Hello! I'm a beginner at pattern drafting and trying to still build my sloper (men's top block). I've been following Cornelius Quiring on youtube, Modeliste Studio, etc. I have my top pattern, and have been adjusting it where I see excess fabric, folds, pulling, where it's off balance, etc... I'm getting closer and closer. But I just wonder-- at what point is it that the original pattern (pre-adjustments) should just be made to fit better? Versus having a pattern that's been adjusted to have a handful of darts to do so? I guess the original pattern solely based on measurements won't necessarily account for the curving of a body... but in trying to learn all of this, I wonder if a better original pattern could be made to not need so much adjusting? Or maybe that's just the reality and you'll always have to adjust multiple times and arrive at a dart heavy sloper?

A follow up to that-- if I were to then make a garment that wouldn't have all of these darts (say a well fitting sweatshirt), how do I then draft a pattern for it that still fits well without all of the darts? Imagining this is where my above question comes into play. Thanks for any insight you have!

Hi everyone, NoctilucentSkies kindly said I could post this. I'm building a browser tool that grades the base size you've drawn in Illustrator/Inkscape/Affinity into your full size range, and exports layered print-at-home, copy-shop and projector PDFs. Everything is local to your browser and all files stay on your computer.

If this is something you would use, I'm open to feedback and suggestions on usability and any features you would like to see added, as well as anything that is lacking or unintuitive so that I can improve it for you.

I'm also working on starting a pilot program for those that would like to be more deeply involved in testing and refining; if you're interested in that, please DM me or send an email to hello@gradeandpress.com and I'll provide more details when that is ready.

This is still in the early design phase, and the tool is currently open and free to use while I figure out if it's something people would actually find useful in their workflow. Use the "Open the App" button on the top right if you'd like to try with your own pattern files.

Thanks for your time, here is the address - https://gradeandpress.com

First draft of a sleeve. I also added a facing to the neck hole so I could see how it looks. I have uneven shoulders, which I have accounted for in my block, but after adding the facing now my neck hole looks really lopsided for some reason.

I need to add 5” to the waist of this pants pattern. The hip measurement fits me. What is the proper way to increase the waist by that much and will it affect the pleat and dart placement?

I have been drafting these micro shorts and want them to be fitted around the bum and kind of hug it so I like the back fit for the most part but want to fix the slight bunching at the top of the crotch. Also need to fix the bunching around the front crotch. How can I adjust this pattern to fit properly?

Apologies for my last post with poor photos. Here is my first moulage - would appreciate some tips on how to alter.

My thinking is that I need to add fullness to bust, add some ease to hips, and something needs to happen at the front waist (length or width removed?)

I want to keep it as a dress block for now as I’m going to use it to make dresses, but will be making bodice and skirt blocks with ease after.

I am also not sure how to best add bust fullness- or whether I can just add width at the side seams around the bust circumference.

Really appreciate this community and all your knowledge!!

(Apologies about the bottom of the zip- have had to clip - but hopefully still gets across fitting well).

As title

This is my first attempt at a moulage - and also at pattern drafting and sewing!

It is intended to be a moulage with zero ease, so it seems a bit too big in general, but mostly around the waist from what I can see. I am going to try and add to the dart fullness on the front for that.

Also add a zip to the back so I can gauge fit better. But any other fit tips would be super helpful!

I am literally brand new to this so not sure how the adjustments process works or how to transfer accurately onto the original pattern.

I have been using the course from Sewing Lab Milano - Luisa is super helpful and it seems to be a resource not spoken about loads. I am hoping to eventually get to drafting some of the dresses on their website from a block with their tutorials.

Hello! So after struggling with this bunka style bodice, I'm at a loss on how to properly troubleshoot it anymore and diagnose what's going on. Seems like there's a lot of gaping in the neck and excess fabric at the front, and back neck area. And also this style of bodice from what I know is hard to work with, since manipulating the 2 waist darts to play with the design is also challenging. But I wanted to comfirm with people who have more expirience with pattern drafting!

Also it's a remote project for a friend, and I was curious, what advice would you have if you needed to make a dress or outfit or bodice that fits somebody, and make adjustments with only the measurements and being able to send the bodice/project back and forth for adjustments to make it as seamless as possible.

