Chapter 1: Pattern Making Essential Knowledge
Familiarise yourself with a few terms related to pattern making. This will help you navigate your way through the course and you can check back on any terms as you proceed.
Basic Pattern Making Terms:
Pattern: A template or guide used to cut fabric pieces for a garment.
Drafting: The process of creating a pattern based on measurements or a design.
Toile: Pronounced “twarl”, this is a mock-up of a detail or part or whole garment to test the fit, silhouette, style, details or practice techniques.
Types of Patterns:
Block: A basic pattern that fits the body closely without any design elements. Used as the foundation for creating other patterns.
Commercial Pattern: Pre-made patterns available for purchase, often including instructions and multiple sizes.
Drafted Pattern: A pattern created from a block and measurements, usually tailored to a specific individual or design.
Draped pattern: The fabric is draped on a dress form and then pinned or basted together to retain the shape. Markings are added when panels will join each other or where there are folds or details. The fabric is carefully removed from the stand and then laid out flat on pattern drafting paper and the outline of each piece including any makings is transferred to the paper to create a template for the garment.
Pattern Symbols and Markings:
Grainline: The direction of the lengthwise weave in fabric, marked on the pattern, indicating how the pattern should be placed on the fabric.
Direction of greatest stretch (DOGS): If using a pattern specifically made for stretch fabrics, it may include this marking with tells you which way to place the pattern piece so that the arrow runs across the directions which stretches the most – normally running around the body on close fitting garments.
Notches: Small marks or cuts on a pattern piece used for aligning pieces during sewing.
Seam Allowance (SA): The space between the edge of the fabric and the stitching line, usually ranging from 0.6cm (1/4 inch) to 1.5cm (5/8 inch). Larger seam allowances may be added to toiles for fitting purposes.
Balance lines: Lines at key points of the body such as the bust, waist and hips and centre front which act as a visual cue the check if the balance of the garment is correct when the toile is tried on for a first fit. These may be drawn on or marked with tacking stitches on the first toile, to check the garment is sitting in the right place on the body
Cutting Line: The outer edge of a pattern, indicating where the fabric should be cut.
Stitching Line: The line where the fabric should be sewn, usually inside the cutting line. This is often not marked on commercial patterns, but it can be useful to add this before making amendments.
Darts: Triangular shapes used to add shape to a garment, typically at the bust, waist, or hips.
Length adjustment lines: These indicate the ideal places where you might want to lengthen or shorten the pattern piece to fit your proportions.
Tools and Materials:
Pattern Paper: Paper used to draft patterns, usually durable and easy to work with. I like dot and cross paper which has evenly spread dots and crosses and is translucent making it easier to trace though. Supplier: William Gee
Tracing Wheel: A tool used to transfer markings from a pattern to fabric or paper. May be used in conjunction with carbon paper which transfers a thin layer of carbon to the underneath layer of fabric paper. This comes in several colours which are suitable for different colours of fabric.
Pattern Master or French Curve: A curved ruler used for pattern drafting and amends. It has useful markings and curves for shaping armholes, necklines, and other curved edges and adding seam allowances.
L-square/Ruler: Used to measure and create right angles in pattern making.
Pencils, coloured pens, rubber and sharpener: All of this basic drafting equipment will be put to very good use, so keep spares handy!
Calculator: Save your brain for creativity and select a larger desk calculator to help you with drafting and pattern amendments calculations.
Pattern Card: A strong manilla card in buff or muted pastel colours used for final pattern blocks designed to be used repeatedly.
Design:
Base pattern: A commercial pattern which you have tried and tested which you can amend to suit your own style or designs or use as a pattern block. Look for simple patterns with minimal design details and a good fit.
Silhouette: The shape you are looking to create on the body. A silhouette either covers or emphasises different parts of your body. It does this either through ease (how tight/loose or voluminous/fitted it is) or thorough length (how much it covers up).
Design Sheet: A template to prompt your design decision making to finalise your design. It should include space for a sketch of the front and back and any details, fabric type and swatches, fastenings, garment details, space for inspiration and technique references.
