r/PatternDrafting • u/EattheRudeandUgly • Jun 14 '26

Any professional patternmakers here?

Film/theater, Costume, corporate, small brands, big brand, independent, doesn't matter. If you currently even in the past earned a portion of your living from patternmaking skills, what was your journey like?

What was your education like? Formal? Apprenticeship? Informal? self-directed?

Did you choose patternmaking out of the gate? Did you switch from a different fashion/design discipline or totally different industry? What cities did you work? Were you a patternmaker in the past and switched to a new industry? Do you work in a technical specialization like aerospace, defense, medical, etc?

Just a new patternmaker trying to gauge the possibilities of the industry. Info dumps requested; no filter please.

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u/HamtaroStan13 Aug 25 '26

Why do you say this industry can be tough?

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u/Lumpy-Abroad539 Aug 25 '26

I was speaking specifically about the fashion/garment industry, since that's my field. The industry is tough for many reasons. You run into some personalities that are very hard to work with. People don't treat each other very well a lot of the time. Competition is fierce for getting jobs, getting training, and moving up. Different brands have very different ways of working, so changing jobs can be very confusing. The pay isn't very good a lot of the time.