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    Pattern Design: Fundamentals - Construction and Pattern Making for Fashion Design
    Pattern Design: Fundamentals - Construction and Pattern Making for Fashion Design
    Pattern Design: Fundamentals - Construction and Pattern Making for Fashion Design
    Ebook467 pages1 hour

    Pattern Design: Fundamentals - Construction and Pattern Making for Fashion Design

    By Jennifer Lynne Matthews - Fairbanks

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    About this ebook

    Pattern Design: Fundamentals is an ideal book for beginners to the field of fashion design as well as self-guided learners. Pattern Design: Fundamentals covers the basics of pattern making, terminology and drafting concepts. This book is different than all other drafting books of its kind. This drafting book combines knowledge of drafting with sewing and construction.

    The best way to understand how patterns are drafted is to understand how the drafts are constructed, why certain pattern markings are used and in what order a pattern should be constructed. Understanding the construction, solidifies one’s drafting knowledge, connecting the dots of two-dimensional drafting to the three-dimensional finished garment.

    Pattern Design was developed by designer and educator Jennifer Lynne Matthews-Fairbanks. Fairbanks years of instructing at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising coupled with her years running her own design and sewing studio, make for the ideal combination of teaching to the visual and self-guided learner.

    Chapters 1 and 2 introduce you to the tools, terms and pattern markings, including fabrics used, grainlines of patterns and the grain of a fabric. You will create a simple pattern with all appropriate markings from an unaltered sloper and learn each part of all slopers used throughout the book.

    In the first section, “Shape,” Pattern Design walks you through manipulating darts with the pivot and slash and spread methods, creating pleats, tucks and gathers. Each chapter details the basics of construction in order to complete each exercise fully and utilizes several different slopers to show how each concept can be translated to different garment types.

    Section two, “Line,” covers style lines (also called seam lines) and combines style lines with design elements from the “Shape” section.

    The third section, “Details,” includes beginner design detail concepts such as pockets, extensions, collars and banding. Pocket exercises include patch pockets, in-seam pockets and inset pockets. Extensions for buttons and placket for blouses are also demonstrated. The banding chapter covers simple waistbands and sleeve cuffs.

    The forth and final section covers “Finishes.” Finishes include facings, zipper insertion and basic hemming.

    Pattern Design: Fundamentals covers the material that most fashion design students learn in their first year of schooling. The book is an ideal guide for self-learners or for classroom instruction.

    Pattern Design: Fundamentals is the first book in this pattern making series of books.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJennifer Lynne Matthews - Fairbanks
    Release dateOct 31, 2018
    ISBN9780463937778
    Pattern Design: Fundamentals - Construction and Pattern Making for Fashion Design
    Author

    Jennifer Lynne Matthews - Fairbanks

    Jennifer Lynne graduated from NYC's Fashion Institute of Technology in 1999 with an specialization in intimate apparel. After working in the industry as a stylist and freelance designer, she launched Porcelynne Lingerie in 2002. Jennifer has been consulting with small business startups for 4 years and is presently teaching pattern drafting, draping and sewing at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in San Francisco. Jennifer serves on the Advisory Board for the Innovative Fashion Council of San Francisco, as well as is an active member in the local design community. Jennifer owned and operated an independent designer co-op in San Francisco's Mission District for 2 years and closed the doors to Porcelynne Designer Collective in 2008 to concentrate on her role as an educator and designer.

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    • 5/5
      I would like to than Jennifer for making it easy for me to understand pivot method plus splash and spread

    Book preview

    Pattern Design - Jennifer Lynne Matthews - Fairbanks

    Chapter 1: Introduction To Pattern Design

    Pattern design or the more technical term, pattern drafting, can best be described as the process of transferring a fashion designer’s vision onto paper. This process turns an idea or concept into a two-dimensional pattern. The two-dimensional pattern defines how the three-dimensional garment is assembled.

    The garment design is created through the art of drafting patterns. Without pattern designers, the two-dimensional translation does not exist.

    For this reason, that I have chosen to name this book Pattern Design, as drafting is the act of designing on paper.

    Few designers start from scratch when they create a new design. Rather they start with an existing master form and make alterations to that form. This must be done without altering the sizing. In this book, we will show the steps to modify standard building blocks, or slopers.

    Slopers

    Slopers are the main structure from which adjustments are made. These become the bones of a garment. There are no design features to these forms, other than basic shaping, called darts. Slopers can also be referred to as blocks. A single sloper can be used to create innumerable designs.

    Slopers are generally made in hard paper, tag paper, or any thick hard board to withstand their repetitive use in pattern drafting.

    In this book, we work with basic half-scale slopers provided in the back of this book. These half-scale slopers are exactly half the measurements of a standard size 8.

    Using half-scale slopers simplify the learning and practice phase of pattern drafting. They are easy to manipulate on small work stations. Half size also cuts down on paper and fabric waste, allowing an understanding of basic drafting concepts.

    Half-scale forms are not often used professionally in the industry, only in the learning phase of pattern drafting.

    Pattern Design Example

    The slopers in this book can also be downloaded, at no charge, on our website at www.porcelynne.com.

    Our separate sloper drafting book is slated for release in 2019. The sloper drafting book will instruct you how to create a draft of a basic sloper for yourself, your client or for a set of unique measurements.

