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Books & Online Patternmaking Classes
by Don McCunn
With basic pattern design skills it is not how much you know but how you use what you do know. If you are new to pattern design and/or sewing, the classes in "Pattern Design Activities for Kids" shows how anyone over the age of 5 can learn to design patterns even before they know how to sew. The first three weeks have pattern design projects that demonstrate all pattern design techniques. The final week includes instructions for the basic hand and machine sewing skills required to make garments. Early in my career teaching pattern design using my book How to Make Sewing Patterns in the 1970s I learned that many people can learn much more easily when they can see demonstrations of processes rather than picking up techniques from books. These online classes are video demonstrations that supplement the material in my books. These books and classes describe two basic approaches to creating patterns: Bespoke and Ready-to-Wear. Bespoke are patterns made to custom fit a specific body. Bodies are like DNA. While two bodies may look the same, there will always be differences. Bespoke patternmaking is described in How to Make Sewing Patterns and How to Make Custom-Fit Bras & Lingerie. Ready-to-Wear, RTW, patterns are made for general body shapes that hopefully fit as many bodies as possible. Fashion & Costume Design in Quarter Scale shows how body shapes vary by comparing the shape of a RTW commerical dress form and a Vogue fitting shell (#1004) to the body shapes of 13 different models who are all within the same size range. Instructions show how to make quarter scale (or half scale) dress forms of these models that can be used as "fitting models" for people interested in verifying the viability of RTW designs.  (For Bespoke Waistbands see: Custom-Fit Contoured Waistbands)
By working in quarter scale patterns can be created using the 8-1/2" by 11" size of standard desktop computers and printers. Fashion & Costume Design in Quarter Scale introduces a new approach for making custom-fit Bespoke patterns using 6 quarter-scale photos and 7 measurements see Tracing Quarter-Scale Photographs. The underlying concept for this new approach to making patterns is that measurements show how much fabric is required to cover a body but do not reveal the body's contours. Photographs show the contours of a body but not how much fabric is needed. By combining measurements and photographs, accurate Bespoke Master Patterns (aka Slopers) can be created in quarter scale then sized up to create patterns for full size garments. For RTW quarter-scale photos of commercial dress forms can be used to represent a more general body shape. Designs such as necklines can be drawn on quarter-scale photos then measured and applied directly to full-size Master Patterns. Designs can also be prototyped using Mini-Mes to see how they will look in the fabric to be used. Working in quarter scale also makes it possible to create designs using a computer as described in Computer Aided Pattern Design. "I learned to sew at a young age, making mostly garments for myself and for friends. I decided to learn flat pattern drafting this year because I was tired of the many alterations I need to make to commercial and indie patterns in order to make them fit. I have watched every pattern drafting class on Craftsy, and purchased every book on pattern drafting and fitting there is. Your book, Don, was the only one that delivered the goods. There are books that teach garment fitting, and books mostly geared for the industry that teach drafting, but only yours contains enough information on both subjects to result in garments that fit." Video Demonstrations for
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Don Welcomes Questions At
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For NSFW photographs by Don McCunn, visit Revisiting the Classics
Don McCunn's Pattern Design Guide e-Books and
Patterns for Fashion Dolls have been discontinued.
Other Publications -- Current Publishers