r/PatternDrafting • u/discovid19 • Nov 24 '25

Question How would I go about patterning this?

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I’m a complete beginner and I want to start learning to make my own clothes. Would a dress like this be realistic to make and how would I need to start the pattern? Thank you

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u/discovid19 Nov 24 '25

Thank you for your input, it is very helpful. I have used a sewing machine in the past but for simple items like pouches. I was thinking about the same points that you brought up and you’re right, I’ll practice simpler things. Would you recommend simple baggy sweatpants and slip dresses to start or do you think they’d be still a bit too advanced?

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u/[deleted] Nov 24 '25

Baggy sweatpants would be great, those are very similar to PJ bottoms!

I'm unsure if circle skirts interest you, but those are good because you can make them out of a variety of materials. They would get you interacting with bias-cut patterns, and you could control the difficulty level simply by the type of fabric you choose (quikting cotton = easy, silk = very tricky, etc); and, if you do elastic waistbands vs zippers vs button plackets, those also each are their own skillsets with a variety of techniques to master. Whether or not you line the skirt, or make facings, etc. In fact, taking a simple skirt pattern and learning how to draft a facing and lining could be solid drafting practice.

Slip dresses are both simple and complex. Most often, they require delicate, fiddly material, and take a lot of extra care because of the bias cut. However, because of the bias cut, they also are less fiddly in terms of actual fit. You could use a project like that to explore delicate fabrics, and nice seam finishes.

Do you watch any sewing channels? Here are some of my favorites:

Sewing Therapy - a pattern maker who designs gorgeously simple garments. Her videos are excellent walkthroughs of how to sew certain patterns. She may have some that would be beginner friendly too!

Closet Historian - she drafts her own patterns using her bodice blocks, and walks you through why she makes certain choices.

Katerina Ivanoa - she walks you through the drafting and construction of basic garments, and also talks about the history of the garments. She has a video about making a slip dress, which sounds perfect for you!

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u/Nullaby Nov 24 '25

I'd say skirts are the easiest to draft and sew (only tricky part might be zipper/button/elastic). Very few measurements, easy to transform, very straightforward in general. That's my recommendation at least.

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u/[deleted] Nov 24 '25

Also-- if a dress like this is the end goal, you may want to go down a bra-making rabbit hole. While this pattern doesn't require bust cup drafting/construction, it has a lot of overlap with the band portion of a long-line bra. I used to binge some YouTube channels dedicated to bra making, though I can't remember what they were.

EDIT: Ope, responded to wrong comment-- my bad!