Software for making patterns?

Patterns for what? Gear? Clothing? The pattern design software I've used (none of it heavily) is basically 2D CAD with features specialized for garment pattern making, and quite expensive. If you're doing gear, and working on a personal scale, Drawing in a 2D cad may be the easiest solution. The sewing specific features either won't matter, like grading (process of changing the pattern for different sizes) or marker making (figuring out how to lay out the pattern pieces so you use the fabric most efficently. Very hard problem.) or can emulated — seam allowances are just offsets, for instance.

There are also (expensive, of course) plugins for 3D systems to make 2D drawings (and cut instructions, etc).

I currently use the 2D portion of solidworks for making patterns, only gear at the moment(backpack, tents, sacks..) but I have some ideas for clothing as well. It works pretty good but since I'm hoping to work with this kind of stuff later on I wouldn't mind learning a few of the softwares.

There are several different Sketchup plugins that will do this. The oldest of these is called Unwrap. There are a few others, including one specifically for inflatables and other "organic" shapes. I have no experience with any of them, and my understanding is that they all leave something to be desired, but you might find them useful.