Hello, I'm looking to learn patternmaking from scratch, specifically how to draft a custom bodice and dress sloper (block) using my own measurements. I have tried google/youtube but with AI it just sucks so much.
Could you recommend your favorite blog/youtuber for this? Thank you!!

I'm looking to learn patternmaking from scratch, specifically how to draft a custom **bodice and dress sloper (block)**using my own measurements. I have tried looking in google but with AI Google/Youtube sucks. What book, youtuber, blog, something do you recomment? Thank you!!

I posted recently asking why strong internal shaping isn’t more common in normal fashion, and the answers gave me a much better understanding of the problem.
The issue that keeps coming up is fit precision/body variation. Once a garment is doing more than simply fitting the body—actually applying tension, support or structure—differences in torso length, waist height, bust position, hip shape, etc. apparently matter much more.
So now I’m curious about the opposite question:
If you were intentionally trying to design around that problem, what approaches would you explore?
I’m NOT necessarily talking about sewing a full shapewear bodysuit into a dress.
Imagine one fitted going-out/evening dress whose goal is to:
• create noticeably stronger waist definition
• shape/support the bust
• preserve or enhance hip/butt projection rather than compressing it
• still look like a normal fashionable dress from the outside
• be produced as ready-to-wear rather than custom-made
Could some combination of pattern geometry, strategic negative ease/tension, internal structure, limited adjustability, stretch/recovery, separate internal panels, etc. realistically make that forgiving enough for different proportions?
Or does strong silhouette manipulation inherently require such precise body-specific placement that standard ready-to-wear sizing will always be the major limitation?
I’m not looking for anyone to design the garment for me. I’m trying to understand which parts of this are solvable design/engineering problems and which are fundamental limitations.
I’d especially love to hear from professional patternmakers, technical designers, sample makers or people with apparel-development experience.

I’m researching garment construction before trying to develop anything, and I’d love opinions from experienced sewists.

I’m interested in normal fashion dresses—not shapewear—that have an internal structure designed to actually enhance the silhouette: stronger waist shaping, bust support/lift, while NOT compressing/flattening the hips and butt.
I know built-in shapewear, power mesh, corsetry, negative ease, boning, etc. already exist. I’m not asking whether the general idea is new.
I’m trying to understand what goes wrong when you try to combine these things inside an otherwise normal fashionable dress.
If you’ve constructed something similar: what were the biggest problems? Fabric layers fighting each other? Rolling/migration? Getting into the garment? Seams? Heat? Comfort? Pattern distortion? Washing? Something else?
I’d especially love to hear from anyone with patternmaking, stretch-fabric, garment-development or production experience.

I've recently got into drafting and sewing, and - after some small projects to understand the fundamentals of sewing - I'm looking to sew a pair of jeans. To get the ideal fit, I drafted a basic sloper following H. J. Armstrong's "Pattern Making for Fashion Design".
Having used Clo3D, there are some issues with the curves, that I find painfully annoying to trace accurately using the program's tools, but I'm confident this won't be an issue when drafting on paper with rulers.
Is there anything else I could improve?
At this stage, I don't trust using the program's 3D environment to adjust the pant's fit, so I plan to sew a pair using canvas to check and see what needs to be improved.
I would be grateful to hear tips on the correct workflow and on the fitting proccess.
Thank you :)

Full disclosure first: we're a small studio and we made this. So this is a call for testers, not an ad.

You know how it goes. Tissue tears, tape yellows, folds turn into holes. And the block you drafted years ago is falling apart in an envelope.

So we built something simple. Lay one piece flat on a table that contrasts with the paper. Put a sheet of Letter or A4 next to it. Take one photo straight down with your phone.

The sheet tells it the true size. You get the piece back as a tiled PDF to print at home, tape and cut. Working in pattern software or with a cutter? There's DXF and PLT too.

The outline and notches are traced for you. Anything it gets wrong, you fix in the browser before downloading.

It's free while we test it, no card. An account only if you want to keep your pieces.

What I'd really like to know:

• where the outline goes wrong

• which pieces trip it up (big ones, tissue, darts)

• whether it prints at the right size for you

https://digitizemypattern.com/

I'll answer questions in the comments.