A detailed guide to dressmaking, being a handbook of pattern drafting and design. Extensively illustrated with simple, useful diagrams and step-by-step instructions, this volume is ideal for those with little previous experience, and would make for a fantastic addition to the bookshelf of today's tailor and dressmaker. Contents include: “Pattern Drafting”, “Tools Necessary for Pattern Making”, “Chart of Measurements”, “Basic Pattern for Waist from Given Measurements”, “Construction of Pattern”, “Formula for Back of Plain Waist”, “Draft of Front of Waist from Chart Given”, “Measurements”, “Formula for Front of Plain Waist”, etc. Many vintage dressmaking books such as this are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. We are republishing this volume now in an affordable, high-quality edition complete with a specially commissioned new introduction on dressmaking and tailoring.
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.
A nationally acclaimed sewing expert provides simple, step-by-step directions and more than 1,000 illustrations for making clothes for work, home, and play — everything from stylish skirts, dresses, and jackets to children's clothing.
Containing 2,729 entries, Kevin L. Seligman’s bibliography concentrates on books, manuals, journals, and catalogs covering a wide range of sartorial approaches over nearly five hundred years. After a historical overview, Seligman approaches his subject chronologically, listing items by century through 1799, then by decade. In this section, he deals with works on flat patterning, draping, grading, and tailoring techniques as well as on such related topics as accessories, armor, civil costumes, clerical costumes, dressmakers’ systems, fur, gloves, leather, military uniforms, and undergarments. Seligman then devotes a section to those American and English journals published for the professional tailor and dressmaker. Here, too, he includes the related areas of fur and undergarments. A section devoted to journal articles features selected articles from costume- and noncostumerelated professional journals and periodicals. The author breaks these articles down into three categories: American, English, and other. Seligman then devotes separate sections to other related areas, providing alphabetical listings of books and professional journals for costume and dance, dolls, folk and national dress, footwear, millinery, and wigmaking and hair. A section devoted to commercial pattern companies, periodicals, and catalogs is followed by an appendix covering pattern companies, publishers, and publications. In addition to full bibliographic notation, Seligman provides a library call number and library location if that information is available. The majority of the listings are annotated. Each listing is coded for identification and cross-referencing. An author index, a title index, a subject index, and a chronological index will guide readers to the material they want. Seligman’s historical review of the development of publications on the sartorial arts, professional journals, and the commercial paper pattern industry puts the bibliographical material into context. An appendix provides a cross-reference guide for research on American and English pattern companies, publishers, and publications. Given the size and scope of the bibliography, there is no other reference work even remotely like it.
From the initial spark of inspiration to the sewing of the last seam, this advanced manual to knitwear design provides knitters with the foundation to take their projects to the next level. The five exceptional projects demonstrate the level of uniqueness and beauty that can be achieved with these expert techniques and how to achieve the elusive "perfect fit" that defines a successful end product. Knitters will gain a clearer understanding of commercial pattern instructions, improve their attention to detail with a meaningful test swatch, and acquire a stronger knowledge of proper body and garment measurements.
An introduction to the basic principles of pattern cutting, this practical book shows students how to interpret the human form and look at clothing through the eyes of a designer rather than a consumer. As well as explaining the proportions of human anatomy, the book introduces key tools and then takes the reader from simple pattern-cutting ideas to more advanced creative methods. Finally, the book looks at the work of fashion designers who are masters of pattern cutting, such as Comme des GarCons, John Galliano, Yohji Yamamoto and Issey Miyake. With photographs of final and dissected garments, along with CAD/CAM diagrams to explain how those pieces were cut, the book will gradually build an understanding of pattern cutting, and enable students to experiment and create exciting patterns for their own designs.
Connie Crawford would like to introduce you to this new up-to-date edition of Patternmaking Made Easy.The strength of Patternmaking Made Easy is the visually apparent instructional layout. Continuity between frames is clear. Each concept is laid out seamlessly on one page or facing pages. Yet each pattern process is complete and hasn¿t sacrificed detail at the expense of instruction. Each subject is approached thoroughly with simple directness so that the average student may enjoy this logical journey into the world of fashion.Connie¿s drafting techniques are the same REQUIRED methods in the fashion industry. She demonstrates pants for smaller and mature figures, princess seams, plackets, bustiers, knit designs, lingerie and tailoring -- just to name a few. All the techniques needed to draft flat patterns for bodices, skirts, pants, jackets, and sleeves are in this mammoth 459 page, spiral bound hardback. It will provide patternmakers with the means to execute all of their creative ideas in a nearly infinite variety of clothing styles.
The Complete Photo Guide to Perfect Fitting is the ultimate reference for fitting test garments and transferring accurate adjustments to patterns. No matter what size or shape you are, wearing garments that fit perfectly makes you look and feel better. Rather than making commonly accepted changes to a commercial pattern, the method presented in this guide focuses on the way a test garment fits the body. The fabric is manipulated to improve the fit, and then those specific changes are made to the pattern. The result: patterns that fit perfectly! With The Complete Photo Guide to Perfect Fitting, you'll learn: The importance of a fitting axis and how to use it during a fitting How to recognize fitting issues, such as drag lines and folds How to manipulate fabric to solve common and unusual fitting problems How to transfer the fitting changes to your pattern easily Basic pattern-making skills to ensure accurate alterations See the fitting process from start to finish on basic garments, fitted on real people. Then follow fitting solutions on different body types. Hundreds of large color photos illustrate the techniques and concepts in simple step-by-step instructions. With these lessons, you will get the perfect fit for any body.
