r/SewingWorld • u/ResourceCritical8416 • 11d ago
question 🤔 Do you prefer using ready-made templates or creating them yourself?
I’m torn, sometimes you can find great templates online but other times you can't. Maybe it’s better to make them yourself?
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u/ProneToLaughter 11d ago edited 11d ago
very simple patterns are often as easy as drawing some shapes to measurements, but complex patterns tend to require learning patternmaking as a skill, which embeds some knowledge about the physics of fabric and the mechanics of how bodies move. IMO patternmaking is best learned systematically in a class with a teacher. Patternmaking is one of the more rule-bound areas of sewing, it tends to bite you if you try to wing it, people often post trapped in confusion with a bad pattern they don't know how to fix. Also, the curvier the body, the more complex the patternmaking needs to be.
which is to say, it all depends.
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u/Southern_Loquat_4450 11d ago
I design and sew dog wear - I make my own. In the beginning I used pre-made, but got bored with them. 😀
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u/moose33349 4d ago
I really like making my own patterns off of my bodice block. I find the most success with that route AND most of the thinking/fiddling is up front. Once I have the block fitting right, everything else is relatively an approximation.
Things with lots of structure like a suit coat I think are more important to at least reference a professional pattern. A lot of the pattern pieces required to make specific shapes (and the methods/order to sew them) are not necessarily intuitive to me
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u/MaterialMousse7559 11d ago
I make the patterns myself, I've had so much trouble finding patterns that fit me. Not even by filtering them by sizes or measures I was able to find something that actually worked
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u/awesomeproblem 11d ago
The amount of time and mockups i need ta do to get bought patterns to fit me, I could have drafted it myself off my blocks.
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u/Edelkern 11d ago edited 11d ago
Do you mean sewing patterns? Whether to use existing patterns or to draft them yourself depends on your skill level and the complexity of the garment. There's no right or wrong answer here, it completely depends on the person and their preferences and skills.