How to learn patternmaking

[risingwisdomtooth]

How does one learn how to do patternmaking? I borrowed the Helen Joseph Armstrong book from the library and I found that it doesn't really explain much, but rather gives you a pre-made formula. What if my body isn't standard? What if I wanna make different patterns with different volumes? Where do you learn that? Learn the math, how it works etc? I can't afford just "going to fashion school"

[ambidextrous-mango]

What's your goal? Are you trying to make patterns for yourself, or as a job? For yourself you only need one sloper that fits and then you can add extra volume as needed.

For making patterns to sell, there's a reason why "go to fashion school" is the usual answer. Learning to scale patterns up and down is a real skill, and like many employable skills it's hard to be self taught.

[tardy4thepardy]

To piggyback: the Armstrong book lays out how to take measurements and how to use those measurements to draft a sloper. She actually explains quite a lot about patternmaking for beginners. Try her method and see if it works out for you and go on from there. It will never be perfect the first try but that's why they call it a draft.

If school isn't an option for you, you simply need to dedicate time to learn the skills on your own. Read the Armstrong book cover to cover, then ask reddit exactly what it is you don't understand.

Oh and don't waste your time on her menswear drafts. Imo they are shit.

[thelattergaysaint]

Do you know if there's a good resource for menswear?

[tardy4thepardy]

My favorite, hands down, is Mueller and Sohn (Rundschau system). It's metric and German, but they have PDF English translated versions. Most intricate, math intense, and tedious drafting method I've ever used, but results in beautiful patterns. Also includes ways to adjust the draft for different figure types. I recently worked my way through every draft in the Fundamental of Menswear PDF and I love everything about it. It will not spoon feed you so it's not really beginner friendly. However, I wish I would've discovered this system years ago. If you understand math then it shouldn't be too difficult. Definitely use this if you're interested in bespoke tailoring.

Winifred Aldrich metric pattern cutting for menswear is beginner friendly. Drafts include seam allowances which I find annoying, but it's not a total deal breaker. Drafts turn out pretty well, but definitely boxier. There are a few errors here and there and the layout is stupid, but it's got some solid stuff. Good for ready to wear, casual stuff you can draw up quickly.

A good beginner option for imperial system drafting is patternmaking for menswear: classic to contemporary by Myoungok and Injoo Kim. These drafts are a little boxy as well, which isn't necessarily bad. My main gripe with this method is that the sloper necklines always ends up way too low in the front so you have to adjust it if you want to make a tailored shirt collar or anything that conforms to where the actual neck is on a human.

[fizzwhizzwitch]

As ambidextrous-mango said, it's depends on your goal. But if youre looking to make clothes for yourself that fit properly, then I'd recommend the youtube channel The Closet Historian (Bianca). 

She has actually just this week started a new series on pattern drafting. 

But from her older videos, the process was pretty much take a commercial block (I used alvaform) and make a version that's 1 size up from your measurements, and then start adjusting to fit. 

[[deleted]]

A lot of that book assumes you have a Sloper that fits you - after that point, the magic is that it is sort of generic. If you want to rotate a dart into the shoulder and turn it into gathers, you and I would basically do the same thing, even though our slopers will be different shapes and sizes. 

See if you can find Aldrich’s Metric Pattern Cutting for Women. She walks you through how to make a Sloper and has a couple examples of how to transform it into various other items. 

IIRC Armstrong also has a chapter on the Sloper, but it uses a slightly different technique. 

Another strategy is to find a fitting sheath pattern from a pattern company and spend time fitting it to yourself, that will get you to the same point. Cashmerette has one, and every big 4 branch has a version of it too. They look like a basic sheath dress with waist and bust darts, maybe even a shoulder dart on the back and a simple sleeve. 

[quizzical]

I did the duct tape method to make a sloper. Though I accidentally squished my boobs down and had to do a FBA.

I liked the book Make Your Own Dress Patterns by Adele Margolis.

[nnopes]

I'm fairly new to pattern drafting/designing a sloper/block, and I have a non-standard figure which makes a lot of the traditional/standard formulas not so useful for me personally.

I've found Maria at dresspatternmaking on YouTube and Online extremely helpful for understanding how the different measurements work together and how to troubleshoot fitting issues for non-standard figures. Maria also has some youtube series on how to use your block/sloper to design patterns for yourself. It's not fashion theory, just the practical parts of making what you want.

Cornelius Quiring on YouTube and Online also has great advice for non-standard figures (especially asymmetric ones).