    Most designers use a set of full-size slopers that include the bodice front and back, skirt front and back, sleeves, pant front and back, and the full torso front and back. These slopers can be used to create multiple designs. My goal is to teach you how to modify many of these basic slopers, but on the half-scale.

    Slopers are typically created for the average measurements of a designer’s target customer. Juniors, petites and plus size are examples of target customer markets. Each of these customers vary in size, shape and proportion.

    A designer’s sloper set can vary from designer to designer and can include specialty slopers such as underwear and bra slopers, bias cut slopers and knit slopers. None of these specialty slopers are discussed in this book. For bra and underwear slopers, refer to my books Bare Essentials: Bras and Bare Essentials: Underwear.

    This book specifically covers the bodice, skirt, sleeve and pant slopers.

    Tools

    Specific tools are used in the trade for pattern drafting. These tools are needed for the exercises in this book.

    Awl – This tool is used to mark patterns for sewing of various components within a pattern, through the placement of drillholes.

    Notcher – This tool looks like a hole punch, but it only cuts a small slit or a notch on the edge of your paper.

    Pinpoint Tracing Wheel – This tool is a tracing wheel with pin points on the end of the wheel. It is used to trace pattern pieces and can mark through multiple layers of paper. This tracing wheel is used solely on patterns and not on fabrics.

    Pattern Design Example

    Grid ruler – A 2 or 5cm grid ruler with markings in either inches or centimeters, is commonly used in drafting. An 18 to 24 or 50cm long clear ruler is necessary to draft long lines on a full-scale form. A smaller 1 or 2.5cm wide ruler is better suited for half-scale pattern drafting.

    French curve – These curved shape rulers are used to shape armholes, necklines and various other smaller curves. Use the half-scale french curve found in the back of this book for half-scale drafting.

    Hip curve – These can be metal or clear plastic and can have various curved shapes. I prefer the vary curve shape as you can shape the hip, long curved lines and even armholes with this ruler. Use the half-scale hip curve found in the back of this book for half-scale drafting.

    Pattern Design Example

    Pattern paper – This can be either dot paper, marked with dots and x’s, or alpha/numeric paper marked with numbers and letters. Either paper can be used as a grid for lining up pattern pieces. When this is not accessible, one can use poster paper that you can find at any office supply store.

    Tag paper – This thick paper material is used to make more durable patterns or slopers. It is manila in color and when it is not available, you can use poster board.

    Magic™ tape – This is easily torn and its surface allows for writing. It does not have to be Scotch® brand, any style of this tape can be used.

    Pattern weights – These can be used to hold paper in place to avoid having to use tape. Small bean bags or even small cans of food work quite well.

    The Rules

    There are certain rules basic to learning pattern drafting. You will need to learn these rules in order to push them to meet specific needs.

    As a seasoned instructor, I encourage you to do just that, push these limits.

    Sometimes, breaking the rules, creates a new technique that can change the way you work and create new patterns.

    Patterns

    Patterns are two-dimensional representations of the sewn garment. Patterns are different from slopers in that they have seam allowances, pattern information, drillholes, notches and are created for a specific design. An example is shown below.

    We discuss two types of patterns: commercial and industrial. Commercial patterns are patterns you can buy for home sewing. Industrial patterns are used professionally by fashion designers and pattern makers.

    Pattern Design Example

    Grainlines

    Grainlines are on all patterns, both commercial and industrial. The grainline of the pattern indicates the direction it will need to be cut out of the fabric. The grainline of the pattern runs parallel to the finished edge of the fabric, or the selvage.

    Grainlines on patterns are usually marked with arrows, as pictured above.

    The grainline of the pattern defines how a garment will fall on the body.

    Fabrics

    The primary fabric used for testing designs and patterns is an unbleached 100% cotton fabric called muslin. Muslin is a versatile fabric when it comes to testing designs. There is no right or wrong side to the fabric, it is easy for a sewing machine to sew through and is inexpensive to purchase.

    When a design is in its final stage of development, all the necessary changes have been made to the pattern. The final garment is then made out of fashion fabric, or the fabric the pattern was designed for, rather than muslin.

    Interfacing is another type of fabric that is used in sewing. This fabric is generally fusible and can be either a woven, knitted or non-woven material.

    The most common interfacing is non-woven. It is available in varying thicknesses based on the end use. Fusible interfacing has one side coated with small dots of heat activated glue.

    Ironing a fusible interfacing to muslin or fashion fabric makes the fabric more stable from fraying and helps a garment keep its shape in specific places. Interfacing is found on many parts of a garment, including collars, facings and waistbands.

    Facings

    Facings are generally small in nature and line the inside of a garment in a specific area. Facings are typically cut in the same fabric used in the garment, whether it is muslin or fashion fabric.

    Facing can be used to finish a garment on extreme curves or angles, such as an armhole or neckline. The facing always contains interfacing.

    Fabric Grain

    All woven fabric has a grain. The grainline of the pattern design must match the grain of the fabric in order for the garment to fit properly.

    The cross grain or weft grain spans from selvage to selvage. It spans from right to w(l)eft. The cross grain contains a small amount of stretch because of the way the fabric is woven.

    The cross grain stretch is best used to span around the body. The human body changes shape throughout the day, expanding and contracting, before and after meals, exercising, etc.

    A garment cut on the opposite grain can stretch in length as it is worn and can cause restriction to the body after

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