Here’s goth icon Bianca The Closet Historian telling you about pattern drafting for sewing but also just life: “Dare to be terrible."
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Here’s goth icon Bianca The Closet Historian telling you about pattern drafting for sewing but also just life: “Dare to be terrible."
“The difference in almost any success is perseverance. You have to be willing to be terrible. And then you have to be willing to keep going.”
About 8 minutes long! -
even though it can be done with a computer, keeping the skill of manual drafting alive has many purposes.
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@burnitdown To me it seems like, if you don't have one of those printers that can handle 60cm wide paper, that if you do it on computer you're just adding multiple unnecessary steps, because you need to get the pattern out of the computer, and if you make any small adjustments in the mock-up, you'll have to put those in the digital version again, as well as the paper one you're already working with... I know some people have a projector set up so it casts straight down onto the fabric on the table, but again...
Just do it on paper, it's not difficult!And I do enjoy any activity that you can just do in your brain...
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@sinituulia @burnitdown I'm a person who drafts on the computer (under linux)
I have to say that I don't mind going kindergarten on the pattern with scissors¹ and almond-scented glue / paste, so printing on A4 paper is not a big deal for me :D
I use valentina (under linux): I don't know how much more handholding is available in industry standard programs, but this one is basically going through the same motions as drafting by hand, except with a cad software taking the place of pencil / ruler / paper.
Since I'm mostly working from Victorian era manuals (and converting to metric at the same time) I really like being able to draft the pattern in their default measurements, check that the instructions actually lead to a similar result as their plates (usually, but not *always* true, sometimes I've had to correct some typos), and only then plug in my own measurements and then if the results don't make sense I know that I've either taken the measurements wrong (and can double check and possibly fix them) or the formula just doesn't work for my shape. Only them I print out the pattern and do a mockup for finetuning.
Having to re-do all of the steps each time by hand would be quite a bit of an hassle.
¹ adult scissors, and even without adult supervision :D
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@valhalla @burnitdown Depends on what you find more hassle!
As my elbow is, anything I need to work on the computer is much more stress to it than doing it by hand, and I kind of despise the printer paper faff? Swedish patterning paper (aka normal patterning paper over here) is so nice to make many drafts off, since it's sheer and folds up really small, and cuts with just a whisper of sharp scissors vs. cutting printer paper... Just adjust the pattern, draw a new clean copy off it free-hand, now you don't have to deal with paper floops and tape and such.The thin patterns will fold like they're nothing too, one plastic A4 sleeve can contain a whole Victorian gown, but are more substantial than the brown tissue paper patterns.
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@sinituulia @burnitdown yeah, here the big size paper I have easy access to is a choice between:
* tissue paper sold for packaging thing: usable to trace existing patterns, but not really to draft, and it will yellow significantly with time
* rolls of children paper from IKEA (just wide enough for a bodice)
* overpriced pattern paper “don't you ever dare being wrong and having to restart from scratch” that I haven't ever tried
* other various packaging papers, with a decent chance to survive the drafting process, but not really great eitherso, yeah, different situation, different preferences :D