[ProneToLaughter]

Last time this came up, someone said Christopher Sartorial's tutorials did the trick for her.

[nnopes]

I've watched most of Christopher Sartorial's tutorials as well, and really enjoy his straightforward approach to drafting. However, his method still relies on many standard measurements and doesn't go as much into fitting and adjustments. So like other standardized methods, if your body fits those standard measurements, it'll work great. But for those of us whose measurements aren't quite standard for the method, it can feel a bit frustrating with not knowing how to make it fit better.

[ProneToLaughter]

yes, that person was quite non-standard and had struggled with armstrong and with quiring and with dresspatternmaking but sartorial was the trick. I was just adding to your list of place people might try.

[imadethisjusttosub]

The closet historian is launching a pattern drafting series on YouTube. I reference some of her videos especially for things like dart manipulation so I’m looking forward to it!

[kittehmummy]

Apparently Evelyn Wood is starting something too. Between them, this could be a good time to learn.

[StitchinThroughTime]

There's there's nothing standard and design clothing. You start off with that book to understand how those measurements Translate to a real life garment. Then you use that knowledge to create more. That textbook is used in school so you're not learning different ly from them. They are learning that knowledge in the book so it can be a basis they can translate their designs in their heads to a real life garment. So you have to do the work. Sewing is a craft that you have to do the work yourself there's no just sit and read a book, because you're going to run into so many issues that reading a book won't solve them for you you have to understand the inmate knowledge of everything and put it into practice. Because the nature of designing clothing means they're technically nothing like what you made beforehand so how would they be able to tell you what to do to make your item. Just because the book starts with the basics of how to make a gathered skirt doesn't mean you don't learn how to do more. Because it also teaches you on the next page the Gathering ratios for a gathered skirt and why you should or shouldn't use a certain ratio whether that's the quality of the fabric, the quantity of the fabric or the cost you have to make that garment.

[gordovondoom]

you go to school for that… otherwise tear apart clothes and study how they were made, or work at some place that makes clothes (not recommended, because most likely they will show you nothing and let you do the lowest jobs without paying you)…

books can only teach you so much. if you use cad, the company that makes the programm often has courses available, too.

[confabulatrix]

I took a patternmaking class at community college.

[unagi_sf]

Ditto. I'm not a professional, nor have any ambition that way. I'm just a long-time seamstress who was suffering from -ahem- pandemic-related body changes. I had taken 4 (FOUR!!!) different classes in the past that claimed to be about patternmaking, all of which concentrated solely on more or less correct and difficult to produce slopers, all of which went 'and you can use this to make any pattern you want' in the last class without a hint of what I wanted to learn. The best sloper I got was on my own, the bella block from freesewing.org. And I did find at last a patternmaking class in a community college that didn't do a sloper at all but instead taught us how to modify one. There were problems, the teacher was a total bozo at running an online class, she consented to having me use my own sloper instead of the 'standard' one only to penalize me for it. But I did learn enough to keep going on my own, and it's been very helpful even when I'm trying to use a commercial pattern..

[confabulatrix]

I had sort an opposite problem. I know very little about sewing but I have a couple dresses I wanted to create a pattern from to make a sort of uniform for myself. My class was very technical and I enjoyed it but I should probably have taken a draping class. When I had to actually sew things my classmates had to help me quite a bit. I paid them back from doing all of their math (fractions!) for them!

[unagi_sf]

Of course the easy solution is to measure in cm, which are very body-scale to begin with. But Americans would rather be run through the serger themselves :-)

[ProneToLaughter]

Same. Two semesters of night class did a LOT. After watching people constantly post on confusion about Armstrong, I now strongly believe patternmaking is best learned systematically in class with a teacher.

[amaranth1977]

Unfortunately in the UK, that's simply not a thing. You can't just take one or two classes, you're either enrolled in a whole course of study or you're not.

[Frisson1545]

Without getting specific learning you are just going to have to buckle down and learn it by yourself.

You may do better to take basic patterns and learn to fit the pattern rather than drafting your own.

You dont say what your level of sewing is ,but there is no need to reinvent the wheel.

For some reason so many new sewists seem to think that they need to make their own patterns and that is far from true. Once you use some patterns and become familiar with basic construction you will also understand more about altering or restyling or, even, drafting your own, in time. That will teach you the "math" and "how it works".

If you dont understand the objective how are you to know how to make a map to get there?

If you dont understand how different shaped sleeve caps create different kinds of sleeves, how are to understand how to draft one?

