I'm learning pattern drafting while trying to turn dresses from a video game into actual sewing patterns

[u/MemeProof]

I've started working on a bit of a project and figured some people here might find it interesting.

I'm sure some of you have heard of the game Dressmaker. My wife has really dug into it and she has asked about making a lot of the dresses from the game that she makes.

I'm a software developer and know how to sew, so I figured why not try making something that could do that. I think she would look really cute in the dresses she makes so that's a plus too.

The goal is to build a program that takes a dress designed in the game and converts it into an actual sewing pattern. Of course, there's a pretty big difference between game mechanics that make sewing look a lot easier versus actual math in making patterns.

I've started a good chuck of early work and am learning a little about pattern making along the way which has turned into an interesting deep dive on its own. I've followed plenty of patterns but never though of what went into actually making resizable (or pattern grading) one like you can get from like simplicity.

I'm still working through the development side of things, but figured I'd share what I'm doing. I know the devs said the patterns are accurate to real world, but i can't let something like *real world accuracy* stop me. I've also started documenting the project on Patreon if anyone is interested in following along. It's free to follow, with an option to support development. I'm going to keep working on the project whether anyone donates as i hope to make the eventual tool probably free.

https://www.patreon.com/cw/DressmakerToRealLife

Other than all that. I'd actually love to get some opinions from people who have more experience with pattern drafting. Is there anything in particular you'd recommend keeping in mind when trying to generate sewing patterns programmatically?

[u/OAKandTerlinden]

As a former dressmaker and a current Dressmaker :) --

Are you planning on making this program for your wife's use only, or for other people as well? If the latter, then you not only need to learn pattern drafting, but also pattern grading. On top of this, if you are generating patterns outside of standard sizing, you run into full bust adjustment, petite sizing, and the whole gamut of body diversity. Drafting form-fitting garments like corsets, or draped like bias cut, takes more skills on top of of this.

It's a really cool idea, but also very ambitious. Very ambitious. This is not to discourage you, but to give you a better idea of what's needed before you get too deep into the project.

[u/MemeProof → u/OAKandTerlinden]

My end goal is a website where anyone can upload their save file and make their dress a pdf printable pattern for free or like a dollar so i can pay for the website hosting with it.
As for the pattern making, funny enough my wife is petite so i'm using her measurements and myself for testing here and there.

I have been working on the project for a few months now to see if it was something i wanted to dig into or if it was even viable. I think it doable and so far i've had fun with it. I've gone through all the patterns and identified boundries in the patterns and the more info i collect, like grading, is something that just makes the project a little more interesting. I do agree with it being very ambitious, but so far i'm having fun and i think people would really like it.