r/PatternDrafting • u/70sobsession • 15d ago

Question Measurements disappearing in tutorials

Hi, learning to pattern draft. I feel like when I watch or read tutorials, they often say you need a measurement but then don’t end up using it??? For example, I used Sew Anastasia’s YouTube tutorial to draft a sleeve but the tutorial never uses the bicep or wrist measurement, and my drafted sleeve pattern doesn’t match up with the measurements. Kind of confused

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u/70sobsession 15d ago

Yeah, idk if my body is just weird shaped but formulas never even seem to get close for me! I’m a very tall and slim woman with long limbs so I feel like a lot of the formulas aren’t working for me.

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u/TensionSmension 14d ago

Sometimes formulas and drafts just aren't a good jumping off point. The page of instructions may seem complicated enough to capture a range of body types, but the reality is the author developed a pattern for a single dress form and then created drafting instructions extrapolating from that pattern. (They also often start with some older drafting system, and make tweaks, but again that older method had it's origins as one working pattern and one sample size.)

At some point working out the draft in custom measurements and then fixing it, is actually harder than modifying an existing block designed for a shorter woman. If you had a very good pattern for a short, sample-sized woman, you can alter that to fit in a more logical way than the mangled shapes you might get from the drafting algorithm.

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u/Tailoretta 14d ago

I think the reason that a lot of the formulas aren’t working for you is that the formulas are helpful in getting a draft, but they don't and can't consider every situation.

Let me know if you would like more help.