How I create my patterns

May 27, 2019

More and more of you are asking me how I go about creatingmy patterns, so in this article, I'm opening the doors to my workshop! From sketch to pattern, I'll tell you everything!

It all starts with a sketch on paper (or not 😅)

I often pick upa penciltosketch a clothing design that pops into my head. When I do this, it's mainly so I don't forget my ideas, because they often come when I least expect them (in the shower, for example ). I try to always use the same sketchbook tokeep things tidy at home.

I also usemy phone's camera a lotwhenI'm walking down the street. I often see models I like in stores, so I don't hesitate to take a few pictures.

And then, finally, when I have a clear idea, I don't hesitate to do some research on the Internet and save the images I like on Pinterest.

Learn model making

It is important to know that if you want to create your own patterns, there are two techniques:

Molding:youmake your pattern on a mannequin. Basically, you "mold" it with your fabric.
flat pattern cutting,whichinvolves drawing your pattern directly pattern paper or on a computer. I chose the latter option, i.e., flat pattern cutting.

As a result, I mainly taught myselfusing books.

Jacqueline Chiappetta's flat cut no. 1

This book focuses exclusively on women's clothing. It teaches you how to make patterns for all kinds of garments: blouses, jackets, pants, dresses, etc. It includes a whole set of rules that you apply based on a table of measurements.

We know the most basic ones, such as bust, waist, and hip measurements, but there are many others that are essential for designing a pattern. For example, we have:

breast gap (the distance between the nipples),
back width (roughly speaking, this is the width of the back),
the length of the arm,
or even the length of the back.
etc…. I think I use about thirty of them!

But personally, I find that this book lacks a bit of explanation because I don't think it systematically explains why certain rules are applied. I find that for each of the patterns, it's basically a list of rules to follow, and that's not really how I learn. For example, when I wore a garment that didn't fit me, it wasn't always easy to understand what was wrong with the pattern how to modify it. So, someone gave me a book called"The Perfect Photo Guide to Perfect Fitting"bySarah Veblen, and I thought I might find the answer there.

“The Perfect Photo Guide to Perfect Fitting” by Sarah Veblen

In this book, we learn how to make toile patterns that will really help us understand the pattern , above all, adapt it to our body shape. For those who don't know what a toile is, it's a prototype garment that allows us to see how it fits.

Returning to the book, it contains a wealth of information, lots of photos, and also discusses many typical body types. Incidentally, someone pointed out to me that it is also available in French!

Creating patterns on Valentina

I usea free, open-source softwarecalledValentina. It recently changed its name, and you can now find it under the nameSeamly2D.

I must admit that it is not very intuitive to use, but I am not going to complain since it is free software.

Working with a size on Valentina

For me, the big advantage of Valentina is that you cansave measurement tables. Let me explain: when you create a pattern, you need a certain number of measurements. We know the most basic ones, such as bust, waist, and hips, but there are many others that are essential. For example, we need the bust separation (the distance between the nipples), the back width (roughly the width of the back), the arm length, and the back length.

But of course, you can imagine that all these measurements vary depending on our size. A size 36 will not have the same measurements as a size 44! That's where Valentina's magic comes in!

I'll explain all this with an example. Let's imagine that I want a pattern size 36 (my size). All I have to do is enter all the measurements that correspond to size 36 into the software. This data is saved and I can retrieve it at any time.

Working with multiple sizes on Valentina

Now let's imagine that I also want to have this same pattern other sizes.Valentina hasanoption that allows me to manage this. For example, when I enter the bust measurement for a size 36, I tell the software that this measurement increases by 4 cm for a larger size and decreases by 4 cm for a smaller size. I do this for all the measurements I need, indicating each time how they vary from one size to another. These indications make it easy to creategradations(move from one size to another).

Once I have entered all my measurements, I can easily switch between sizes and see the pattern in real time. What's more, I can even addseam allowances. Thank you, Valentina!

Once I have finished my pattern, if I want to have nice boards with all sizes, my work doesn't stop there. Even though Valentina allows you to view multiple sizes, the software does not allow you to display multiple sizes at the same time and add personalized annotations. So I use another software program:Drafsight.

Draftsight, or how to put my engineering studies to good use 🤓

When I was in engineering school, I learned how to use drawing software designed for professionals in architecture and construction engineering. It's software that I really liked (I've been using it for over 10 years and the love affair continues), but it's not cheap... So I turned to a very similar program (Drafsight, which recently became a paid program) to do a whole bunch of things: draw floor plans for each new apartment to arrange the furniture properly, draw plans for small pieces of furniture to make them in a shared workshop, or even draw jewelry designs to cut them out with a laser...

In short, as you can see, I love drawing on the computer. To get back to pattern, I import each size of pattern ValentinaintoDraftsight. From that point on, I take care of several things:

I adjust the size of the drawings to get the right scale,
I assign a color and symbols to each size,
I superimpose all sizes,
I arrange each piece of pattern save as much paper as possible when it is printed.
I add annotations (name of the part, number of times to cut, straight cut, etc.).
I calibrate several A4 pages to form the pattern PDF format.
I do all the illustrations for the pattern instruction guide.

As you can see, I spend a lot of time using this software, which has become indispensable to me.

The boss test

I've told you a lot about my computer tools, but very little about sewing. However, this is not a negligible step. In fact, there are always several testing phases: I systematically makeseveral mock-upstohelp me create the pattern . I need to make several prototypes to validate a cut. So I go back and forth between these mock-ups andValentina.

Finally, I am embarking on a long editing process: writing the guide, creating explanatory drawings, putting together the plates, and editing the step-by-step video!

There you go, my pattern finally ready!

There you have it—now you know almost everything about how I create my sewing patterns. I hope you enjoyed this virtual tour of my world!

See you soon,

Cadia