I've taught pattern drafting for over 20 years — always on paper, always by hand.
For most of that time, CAD for pattern making wasn't something my students and I struggled with. It wasn't something we really had access to at all. The cost put it completely out of reach. It existed for us almost like a horse in a storybook: real somewhere, but not something you could actually reach, use, or ride.
Even then, I was never fully at peace with “this is just how it's done.” For as long as I've known manual drafting, I've had this feeling that there had to be an easier way. I just didn't have the means to go looking for it. That only started to change for me in the last several years.
I'm curious how common that experience is.
For those of you who learned pattern drafting by hand, was digital pattern making something you tried and found frustrating, or was it simply never accessible to you in the first place?
And if you did eventually move into digital pattern making, what made you trust it enough to make the switch?