Pattern drafting for real bodies. Exploring fit, measurements, drafting systems, and what actually works
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When I started beta testing my custom parametric blocks service, I thought checking measurements meant looking through a client’s measurement sheet and asking one question: Does anything here look wrong? A number that’s unusually large. A measurement that’s unusually small. Something obviously missing. If everything looked reasonable, I could start drafting. I don’t work that way anymore. Over the…
A Comment Under My Last Note Sent Me Down A Rabbit Hole Last week I shared this note: “Most commercial patterns are drafted for a B cup in pattern making terms. That means the pattern assumes your upper bust and full bust are only 2 inches apart.” Mya B replied with a great question: “Wait, the bust arc and back arc aren’t supposed to add up to the bust measurement? That’s how I got my…
I have been quiet on here for a few weeks about the book update. Not because nothing is happening, but because a lot is happening and I wanted to wait until I had something concrete to share before I said anything. Tomorrow’s email has that something concrete. I sat down to work on the typesetting template for the redesign, just mapping out how the chapters should flow, and somewhere in that…
It wasn't "Let me get my tape measure."
I’ve been deep in the redesign of The Basic Pattern Set for the past few weeks, and I wanted to pull back the curtain on the process, partly because a few of you have asked what’s taking so long, and partly because I think the mistakes I almost made are more useful to talk about than the parts that went smoothly. Why redesign at all The current edition works. People use it, it sells, I still stand…
Sometimes the best discoveries in pattern making don’t come from trying to invent something new. They come from paying close attention to what’s already in front of you. This is what happened to Maria from dresspatternmaking.com and it changed how I think about bust cup drafting entirely. It started with a simple exercise image credit: dresspatternmaking.com Maria wasn’t trying to create a new…
When I opened 10 spots for beta testing my custom parametric blocks service, I thought that would be enough. It wasn’t. Thanks for reading The Sewing Lounge ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Not because something went wrong. Because something went right. Every client taught me something about a body type I hadn’t fully accounted for. Every measurement review revealed…
Five months ago I opened 10 spots for beta testing my custom parametric blocks service. I thought I knew what I was getting into. I was wrong, in the best possible way. Thanks for reading The Sewing Lounge ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. I’m halfway through now. Four sets of blocks delivered. Five more in progress. And I’ve learned more from these 10 clients than…
In my last post I shared how the apex from waist controls everything in a bodice draft. But that discovery didn’t happen in isolation. Thanks for reading The Sewing Lounge ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. It was the end of a diagnostic process that started with one number that felt wrong and unraveled into five separate discrepancies across the same set of…
I’m currently drafting for one of my beta testing clients and I had to stop. Not because something went wrong exactly. But because something didn’t add up, and in pattern drafting, when something doesn’t add up, you stop and figure out why before you go any further. Thanks for reading The Sewing Lounge ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Here’s what happened and what it…