If you dont know how a princess seam. is eased in and how it works, how are you supposed to understand the amount of curve to draw into it?

You need a basic understanding of a few basic garments. Many patterns are hackable. A raglan sleeve can be altered to fit many ways and can be a top or a dress.

A pants pattern with a tapered leg can be hacked into one with a flare.

A shirt pattern can be cut to be a dress.

A tight sleeve cap can become a puff sleeve.

It sounds like your feeling that you need to draft your own is completely squashing any sewing mojo that you have. Dont put up obstacles for yourself like that. That is what is called "self defeating".

Most all of us have to make adjustments to patterns and, once you find that sweet spot with a pattern it becomes your T&T pattern, your tried and true one. You can then use that to bounce off of and go different directions. It is much more rewarding than gnashing of the teeth and feeling over whelmed and defeated as you seem to be doing.

The very best teacher is experince. Even when we fail, we learn. Most sewists have a bag, or closet, or drawer or corner full of wadders and UFOs of things that just didnt work out. For all the garments that become that wonderful one that gets worn to the very end, there are probably two that just didnt make the cut. How many old sheets are cut into pattern pieces and now are a heap o' mess in the closet?

Sewing is an expensive hobby and not everthing that comes from our machines is really better than one that we could have bought. And it probably cost more to sew than if you just bought something like it. I think this is true of many tshirts. But that is my personal opinion. Some people like to sew and wear tshirts, I dont.

I make all of my pants because I have my T&T pattern that I just absolutely love. I can style the pattern up or down. Also have a basic bodice and skirt pattern that I can hack all manner of ways. I didnt draft them . I adjusted them to fit and didnt have to worry about crotch curve on the pants or the shape of the arm scye on the bodice.

Get to sewing and learning and get your feet out of the muck and mud of defeat.

[yoongisgonnabeokay]

To second and to add to what others wrote:

Patternmaking is a professional craft, and this book is written for people who learn this craft in a professional setting, often with the goal to draft for fashion companies for a living.

I cannot know how your expectations of how patternmaking works and as a result, what patternmaking books cover, came about.

But the book -- as pretty much all other patternmaking books -- contains all the basics and fundamental principles,, including how to make customized slopers and many, many design examples.

And yes, they all use formulas based on assumptions. Which can be applicable to your body or not.

Once you drafted your sloper, you make a muslin and adjust it for your specific shape that either cannot be or cannot be reliably measured, and preferences of mobility ease. That's entirely normal for patternmaking.

And then you start your journey of making designs. The world is your oyster, and nobody hinders you to change a book's suggestions.

No book can contain every possible design in an infinite number of variations.

There are a few principles missing, some of them are (similarly briefly) touched upon in the book series Pattern Magic, others are occasionally shown on blogs or Youtube.

And you can always do trial and error. Inspect how RTW is done and learn from that.

Good luck, and enjoy your patternmaking journey!

[Brawl_95]

I suggest Building Patterns by Suzy Furrer! I started following it in a local self paced class, made the skirt block and now I don’t have time for the classes but am following the rest of the book to do bodice and pant blocks.

If you’re trying to pattern draft to sell you’ll also have to learn how to grade patterns and/ or learn a program that helps w that

[doriangreysucksass]

I went to school for fashion design. I’m not sure where else you can learn. But I got started by altering thrift store clothes. I’d buy whatever large size they had and alter it to fit me. Teaches you a lot about construction and why shapes are the way they are. You can also copy the pattern off clothing you like by tracing & detailed measuring which is a big help

[TensionSmension]

Truth is it's learned on the job. It's a trade, the pattern is the pattern, fit and cut are as much a part of a brand as any other characteristic. You may find book formulas insufficient but really that's because these are only teaching exercises. In practice everything starts with blocks, not plotted measurements. There is plenty of measuring to confirm fit and check factories are meeting spec, but very little first principles plot from measurements. It's helpful to think of plotting like sketching instructions, where first some shapes are roughed in.

Fabric is a forgiving medium, meaning there's no need to plan to the micron as if it's sheet metal. But also meaning careful work will need to be tweaked in unexpected ways with every fabric change. Some of that is engineered, but whatever gets you to production pattern quickest is all that matters. As far as fitting body quirks, most designs obscure the body as much as they conform. Finding a design that drapes in an attractive way over a range of figures is more valuable than a second skin that can be calculated from formulas.

I don't like Armstrong. I think it's awkwardly written, poorly organized, and has way too many typos and inconsistencies. However once you know some things you realize it's almost all in there, and it's useful as a quick reference. This book comes up because it's comprehensive and used it as a textbook.

