I enjoyed your in depth discussion of pattern making and your personal journey! I attended a 2 yr trade school in San Francisco circa 1989. It was a wonderful program run by 2 very talented Japanese women. In this studio environment we drafted our own patterns and sewed all of our own garments. At the end of the 2 yrs you would get a diploma if our teacher thought you had successfully completed the work. I was an apprentice to another freelance designer before I started working for different companies. Back then San Francisco was at its peak I terms of the no. of companies and sewing contractors who actually made the clothes. I worked mostly in production, a very high stress environment and I burned out after a few years. Fast forward many decades, I returned to making clothes for a few people and got back to my love of sewing. Do I draft my own patterns? No, because there are so many wonderful pattern companies (like yours) with very modern designs. Despite that, my experience at the San Francisco Fashion Institute was invaluable!
I so agree with this! I look back on my time in school with other like minded people and highly experienced professional with such gratitude! Best and most exhausting 13 months of my life.
If you’re a home sewer who is making patterns for yourself, would you recommend using the software that you highlighted to digitize your custom patterns or would illustrator be best in a non-industry situation? I ask because I make patterns from my blocks and would like to someday digitize them. I have seen several courses about using illustrator to digitize patterns. I’m wondering if my time would be better spent learning one of the programs you mentioned.
I just find these programs to do way more than what Illustrator can do and you never know where your pattern making journey might end up taking you!
But to answer your question, this would depend on how you want to digitize and your way of digitizing. In the industry these programs use a separate mat and mouse where you can put your finished, adjusted paper piece and click around til the pattern appears in the software. With Illustrator I believe you'd need to use a projector. So either way there is additional physical product needs to digitize in the way I'm thinking.
You could also "digitize" by redrafting in the softwares and making the same adjustment you did on paper.
I enjoyed your in depth discussion of pattern making and your personal journey! I attended a 2 yr trade school in San Francisco circa 1989. It was a wonderful program run by 2 very talented Japanese women. In this studio environment we drafted our own patterns and sewed all of our own garments. At the end of the 2 yrs you would get a diploma if our teacher thought you had successfully completed the work. I was an apprentice to another freelance designer before I started working for different companies. Back then San Francisco was at its peak I terms of the no. of companies and sewing contractors who actually made the clothes. I worked mostly in production, a very high stress environment and I burned out after a few years. Fast forward many decades, I returned to making clothes for a few people and got back to my love of sewing. Do I draft my own patterns? No, because there are so many wonderful pattern companies (like yours) with very modern designs. Despite that, my experience at the San Francisco Fashion Institute was invaluable!
I so agree with this! I look back on my time in school with other like minded people and highly experienced professional with such gratitude! Best and most exhausting 13 months of my life.
You are amazing! That’s all I’ve got to say……!
( well, except that I love your patterns & the detail you put into them )
🤗
So grateful for this deep dive!
If you’re a home sewer who is making patterns for yourself, would you recommend using the software that you highlighted to digitize your custom patterns or would illustrator be best in a non-industry situation? I ask because I make patterns from my blocks and would like to someday digitize them. I have seen several courses about using illustrator to digitize patterns. I’m wondering if my time would be better spent learning one of the programs you mentioned.
I just find these programs to do way more than what Illustrator can do and you never know where your pattern making journey might end up taking you!
But to answer your question, this would depend on how you want to digitize and your way of digitizing. In the industry these programs use a separate mat and mouse where you can put your finished, adjusted paper piece and click around til the pattern appears in the software. With Illustrator I believe you'd need to use a projector. So either way there is additional physical product needs to digitize in the way I'm thinking.
You could also "digitize" by redrafting in the softwares and making the same adjustment you did on paper.
Thank you for your response!
https://www.padsystem.com/content/digitize - Does this use a mouse and mad, or is it a redrafting?