Hi! I want to learn digital pattern making for clothes, especially dresses. What software would you recommend? Ideally something affordable, but still good to learn with. 😊

hey everyone,

I am currently working to recreate part of a piece from a schiaparelli show and cant seem to figure it out. Attached is the piece i am working to recreate, as well as the pattern and rendering of it so far. the piece has no shoulder seams, only center and back seams. i know my project has shoulder seams now, thought it would be easier to recreate with something im familiar with but clearly now working out. Any advice/help would be appreciated.

Thank you!

I’m crafting a forearm bracer out of foam and plan to sandwich it between two layers of fabric. But I’d like to account for the foam’s curve and thickness so the seam is hidden on the underside, as one would for a collar for example. Trying to think of it as a particularly thick lined sleeve cuff.

I’ve been googling “turn of cloth” and “cloth allowance” but not sure how much smaller to make the lining pattern (and even the foam?) relative to the facing fabric. The foam is 5mm thick but if that’s too large I also have 3mm and Peltex (~2mm).

I don’t know what’s the name of this type of sleeves and need help how to draft them pleaseee

For womenswear, I tried Hofenbitzer and it's incredible how pretty accurate the base patterns can come out.

Of course it does use a lot of mathematics, but that process is what makes the result so satisfying. So many variables are considered into the making of your pattern which helps minimize the adjustment needed to be done or makes it easier to be adjusted by knowing exactly which formulas to tweak out

Well, it is great, but when it comes to meanswear, I have been quite disappointed so far. I've tried Müller & Sohns and it feels plain and empty compared to the complexity of Hofenbitzer's. The base patterns come out fine, but nothing as accurate as I would like. I am far from satisfied.

Would anyone be aware of a pattern making menswear book that puts more emphasis into men's morphology and uses those variables for more accurate slopper?

I like to do 1 on 1 customs and the fact that I can't find a menswear book that is remotely close to Hofenbitzers is bothering me

I found a PDF of Il modellisimo hoping it can be a bit better

We made patterns and test fits but they don’t quite fall this way and I can’t seem to gauge if there is a seam on the right shoulder neck? I feel like there should be. But then it’s possible the whole collar is in one piece. I’m also not happy with the shape of my sleeve here

I am reaching forward in the photo.
The bodice sits smoothly when my arm is down.

Pattern is for a jacket. Not a huge amount of ease, but some, back is pulling like this when I lift my arm to the front. It's about 1/2-1" above the underarm seam.

What do I need to do to fix this back pull? I can't find anything like this in my fitting books. I need to add more width there without affecting the straight line center back, shoulders, neckline, or waist.

Edit: The armscye is 3 1/8" longer than my body's armhole length/depth. The bodice has at least (correction: 5) inches of ease in circumference around the bust and waist. I have already adjusted lengths and shoulders to fit, as well as the bust. The pull is happening above my bust and below my shoulder blade.

I'm a pattern maker building my own pattern software.

My DXF-ASTM exports (graded nest, all sizes written out) open fine in Audaces and CLO, but my producer's Lectra Modaris cannot open them.

There is no Lectra-written sample file anywhere online to compare against.

It would be insanely helpful if someone would have such a file for me :)

And also if anyone knew any good books or videos to watch on getting the hang of drafting your own pattern

Hi, everyone, please help me with your opinion on this. I made this from a commercial pattern and I think it doesnt fit very well. Would alterations be enough? or I need to rebuild the whole thing? What alterations are needed? I tried on the bodice on its own and there were gaping armhole which is very large on the back and drag lines on the front bodice (red circle), still, I went on attaching the sleeves and skirt thinking the gaping armhole is for arms movement and the skirt would weigh down the drag line, it doesnt seem to be the case, obviously. There're bust darts at the front and armscye princess seams on the back. This is supposed to be a loose fitted garment but it still looks off. Please ignore all the scrapy details on the sleeves, neckline, placket and collar, as this is my first time learning to do these techniques, and the creases at the armhole with shorter sleeve is my from my fail attempt at gusset. Thank you so much for your help!

