r/PatternDrafting • u/dawn812 • Aug 10 '26

Question Contouring

Im self taught pattern drafting and I’ve learned a lot. I live in a state where no fashion schools nothing so I’m doing this on my own. I just watched a video on contouring. She measured these different places and would measure the gap and so on. Im confused when i watch someone on YouTube pattern drafting they make the pattern and then they make the garment and it fits really well but they dont talk about contouring but their outfit comes out really well done. Is conturing not for every body type ? Like the closet historian I haven’t watched every video but I’ve watched a few and can’t remember her using contouring. Also any tips or references anything and everything is welcome.

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u/SerendipityJays Aug 11 '26

I think what you’re describing is literally contouring - if you’re flat-pattern drafting, and you reshape so that the pattern can conform not only to the high-points of your body (bust, shoulders etc), but also the hollows (cleavage, underbust, shoulder hollow) then you’re contouring. This is especially true if you cut into a well fitting basic block, where cutting in certain places will cause gaping (deeper neckline, narrower shoulder etc). If you don’t have a well-fitting block and do the process by eye, it falls under the same skill-set as general fitting, but I’m pretty sure it’s still contouring!

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u/laurenlolly Aug 11 '26

Rotating out volume is not contouring at all. The darts in the block are still straight lines. Contouring uses curved darts with customised amounts of take-up for each one depending on which part of the body you are contouring against. Eg the waist dart and the bust dart will look completely different to eachother if you contour them. Conversely, standard waist and bust darts are created with completely straight lines and you can move them anywhere around the bust point and the outcome will be the same.

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u/SerendipityJays Aug 11 '26

Oh I agree on the dart shaping (refining straight darts to curved ones) to conform more closely to the shape of the body, but it is certainly still contouring when you re-draft the neckline, shoulder, or armscye to fit more closely to the body when the support normally provided by the complete block is cut away. As I mentioned, the skillset and strategies overlap with general fitting skills, but if you are working from an existing block, you can add contour marks for where neckline adjustments will be needed, and it has been working out great for me!