't know what I'd do without them. They weigh a few ounces each, are a good size and have no sharp edges to mar your fabric or pattern, even if you drop one. I cleaned them thoroughly with acetone before I started using them. Someday I intend to paint them blaze orange so they'll be easy to find on a crowded cutting table, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. I keep them close at hand in a small plastic basket on the side of my cutting table.

Hope you find this information useful!

The best thing I've found that marks cleanly without a lot of pressure and washes out easily is...

...hotel soap. You can file the edge 'sharp' against some scratch fabric, and it works wonders. Doesn't work so well on light fabrics, though...

I'm trying to teach myself to sew, and have no one to learn such things from. Every tip is a gem to me.