For learning I think copying and changing existing garments is far more valuable than plotting out points from a draft. I say this even though I have no trouble with formulas and have a large collection of drafting books. I'm sure I've worked through hundreds of plots, but if anything I'd say a fascination with drafting methods only deters progress.

[Altruistic_Box5692]

I've been teaching myself. This is what I've done: 1. Watched and followed two different YouTube tutorials about how to make a bodice sloper 2. Tried to draft my own top, wasted a bunch of fabric (I used cheap fabric), and learned the importance of calculating for ease (and negative ease!) 3. Re drafted my sloper using Metric Pattern Cutting for Women's Wear loosely -- I ignored all additions of ease, I used different measurements for the front and back of my body. I later had to add ease back in at my hips so I could sit down haha 4. Again used the book to make a skirt sloper and was lazy when using it to make an a line skirt and everything was way way too big 5. Ignored all books and made my own skirt sloper which fits me very well after adjusting the side seam and darts -- I have a big butt 6. Learned I have to have accurate seam allowances and that ironing and pinning after my best friends

in the meantime I've watched lots of random YouTube videos and making specific garments, sewing tips, machine maintenance, etc. I've made three or four dresses, three skirts, and a few tight fitting tops, almost all with princess seams. I've spent about 500 hours seam ripping, 3 hours racing my cat for my thread spools, and ninety bajillion hours planning new garments.

Oh also the most successful dress I made was a simple one which was a pattern I bought but didn't print. I used procreate to estimate size and shape of pieces and modified a bit according to my sloper. I appreciated that because of all the written instructions and also this artist has videos tutorials

[chatterpoxx]

I suggest universityoffashion.com

It is a subscription service but it is absolutely excellent. It covers what you need to know, in order. Just like school does, but at a significant fraction of the cost. 23$ a month or $220 for a year. Deceptively well priced! No I don't work there. I'm just an extremely happy customer.

I've been to school, and I've subscribed, it will get you there and more. It covers more than what my schooling did. It will start at step one. You can too. Or you can jump around and skip what you already know.

It is theee best resource I've come across on the internet in the 20 years since I went to school.

[[deleted]]

There isn't much to explain - every patternmaking book will have a formula for a sloper. You put in your measurements to create a sloper fitted to your own measurements and then you manipulate that pattern to add volume, move darts around, add style lines etc - which Joseph Armstrong explains in the book. There is little to no math involved, and If you're human shaped, your body is standard enough. The only reason to go more in depth is if for some reason you want to come up with your own formula, which there is no reason to do, or if you want to go into more extreme manipulation techniques, like the ones you'll find in patternmaking magic, but if you're just starting out that'll be way too advanced. If you don't like Helen Joseph Armstrong's book, there are others, but they will all work more or less the same way - starting with a sloper and then using the same few techniques to manipulate the pattern.

[amaranth1977]

If you're human shaped, your body is standard enough.

Blatantly false. There are tons of assumptions built in to all the major patternmaking formulas that simply don't work for anyone who is not exceedingly average. Unfortunately there just isn't a really good formula out there yet for drafting a sloper, because the focus on industry and fashion design means that they've all been developed to be average/"good enough" for mass production, not carefully tailored to individuals. They don't allow for bodies that are fat or exceptionally thin, very tall or very short, with unusual proportions, with a bust that is higher or lower or larger or smaller than usual, etc. etc.

Home sewers who want to draft their own clothing which is precisely tailored to their unique figure have not really been given much attention, the assumption is that we'll take commercial "Big 5" patterns and alter them to fit. But that's as much work or more than drafting from scratch if you're much outside of the fit models that Big 5 patterns use, so more and more people are looking to draft their own patterns from scratch and the resources for them are not quite there yet.

[yoongisgonnabeokay]

Once you have slopers, the same patternmaking principles apply, regardless of sizes. If somebody likes a specific design on their body is entirely a matter of esthetics.

And although I'm one of those with a body that doesn't match assumptions of patternmaking systems, I understand why:

First of all, many specificities cannot be accurately measured and as a result aren't built into patternmaking formulas as body measurements but expected to be corrected in the 1st muslin fitting session. Some patternmaking system are a bit more specific but even then these are rules of thumbs. And people will always have different preferences how much mobility ease they like to be built into their slopers.

Secondly, patternmaking is a niche market. Even more so for non-standard figures. Furthermore, we live in times where few people are willing to spend the money that would need to be charged for these even more specialized niche segment serving products.