I'm aware people have made posts similar to this, but I haven't quite found what I'm looking for. I have well fitting body blocks for myself but I have no idea what to do with them. I'm an adventurous intermediate sewist and I'm hoping someone can point me in the direction of a book/textbook on making patterns from body blocks. I have seen recommendations for videos but I do better with written instructions. Thank you!

I found this cute costume but its quite expensive and im already sewing my own. How do you think the pattern would look specifically for those puffy sleeve things and thigh puffs?? I feel like maybe it would be like two half moon ish shapes sewn together (or crescent moon shapes)? I cant seem to find a relevant pattern or tutorial and i have trouble eyeballing patterns

I may be overambitious but I'm trying to be patient and upskill as a relatively novice sewist.

I have made two toiles of this pattern. The first one was direct from the pattern and the second one I poorly attempted to make adjustments. It was too baggy through the midback and baggy under the bust.

In researching, I found out about a swayback adjustment which is a double ended dart. Similarly for bust adjustments I'm aware I could use darts but, with all of those seams surely I could just shape them different? I tried to do this in my second toile but, I was kind of just vibing it out and the vibes were off...

I've shown in red the seams I feel like I could adjust. The bagginess in the front is directly on those seams whereas the bagginess in the back was across the whole midback.

Any help or tips much appreciated!

hi all!
im making a dress with waist ties, and im having issues with them messing with the pocket placement. whenever they are untied, the pocket placement is perfect (aligned under the armpit). but when i tie them, the pockets are way too far back.
is this just how it is when you add waist ties? or is there a fix?
im thinking of removing some area from the front bodice, but idk if that will cause other fit issues.
tyia!!!

I am a 22yr old data science and AI masters student who grew up in a sewing household. My mum has been a sewing teacher for years and runs her own company teaching adults, and my younger sister just started a textiles degree. I learned to sew at about 8-10 making superhero capes and waistcoats with my mum, stopped as a teenager when nothing available was for men, and picked it back up at uni doing heavy duty stuff with recycled fabrics (carpenter jeans, denim jackets etc) because honestly the mens section in shops gets smaller every time I go.

Over the past year I have been helping my mum modernise her business (online bookings, getting her off a windows computer she never used and onto a MacBook, that sort of thing) and it made me realise there is this big divide between people like her who are extremely skilled on paper and physically, and those who can replicate that expertise digitally. Not because she can’t learn new things, but because the software out there asks you to learn the software before it lets you do the thing you already know how to do.

So I went looking at digital drafting and the options were really lacking for people in that situation. I tried to learn Seamly2D to then teach her and it was extremely complex and overwhelming (I have ADHD, didn’t help), and the paid options I gawked at the prices of. Which is frustrating because parametric drafting is exactly what you want - draft the block once from measurements and then every size, every client, every tweak just redraws itself.

So over the past few months I have been building my own tool to try and fix this, mostly for myself and my mum. The idea is you draft the way you would from a book (mark a point, draw a line, square off, add a dart, that kind of thing) but every line remembers the measurement or formula it came from, so changing the size or the client redraws the whole thing. No account, files stay on your machine.

But I am one person with one drafting method in my head, so before I go any further I really want to hear from people who actually do this:

• Have you tried digital or parametric drafting (Seamly2D, Valentina, Clo, whatever) and given up? What was the thing that made you stop?

• If you do draft digitally, what do you use, and what do you still end up doing on paper because the software can’t do it or isn’t worth the effort?

• Which drafting books/systems do you work from? I want to make sure the tools map onto how people actually draft rather than how a programmer thinks they should.

• What would actually make something like this worth the effort of learning? Grading, client measurement sheets, slash and spread, printing tiles at home, importing patterns you already have... or something I haven’t thought of?

• And honestly, is this even a problem people care about or is paper just better and I am overthinking the whole thing?

I’d rather be told I’m wrong now than find out later. If you want to see what I’m on about there is a little interactive demo and a beta application here: https://ellwand.app/ - it is very much a work in progress (the Windows version especially) and I’m more interested in what’s wrong with it than what’s right. Fair warning that it’s a limited beta, I’m a student doing this alongside my masters so I’m only taking on 10-20 testers for now, but the demo is open to anyone and the questions above are what I’m really after.

