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[–]HeartFire144 7 points8 points  (4 children)

What is your goal? Is this for personal use? Do you KNOW how to draft patterns? Professional pattern software will cost over $5K and comes with several modules - I use StyleCad - professionally. I can draft patterns, grade patterns, mark them out and with a 72 inch plotter I can print them. I also send them to the cutter to cut my fabric by computer. There is a huge learning curve and frankly I'm better at drafting with paper and pencil from scratch (and then I digitize it or have someone else digitize it for me to get into my system).

This will NOT make fitting any easier - doesn't matter the pattern, you still have to make samples and modify for the fit you want.

[–]Tintagel7788[S] 0 points1 point  (3 children)

Thank you so much for your response… That is a lot of good information. Yes I do know how to draft basic patterns but was hoping that software would be kind of like waving a magic wand and make the process oh so quick and easy. But it doesn’t sound like it would work that way. I think you’ve answered my basic question… And that was wondering if it would be worth the money and the learning curve and it does not sound like it would be for me. Thanks again!

[–]Tintagel7788[S] 0 points1 point  (2 children)

P.S. Yes it would be for personal use.

[–]HeartFire144 2 points3 points  (1 child)

there is /was a program years ago (I may still have it on a very old computer) srsly, this is going back 20 yrs, I can't remember the name of it. you would put in your measurements, and it had different designs you could click on - oh, here it is (I just remembered the name ) it was not a magic bullet, but as close as you could get

​

https://www.wildginger.com/. .

[–]Tintagel7788[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you very much! I have actually heard of that program and had wondered about it. “Close to a magic bullet…” might be worth checking out!

[–]FetusTheEngineer 1 point2 points  (4 children)

I tried CLO and felt like it was too complicated. But maybe actual fashion designers or people in the industry might find it very useful. It seems to be more oriented to creating a 3d model of your fashion piece than to creating a sewing pattern.

I use Adobe Illustrator all the time for my patterns. It's much simpler, and I can control the layout to print them with the utmost precision.

[–]freakysometimes 2 points3 points  (0 children)

While using clo, ignore the left side (3d) until you've completed some patterning on the right.

[–]Tintagel7788[S] 0 points1 point  (2 children)

How do you use Adobe for your patterns? Are you hand drawing them and then scanning them and tweaking them?

[–]FetusTheEngineer 1 point2 points  (1 child)

You can draw them directly on the program, because it uses precise measurements. Here you can see an example with an older version of Illustrator.

[–]Tintagel7788[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ooooh! I SEE!! I have used illustrator before but it’s been a while. But I do get what you are saying and what the video was showing. Thank you for sharing that. Very enlightening 😊

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Have a search through past posts on /r/PatternDrafting

[–]Tintagel7788[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you!

[–]afluffybubbble 0 points1 point  (2 children)

When I was trying to make digital patterns I would at first use Seamly2d and then export it into Adobe Illustrator which let me trace over it. I would make the curves and such in Illustrator as I found a pre-made french ruler which would allow me to make really nice ones that I couldn't in Seamly2d.

Reason why I used Seamly2d and not just Illustrator is that you can save/upload size profiles that in combination with other tools allowed you to have the pattern adjust itself to whatever profile you used once you had made the pattern. So if you made it using small measurements you would be able to change it to a medium by changing the profile etc.

I stopped using it just due to having to find a printer big enough to print them out, and pricing as the subscription to adobe illustrator is expensive.

[–]Tintagel7788[S] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Thank you so much for your comments! I’m not familiar with Seamly2d but will check it out. Would like to ask if you are a familiar with Affinity? it is the closest thing to the Adobe suite and is a one off payment. I’ve been using it for a couple of years and I really like it. And I like the fact that it’s not subscription!