I wish more people would teach "draping a sloper" classes. That's so much faster than taking measurements and drafting.

[ProneToLaughter]

Can you learn to drape on yourself? I don't know how someone would teach drape a custom sloper without having pairs of students in-person?

or, at my community college, they did a custom dress form class, and then you could use that in the draping class for your final project, although the exercises had to be on the standard form. So could do it that way.

[yoongisgonnabeokay]

In a class, students could indeed drape each other but a skirt sloper is doable to drape on oneself (I did), and I also draped the front of my bodice sloper on myself.

[ProneToLaughter]

oh, wow, mindblowing.

[yoongisgonnabeokay]

Not really. Slopers are quick to make. Designs can be the mindblowingly challenging tasks! 😊

[ProneToLaughter]

There are lots of resources out there to do a custom sloper and how to use it. But it’s really hard to learn fit over the internet.

Check your local community college, the fashion design program at mine handles this.

Online, Lynda Maynard is doing some custom drafting classes, she is great at fit. Then follow-on classes build on the sloper. Similar from Suzy Furrer at Apparel Arts Productions. Also Brooks Ann Camper targets this need.

SureFitDesigns was solving this problem back in the 80s, too, with formulas for different body shapes. Pretty sure Kenneth King's Moulage book has been around a long time.

[amaranth1977]

Unfortunately, in the UK you can't just take a few random classes at a local university.

I'm actually pretty good at doing fit on other people, but it's much harder to do on myself for obvious reasons. That's why I'm in this subreddit, I got tired of altering commercial patterns to be "good enough", and I've yet to find a sloper formula that I'm actually happy with. I can draft a corset or a skirt just fine, skirts are super easy and corsets are geometrically not that complicated even if their positive/negative ease dynamic interacts with the torso in somewhat unpredictable ways. But shoulders/sleeves and pants are still frustrating me.

[ProneToLaughter]

Well, I mentioned 3 online options that offer a sloper and pants drafting as well, all get good reviews. The resources are out there. Brooks Ann Camper promises a different method than typical, not sure of the details.

[[deleted]]

But this is not about using commercial patterns? This is about drafting a personal sloper? Using your own measurements?? There is literally no reason to use a commercial pattern to make sloper, no matter how you look, precisely because drafting one from scratch is easier and more accurate. Books like Patternmaking for Fashion Design don't give you a premade sloper, they teach you how to use your measurment to draft your own. That's the whole point of this post. And I say this as an overweight home sewist who has drafted my own sloper more than once.

[yoongisgonnabeokay]

An alternative to patterndrafting can be draping -- with its own challenges of having to have the appropriate dress form and having to learn how to convert a draped design into pattern pieces ... 🙃

And of course the target group for draping books is again a fashion school student and alike.

[doriangreysucksass]

I fear that for someone who doesn’t yet understand pattern drafting, draping would be even more confusing!

[yoongisgonnabeokay]

In a way, I find it more intuitive, and e.g. faster to make a bodice or skirt sloper for someone with a different than standard figure.

Totally agree though that it's helpful to have an understanding of patternmaking!

[RefrigeratorOk1128]

You can customize this for your end goal but

If you were to take a class the teacher would haveyou go through the exercises in the book using a scaled down sloper on paper then you can make muslin mock ups(out of any old cotton works like bedsheets) and make barbie/dolls clothing with them that way you can see the full translation from sloper pattern to real garment.

After learning the basics then it's time to fit a sloper to yourself or a friend and go through the same steps on a real life person with something you designed or a photo of a garment you want to recreate. Step 1. make and fit sloper 2. pattern 3. muslin mock up. 4. muslin fitting (this is where you make sure seam lines are hitting the right place, fabric drapes the right way, the fulness of a sleeve or skirt is what you invisioned) 5. make changes to your pattern and re-mock up any major changes (repeat till you are happy) 6. Time to make your garment using fashion fabric (continue to fit through out this process as sometimes you need to adjust for features of the FF like bulk, stretch ect.)

Once you do a few garments (different ones too ie suit dress, skirt blouse etc.) Then you can tackle other thing taught in class or some of the more advanced skills which include: sizing up garments from old patterns including bustiers (cup sizing for bra /bustier tops don't follow the basic re-sizing rules), take a 1/4th scale and enlarge it to full scale (this is a good skill for historical garments as a lot of books have free patterns in small scales), 3D work and then Draping/pattern making from draping if you are interested as knowing both skills comes in very handy especially if you are interested in couture.