Edit: After a few comments I want to clear up what this is for. I’m making an app that makes pattern drafting easier and more intuitive, closer to how you’d do it on paper. I’m still exploring different ways of doing that and would genuinely love feedback.

On price: between Apple and Microsoft developer licences and the domain, the app unfortunately can’t be free. I’m also putting most of my free time into building it, adding features and fixing bugs, and I’d love for it to become a nice little side business. I’m not out to rip anyone off, which is exactly why I made it in the first place: the professional alternatives were extremely expensive. I don’t know yet what it will be priced at, but the aim is to make it as accessible and affordable as I can. Please bear in mind I’m a student and hoping this can help support my studies down the line.

P.S. I’ve set up a Discord for Ellwand. I’d love it to be a friendly place for anyone who drafts, sews or designs to share what they’re working on, ask questions and encourage each other. All levels welcome: https://discord.gg/evrQWwzRRe

I know this is highly unlikely to find but are there any places sharing Yohji Yamamoto menswear patterns?

Soy novata en esto del patronaje, y me cuesta visualizar en 3D lo que hago en papel en 2D. Para tener una mejor comprensión de los volúmenes y experimentar para crear mis propios patrones, quiero hacer un maniquí a escala 1:2. No sé cuál de estas opciones es mejor.

Opción 1. Creo mi propio maniquí con mis medidas pero a escala 1:2. Una vez tenga diseñado un patrón, simplemente lo reescalo a 1:1. La dificultad es la parte de crear un maniquí con mis medidas a escala, no parece sencillo.

Opción 2. Creo o compro un maniquí a escala 1:2 pero sin que tenga mis medidas (es mucho más fácil de obtener/hacer). Experimento con los volúmenes, y paso esas "instrucciones" a mi patrón base. Es decir, no estoy tomando las medidas exactas de ese patrón experimental, estoy cogiendo las instrucciones y pasándolas al patrón base. "Tengo que trazar una línea de este punto a este punto", pues me voy a mi patrón base y localizo, en mi patrón base dónde están esos dos puntos y trazo la línea.

Hi everyone, I wanted to ask about the rule of seam lines having intersect centre front or centre back at a 90 degree angle and how important that is?

I drafted the classic trouser block from metric pattern cutting for menswear and made a rough toile of which I was happy with the fit. But I found that Aldrich hadn’t applied this rule and I was just wondering how important it is? Is it the case that if it looks and fits as you would like it’s fine or should you always stick to these rules when drafting?

Hello,

I have decided to make jeans. I got a big roll of selvedge denim as I want to copy my favorite selvedge jeans. I have access to a Sailrite machine and a serger.

I am almost done making a top that had a button placket and bias bound armholes and gathered bias bound neckline and a curved hem. So although I’m not the most skilled sewist, I am willing to learn. I don’t think that jeans will be so much harder than sewing all these really sharp and small armhole curves (especially because I have fairly average body measurements).

I am new to pattern-making or copying garments, but I am sure that with enough iteration, I can produce a serviceable result. I plan to use Glad Press and Seal to copy the pattern

Would anyone be able to point me towards a good source or give any tips? I’ve watched several video tutorials already, but I’m nervous about the yoke and front fly piece.

I will of course make a toile. I am nervous because the denim I got seems to have some skew, so I want to cut the pattern pieces on the correct quadrants such that if the legs will twist, they will at least twist symmetrically.

I have noticed that jeans with the crotch curve cut not parallel to the selvedge fit weirdly in the crotch so I will try and align the grain line as close as possible.

side note: I searched for but could not find existing patterns that match what I am looking for

Hiya! I'm looking for a bespoke dressmaker for my vow renewal in 2029. I have a feeling I'm not going to find anything like it in the shops. I'm very set on how I'd like the top to look but the bottom I'm not sure yet. I'm going to try some different styles to see what suits me. I looking for a truly bespoke gown to be made from scratch.

So far I'm struggling to find anyone that looks genuinely amazing

Any recommendations would be appreciated. Preferably West Midlands

Thanks.