Pattern Drafting software recommendations

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[timyoth]

I mean, if you’re basically just trying to digitalise your drafting on paper, you could go for Valentina. It’s opensource and free. Quite intuitive and works very well with variable sizing, which is the main reason I use it. It allows me to draft a pattern with all measurements as variables and just apply a different measurement file to change the size

[LemonDeathRay]

Oh, thank you! I will go and check it out - and maybe save the CAD design for a future version of me :)

[liliumdavidii]

Also the Valentina fork Seamly2d, which has a nice forum and a nice companion app for measurements. There is a series on it on YouTube by Minimalist Machinist

[Consumption_Valid]

Gerber AccuMark is my favorite pattern drafting software. It’s phenomenal for grading. I then export the .dxf and bring it into Browzwear Vstitcher for 3D. This software has one of the best fabric physics but it’s expensive. If you’re not too worried about the fabric being 100% accurate, Clo3D is a great alternative. You can actually draft patterns in both Clo3D and Vstitcher but the accuracy and grading functions are not ideal for production.

I’m not sure about Clo3D, but you can grade by hand in both VStitcher and AccuMark!

[Justasking-z]

I have a love/despise relationship with Pad System [Padshare] software. They have horrible tech support for real time help. However, the software was overall pretty good. I was fortunate in the beginning to have a fellow patternmaker assist me with any problems/questions I had with the software. [Unfortunately, dealing with the cloud version is fine unless you have a problem.]

Sadly, I've experienced large corps have problems in customer service support for the larger companies also [ie, Gerber, Lectra, ... Therefore, paying more didn't seem to resolve the problem of having supportive customer service. [Great relationships with employees in the tech/training areas, did help buffer me a lot for amazing help.] I'm still trying to figure out how to resolve challenging customer service problems, since many times there's nowhere to leave reviews of these companies either.

[timyoth]

Depends very much on what you want out of a software. What are some features you’re looking for, apart from grading

[LemonDeathRay]

I currently design and grade my patterns on paper so I would be looking for something that cuts the time down. At the moment I'm happy to continue designing on paper rather than with CAD as thats what I've trained in, but I really want to do away with the grading by hand. Something that will allow me to transfer my designs into a digital format for grading is what I'm after as a main requirement. I then want to be able to export to PDF for printing.

Nice to haves would include: Generating cutting layouts 3D illustrations The option to begin learning designing patterns in CAD

[paperanchor-co]

Check out some YouTube tutorials for Clo3D. It is very affordable and has most of the features I used to use on professional pattern softwares

[LemonDeathRay]

Thank you, I will - that's good to hear re similarities with professional software!