Hi,
I'm no help in learning how to make your own patterns, and I understand that having to buy all of them can run into money. However.....you're already on a great site for FREE patterns! Steve has tons of patterns that you can download. It's always nice to send him a donation once in a while for his efforts, but other than that, it's absolutely free.
Hope you find some things in his catalog that you'd like to make.
Nancy