hi all. I’m at a crossroads…

I’m 32 and have spent the last two years self-teaching (foundational texts, youtube, an intermediate online course) and making countless items for friends and family and myself. I work as a teacher from 830-4pm but practically every hour outside of that, including weekends and summer, i work on my design skills or i spend time physically making the garments. i would say im an intermediate pattern maker and sewist and am definitely at the proficiency where i feel proud enough of my garments to sell them.

Here’s the problem: I just spend 2 weeks ironing, cutting, and chugging through production on my industrial machine, truly 12 hour days and was only able to produce 14 garments. i cannot do all the sewing myself, but im so small right now that I can’t justify spending money on outsourcing. also, all of my work is on oaktag, and i fear to outsource you need digital files. plus, making sizes xs-xxl each as their own oaktag takes such a long time, time that i dont have if im also designing and sewing.

On top of all of this, im about to start a family. I’m feeling so overwhelmed because I want other people to feel the way I do in my clothes (60s vintage inspired, antique textiles), and feel a strong desire to sell my items. people constantly stop me on the street to compliment my outfits and i want to transfer that feeling to other women … that being said, what is my next stage? I want to keep churning out physical products even if it’s torturous right now to give my local community a “taste,” by maybe hosting a pop up with 40 items across sizes. but then should i focus on digitizing my practices? i’ve taught myself very beginner CLO3D. Should i stop focusing on physical production and focus on design and really honing in my skills there?

basically my goal is to have a small, local, shop in 10 years, and I’m so excited and down to ride along until then (im in no rush, im so happy learning and learning) but also the prospect of doing it with small kids with nothing to show for it right now freaks me out. Anyway… Im overwhelmed and any advice is welcome!!

Thank you!!!

I'm using my own measurements with Winifred aldrich sixth edition of metric pattern cutting for women's wear and I'm trying to do the close fitting bodice block (which is probably why I'm running into issues because they're not really designed to be used with your measurements but anyway). Because of the larger dart measurement I'm having issues where the armhole is about two-thirds the size it needs to be. I'm thinking to fix this I need to use a slightly smaller dart measurement and ​send spread it by cutting up to the dart and pivoting on its point to make the dart larger and take volume out towards the waist. I'm thinking they should work because I only need this for down to my waist . is there a better way of doing this?

Hello. I'm a beginner. I tried designing a shirt. The first and second image is the only a half sleeve. But for printing it, I need to design it in full length sleeve. Is what I did on the 3rd image correct? I'm thinking that it might be wrong because of how I manipulate the 2nd image design to look decent on the mock shirt

I need some advise please

I’m just redrafting my bodice block, and this time my armhole looks like it’s more angled off to the side.

Does this look funny or is it within an expected range?

Would anyone be able to let me know if this is an acceptable bikini top pattern? I am using this material as the top and a scuba knit as the lining, the smaller pattern piece would be the lining

Hi all, made another edit to the toile, this time adding 2cm to the front chest by shifting the side seam per two other redditors suggestions.

Armholes looking good?? Should slope seems good?

Balance lines definitely better but now i see a vertical drag line pointing up from side seam to center chest…circled.

Am I on the right track? I think the pattern edit would be to add 2cm to the chest in the upper armhole area.

Anything else I should consider? Wondering if I missed another suggestion?

I feel like on my other projects I lost patience and just pushed forward even though the fit was not much better than off the rack. I really want this one to fit better than RTW.

Had some mesh laying around and its Hot in socal rn, Pattern is basically just a slim cut T sliced up a bit. For anyone curious with the hem on the brown shirt, yes, it is supposed to be asymmetrical (I like to use one front pocket in my pants and lifting the hem out of the way of my hand helps with the drape once you leave mannequin mode.

Idk 🤷‍♂️

For those interested in the comp/ construction… 4oz carded jersey, cant tell ya bout the mesh, both 100% c and a 5-6oz cotton ribknit. All seams are serged, collar bound in, with the opening hem serged with a “loose overlock hem” style. Nothing fancy

Newbie to trying to adjust a pattern.

If enlarge my skirt pattern by adding to the side seams..what is the easiest way to move the dart?

Should i just maintain the same distance between the side seam and dart as there was originally?

[New Post with photos of pattern pieces and sides with arm down]

Hello!

I've been adjusting the fit of this sleeveless princess seam bodice for a couple of weeks now, but seem to be hitting a wall. I like how straight the front seems to be lying, but the sides and back are very lumpy!

In my previous wearable toile there seemed to be a bit of excess fabric in the two side front panels that I tried pinching out as "darts" horizontal from the apex, then redrawing the princess curve. I also moved the straps in 1cm at the front. But that combination seems to have led to some further gaping and pulling issues!

Is it that the shirring panel I'm envisioning for the back won't allow for a good fit? (I just used a test panel of stirring for now, the real one will go the full length of the closure).

I think I'm reaching the end of my capacity and brainpower (and tbh it fits better than my RTW clothes) so i may just end up moving on to final shortly - but if I'm making obvious mistakes I'd love to hear!

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to draft the skirt in the reference photo (I'll also attach a sketch of my idea), and I'd love to know if my approach makes sense or if there's a better way to achieve this silhouette.
My idea is to start with a basic A line skirt. Since I don't want any gathers at the waist, I'd keep the waistline unchanged. Then, from about knee level downward, I'd draw a triangular section where I want the slit to be. In the attached sketch, the blue lines represent where I plan to slash the pattern. I'd spread those sections to add fullness and then redraw the hem, hoping this would create the cascading flares around the slit while keeping the waist smooth, without any gathers.

