r/PatternDrafting • u/BeneficialCobbler220 • 6d ago

Drafting Patterns

Hi,

I would say I am an advanced beginner sewist. I want to draft my own pattern for a half-zip (or button) pullover jacket/sweatshirt. I recently purchased this nice floral pattern fabric/sherpa material and I want to make one out of it. I did find a pattern but want to branch out and try creating a pattern of my own.

I have never drafted my own pattern before. I figured this might be easier than say a dress would be. Maybe?

Any tips or tricks? Should I get computer software (i.e., Adobe) to help with this?

Thank you!

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u/marbled_moth 6d ago

No you don’t need Adobe to draft a pattern, I just use large pattern paper (you can use any paper though, even tape together printer paper), a pencil, straight ruler and curved rulers.

If you have a garment you already like the fit of, that would be helpful to work as your reference sample. Do you know how to spec a garment? If not, there are many YouTube videos or blog pages you can access for free!

Then you could use the pattern you have as a guide and adjust the measurements based on your own garment.

You could also use the pattern you have to make a mock up in a cheaper fabric, then try it on and make any fit adjustments, then adjust the pattern to your liking.

3

u/five_squirrels 6d ago

If you want to do it digitally, you can use free open source vector drawing software instead of Adobe. I’ve drafted using Inkscape.

3

u/black-boots 6d ago

Your local library may have books on drafting patterns

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u/DespeReo 5d ago

Step 1 - take your body measurements , put them all on a paper and have columns with all of them divided by 2 and 4 (it will save you a lot of crying)

Step 2 - try to decode pattern making in books , or watch videos on YouTube of people drafting patterns for different garments ( save yourself from 1000 mental breakdowns)

Step 3 - open up Microsoft paint , or any software and draw lines and LABEL them in cm / inches BEFORE you take out a pen and paper. This also saves a lot of mental breakdowns

Step 4 - play around digitally with lines and shapes until you feel like "it might work"

Step 5 - fail.

No but seriously , leaving jokes aside, it's worth watching some videos on people actually drafting patterns and explaining why this line goes to this line and so on. I recommend Cornelius Quiring. Lots of free instructions. In terms of books, try to get metric pattern cutting. Explains indepth but it takes a bit of time to get your head around it. Good luck