Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Making your own patterns OR Pattern making ...

As well as using commercial dressmaking patterns, I also make my own - one of my personal favourites is:


Dress Pattern Designing - the basic principles of cut and fit by Natalie Bray

  

Originally printed in 1961, many of the suggested patterns/designs feature unusual seam lines as well as interesting shapes. Although the 'basic principles' can be rather lengthy to follow and/or complete, they do result in patterns that produce a good fit for specific sizes.

2 other books have also been written by the author - More Dress Pattern Designing and Dress Fitting. The latter book is extremely useful for gaining a wide range of knowledge regarding garment fitting for a wide range of body shapes with and without body imperfections. The 3 books work well together to provide a very useful 'working' insight into pattern designing, pattern shapes and their ultimate fit. Well recommended reading material!

More recently published are other books I use for reference - these being written by Winifred Aldrich. The first in a series is 'Metric Pattern Cutting' (originally printed in 1976) & it has been reprinted several times together with updates. It includes a wide range of pattern cutting designs and styles but is generally more 'modern' than the above books by Natalie Bray. Additionally, I found instructions easier to follow, shapes quicker to produce as there are less measurements required to make the patterns. A varied range of fitting techniques are also included.