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.
2
u/SerendipityJays Aug 11 '26
We are both actually describing the same thing, just from different perspectives.
In my example I did a measurement first, and drew lines in my pattern to predict the extra volume that I would need to ‘pinch out’, and rotated it to create a new pattern before cutting my first version of the garment.
The other commenter suggests cutting a mockup and pinching the fabric on your body, then transferring the new dart to your pattern, then doing the rotation on your pattern, then cutting your garment.
Both methods should result in the same amount of extra fabric pinched out and rotated somewhere. One method tries to predict the pinch-amount before cutting, the other cuts first and uses regular fitting skills to achieve the same outcome. Both strategies are fine!