THE Q & A SERIES
OUR FAVOURITE PATTERNMAKING & GRADING RESOURCES
Hello Emily,
I am a fan of your pattern drafting tutorials and as an aspiring pattern cutter. I would like to know what books you recommend for pattern cutting and grading. I’m American, but I live in Madrid, Spain (my husband is Spanish) and I have been taking an industrial pattern cutting course here. I love the technical part of it, but unfortunately, I find the course really lacking in a lot of information so I have been trying to find good reference books or technical online courses to help fill in the gaps. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much for all of the information you provide on making patterns. It is so helpful and I haven’t found another website that offers such clear and useful tutorials about the technical side of pattern drafting.
All the best,
Marlena
Hi Marlena,
I am pleased to hear you are enjoying our tutorials! And, great to hear you are doing a patternmaking course. I really think this is the best way to learn, as it gives you a foundation to work from. It makes it a lot easier to look at books or resources and know whether they are worth using.
I don't use patternmaking books that often, but the main one I refer to is the one that we were told to buy for university - Patternmaking for Fashion Design by Helen Armstrong. The book has a good foundation on many patternmaking techniques and is a great place to start. Some of the drafts seem a overly complicated for the techniques being achieved, but with a bit of knowledge under your belt, you should be able to discern that.
I have since purchased Metric Cutting for Women's Wear by Winifred Aldrich and I find this one a bit easier to follow. It’s a small book, but it has a lot of information in it!
Helen Armstrong’s book covers more of the basics and leaves less up to you to work out yourself, while Aldrich’s book is great if you already feel confident with basic pattern making principles like slash and spread.
I don't think the Armstrong book has anything about grading in it, but the Aldrich one has a little. I feel that in general, there is very limited information about grading available. We did it for just one patternmaking class in my whole fashion degree! If you would like to understand the basics of grading you can check out this tutorial. And we’re going into more depth in next month’s issue of Curated by ITF, with the Make It Your Own Skills Kit.
The other book I like is How Patterns Work by Assembil. It's a big book, so I haven't managed to even scratch the surface with it. It's beautifully done and the creator of that book went to the same university as me, so it makes sense to me as it's written in the same way as I was taught to draft.
Garmenta Apparel is also a great site with lots of good information if you’re interested in the professional side of patternmaking and grading. Her blog and Instagram are definitely worth a look.
I hope that helps! Best of luck with your course.
Emily
RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS ISSUE
More information about our Curated by ITF subscription can be found here. Sign up during the month of June to get Part One of our Copy Your Clothes Series, the Copy Your Clothes Skills Kit, delivered straight to your inbox.
For more issues of the Q & A series, you can check out the archive here.
WHAT YOU’VE BEEN MAKING
Hacked Attwood pants made by @thatsewannabel
Collins top made by Emily, a Curated by ITF member.