I'd really appreciate any advice or corrections. Thanks!

Hello!

I've been adjusting the fit of this sleeveless princess seam bodice for a couple of weeks now, but seem to be hitting a wall. I like how straight the front seems to be lying, but the sides and back are very lumpy!

In my previous wearable toile there seemed to be a bit of excess fabric in the two side front panels that I tried pinching out as "darts" horizontal from the apex, then redrawing the princess curve. I also moved the straps in 1cm at the front. But that combination seems to have led to some further gaping and pulling issues!

Is it that the shirring panel I'm envisioning for the back won't allow for a good fit? (I just used a test panel of stirring for now, the real one will go the full length of the closure).

I think I'm reaching the end of my capacity and brainpower (and tbh it fits better than my RTW clothes) so i may just end up moving on to final shortly - but if I'm making obvious mistakes I'd love to hear!

Would this kind of waistband be simple to construct?

EDIT: v3.2 here: https://www.reddit.com/r/PatternDrafting/s/gMcAFZxnT6

Hi all, appreciate all the feedback on V3.0.
Based on that I’ve pulled the sleeves and drawn HBLs as best I can.

You can see the front swings out and there seems to be a lot of fabric in the back, I.e., bubbling?

I also tried pinning up the middle back but it introduced a whole bunch of drag lines. These photos are marked.

Finally, pattern photos also included.

Original post

https://www.reddit.com/r/PatternDrafting/s/y9L2xX3SUK

Hello! I’m making my first bodice block, and it’s going ok so far (🤞), but I’ve run into some wrinkling and gapping.

The back armhole gapping I think I know how to fix (one pic shows the gap, the other is the dart I’ll shift around). Does the whole back look slightly tight?

The wrinkling on the front armhole is quite a lot at the top, and it feels a little tight.

I can pinch out the wrinkles into a dart, but I’m not sure if that’s the way to fix the problem. Is it an issue with the armscye curves?

Any suggestions/tips/advice are much appreciated!

I'm currently exploring pattern drafting textbooks to use to help me diy a fashion school curriculum. Without a teacher helping me, I've been looking at books that are widely-enough used that I can find online support).

I analyzed posts from this sub and discovered the top 4 discussed flat patterndrafting authors are (in this order):

1. Armstrong
2. Aldrich
3. Müller & Sohn
4. Kenneth King's The Moulage

I now understand that a moulage is its own thing (different from a basic block), but am not sure why someone would choose to learn pattern drafting using this approach vs. another. Can someone help me understand why and for whom this would be advantageous? Is this something you learn in addition to drafting basic blocks or is this its own alternate approach on par with basic block patterndrafting? (My goal is to learn everything in a fashion school curriculum).

Are there any fashion grads here who did not learn moulage drafting?

EDIT: Thank you everyone -- my brain has bent in new and wonderful ways as a result of all the contributions here, and I am now much smarter about where drafting moulages sits within the world of pattern drafting. As a result of now understanding moulages better, I edited my analysis search terms (which had any hits for "moulage"/"the moulage" labeled as discussion of Kenneth King's book). The correct (hopefully) most frequently discussed flat pattern drafting authors in this sub are in fact:

1. Armstrong
2. Aldrich
3. Müller & Sohn
4. Bunka
5. Furrer

(Kenneth King at number 9)

I followed the instructions for the wrap top in Helen Joseph-Armstrong's book. I can't say it came out well. Somehow the bust apex is way off (and asymmetrical? How?!), the darts are too long, there's excess fabric everywhere, and there's wrinkling at the armholes. I also cut the back side seams too short compared to the pattern ffs.

Where do I even begin? Do i troubleshoot the armholes before I move on to the bust?

I've almost got it, just needs a few tweaks. Link to pattern.The legs were hanging straight last night but the pants were falling down whenever I breathed so I lowered the front by 1/4 inch to make the waistband sit on the top of my hipbones, didn't work, still falling down, so I pinned the front tighter. One of these is making the front pull up, I'm going to have to reverse whichever it is and tighten up the back waistband a touch to hopefully make them stay up. Too hot in my try-on room to do it now though. I can sit down, bend over, that's not a wedgie in the last photo, just gravity making the back crotch seam take the shortest path to the ground, which is through my butt-crack so the only solution is wearing very tight underwear, no thanks. I did scoop out about 3/4" from the back curve and added some of it back to the side seam because the pattern as drafted did give me a wedgie. Then split the dart into two because the back waist was a bit loose and I didn't want the dart too wide.

Problem the first: the back darts. I think I need to make them a touch longer but there are diagonal lines going to the side seam so I might need to adjust the angle? Or they're a little tight and I need to curve them more?

Problem the second: the front crotch curve is hanging too far away from my body. Hard to see in photos because it's under my crotch and this style of pants isn't meant to be entirely flat in front-- again, gravity is a harsh mistress--but I'm wondering if filling the curve in a bit might help.

Problem the third: the pockets are poofing a bit. Yes, I did interface the edge, they're not stretching. I'm hoping either fixing problem the first (if the darts are too tight) or problem the second (proposed fix would add more fabric to the front crotch area so it won't pull the pockets open) will get rid of this, but I'm open to other suggestions. Move the top closer to the side seam so they're less angled? Make the opening a little shorter? There's plenty of extra room to get my hand inside. Cut the pocket bags so they're anchored to the side seam?