Pattern Drafting Books

Commenting on my last post Faye Lewis asked me which pattern drafting book I used to design my Plaid Dress. In response I decided to write a post giving all of you a review of the pattern drafting books I use. So, here we go.

The very first book on pattern drafting I purchased is Donald H. McCunn’s How to Make Sewing Patterns. The book is 190 pages long and is fairly reasonably priced. The book was first published in 1973 and revised in 1977. Although the book has gone through numerous reprints since 1977 it has not been revised since. This shows in the design, layout and pictures included, which are all rather dated, but still kind of charming.

The book teaches you how to draft a basic bodice, a skirt, pants and sleeves. The book also includes a basic bodice for men with accompanying techniques for a classic men’s shirt and a classic suit jacket. Menswear is rarely included in drafting books unless you buy a drafting book specifically on menswear, so this is a good bonus feature.

The technique used to draft the basic patterns is largely a mixed drafting and pin-to-the-form technique, rather than a pure drafting technique. The basic pieces are drafted first and then pinned to the body in order to determine the size and placement of the bust and waist darts. Although this technique will probably give good results and is also explained fairly well (including instructions on how to determine front and even back darts with the pattern pinned to your body without any assistance except the use of a mirror and a tape measure or string) I still find this approach slightly intimidating for the beginner drafter. For this reason I have never actually drafted the basic patterns presented in the book, but have only turned to the alteration techniques in the second part of the book.

The pattern alteration techniques show you what you can do with your basic pattern blocks and how you can change them in order to achieve your desired design. This section includes dart manipulation and the principle of adding fullness, which are two essential techniques for pattern design. Collars, waistbands, plackets, pockets, cuffs and neckline variations are also included. The book does not include drafting for knitwear (except for one tiny page), active wear, swimwear, outer wear or lingerie.

The drawings and explanations in this book are useful and help a beginner understand the main principles of pattern drafting and alteration. However, the pattern alteration techniques are not very detailed and the styles presented are limited. For some styles only design suggestions are given but detailed explanations on how to achieve them are missing. How to Make Sewing Patterns also has a website with more details.

Because I was unsatisfied with the basic pattern drafting technique offered in McCunn’s book I bought another drafting book: Winifred Aldrich’s Metric Pattern Cutting for Women’s Wear. This book is more expensive but also a lot more comprehensive than How to Make Sewing Patterns. I own the fifth edition, which was published in 2008.

The book includes detailed instructions for drafting 19 basic pattern blocks, including bodice blocks, coat blocks, kimono blocks, sleeve blocks, pant blocks and even a very close fitting jeans block and many more. Knitwear is also included in this book as well as swimwear and active wear. The alteration techniques are fully illustrated and include fairly good descriptions. The book also has a small section on grading and computer aided design (CAD).

This is the book from which I drafted the Plaid Dress from the previous post. I refer to this book a lot more than to the other book and have used it to draft blouses, a dress, and a pant muslin (not gotten around to sewing those pants yet). However, I’ve begun to see some flaws in the book. The bodice block taken from my own measurements doesn’t fit me as well as I want it to, which, as I’ve finally come to realize, is because the bodice drafting system doesn’t accommodate for different bust points. The bust point is a fixed parameter and has to be changed when making your own bodice block. This is not explained at all and has resulted in some awkward dart placements on my garments, before I figured out how to fix this problem. Also, the book as the title suggests uses metric measurements. Good for me, but maybe not so good for those used to inches.

In general, I would recommend Metric Pattern Cutting for Women’s Wear over How to Make Sewing Patterns simply because it is a lot more comprehensive and detailed and includes more basic blocks, which are all fairly easy to draft.

But sadly neither of the books satisfies all my drafting needs. I’m very obsessive when it comes to learning and understanding things and drafting is one of the things I want to delve into even deeper. For this reason I went to the library today to have a look at Helen Joseph-Armstrong’s Patternmaking for Fashion Design.

I’m very impressed with this book, because it is so detailed and comprehensive. More than 500 pages! A new and revised edition has just been published this year, which promises to be even more comprehensive and boasts over 800 pages. I never considered buying this book because of its price tag, but now that I’ve seen it I am seriously considering to the detriment of my wallet. I’m reasoning that it is probably best to buy a comprehensive albeit expensive textbook instead of buying yet another cheaper book which might lack the intricate details and explanations I’m looking for.

As a final note (and I know this post is fairly long already) I want to share with you some things I’ve learned from pattern drafting. First of all, drafting your own patterns is not as easy as it seems! When I first started to learn how to draft my own patterns I thought I would never ever have to buy a commercial pattern again. I do find that drafting your own basic pattern is an easier way to ensure a perfect fit than pattern alteration of commercial patterns, but I’ve underestimated the work that goes into creating and designing ALL your own patterns. Making up a simple basic pattern is fairly easy but a lot more goes into designing a finished usable pattern. Patterns include a whole range of design decisions, which all have to be transferred from your imagination to the actual design. Seam placements, dart placements, pockets, collars, cuffs, neckline variations, sleeve variations, button plackets and many other details have to be considered. Figuring out how to realize all of these features in your own design can be very complicated. How many centimeters wide is that collar you are visualizing for your perfect blouse really? How will it look when it is finished? In commercial patterns these design elements have already been figured out and tested and that is what you are paying for. The design process takes time and practice but obviously it’s also a lot of fun and that’s why I keep practicing my pattern making skills.

In the end I have not completely turned away from commercial patterns, but use both commercial patterns and my own depending on the project or simply integrate some drafting to change a commercial pattern. Endless possibilities!

Okay, so now I’ve really come to an end. I hope this post was helpful to some of you. I would also like to know if any of you have worked with Helen Joseph-Armstrong’s book and whether you would recommend it. Do you own other pattern drafting books? Do you have any recommendations? What is your experience with drafting?