Welcome to the village.
I use MS Paint, paint shop pro, corel draw and picasa (for photo editing) none of them are easy... picasa is free at download.com and is better than Paint shop or many other pay programs as far as I am concerned.
I am still in the learning curve on pattern making. everything needs to be edited even after you use the programs. Some need to be run through a couple of programs to get the right extension and or "look" that you are after.
Really wish there was an easy program, but if there was, then everyone would be making patterns.
Chance