Style lines: Lines which add visual interest to the basic design such as seam lines to give your garment a unique look, but they don't necessarily serve a practical purpose, for instance, in colour blocking.
Fastenings: Essential to help you comfortably get in and out of the garment.
Ease: An amount of extra volume added to the block to create a comfortable garment or a desired design silhouette.
Garment details:
Pleats: Folds in the fabric that are sewn or pressed into place, used for adding fullness or design elements.
Gathers: Soft, condensed folds in the fabric. The fabric is ruched or gathered to create a ruffle or fullness.
Colour/print Blocking: panels of different colours or prints are joined together to create a multi coloured garment.
Exposed seams:
Hems: Raw edges of the fabric finished by folding the fabric in on itself.
Trims: Additional embellishments applied to the surface of the fabric to add interest to the garment design.
Labels: Adding a label adds a personal touch to a garment, you may wish to have your own labels made. Care labels give useful information about washing and caring for your garment. Any garment sold requires a care label with fabric composition clearly stated.
Fabric manipulation: pleating, gathering, ruching, twisting, folding or manipulating and fixing the fabric is someway before using it a as feature in a garment
Toiling:
Making up: Sewing the pieces of the garment together
Baste: Sew on a sewing machine with a long stitch, designed to be removed easily.
Unpick: Break or pull threads to remove stitches.
Fitting:
Drag lines: Pulls and folds in the fabric which indicate areas where the fit is poor and should be improve. Drag lines usually point to the place where extra volume is needed in a garment.
Balance: If a garment is balanced it will sit correctly on the body without pulling forwards or backwards, up or down.
Pinch out a dart/wedge: Pinch a section of fabric- usually diamond or triangle shaped, to remove length or width for an improved fit on the body.
Mark: Use a pen, pencil or removable marking tool to transfer information onto the fabric of the toile.
Transfer: Update the paper pattern with all of the amendments made to the toile.
Fitting Buddy: If you can find yourself someone who wants to learn to fit with you, they will be the best sewing tool you can have!
Pattern Adjustments and Alterations:
Grading: The process of increasing or decreasing the size of a pattern to create different sizes. This may also be used to refer to grading between sizes in commercial patterns. You may need to do this if your measurements fall over several sizes for instance, if you are a larger size waist in comparison to your hips you may need to grade between sizes.
Fitting Adjustments: Modifications you can make to a pattern to better fit your body, such as adjusting the bust or waist. These fall into 3 categories: circumference alterations, vertical alterations and horizontal alterations.
Seam Finishing: Techniques to prevent the raw edges of fabric from fraying.
Common Fabric Terms:
Woven Fabric: Fabric is created on a loom by interlacing threads to produce a continuous piece of cloth with a fixed width. Typically, woven fabric has little to no stretch. However, threads can be spun with elastane or similar stretch fibres to produce stretch-woven fabric. Additionally, some natural fibres have inherent stretch, and the weave pattern itself can contribute to some degree of natural elasticity.
Jersey/knit Fabric: Fabric made by knitting together a thread in loop formation for create a cloth of a set width or in a tube. Knit fabric usually has crosswise or lengthwise and crosswise stretch but occasional has only lengthwise stretch. Always look for the Direction of greatest stretch markings on the pattern if using a pattern specifically for stetch fabrics.
Calico: A cheap, un-dyed natural cotton fabric used to make toiles.
Toiling fabric: A cheap fabric, similar to the fabric which will be used for the final garment. It is important to choose a fabric which is similar in weight and characteristics to your final fabric. Often bedsheets, cheap knits and lining fabrics are used for mock-ups of designs.
Selvage: The tightly woven edge of the fabric that runs parallel to the grainline along both sides of a woven fabric.
Bias: The diagonal direction of the fabric, at exactly 45 degrees to the grainline, which has the most stretch and is often used for draped designs.
Interfacing: Material used to add stiffness, stability weight or volume to fabric, often used in collars, cuffs, and waistbands. It usually has a layer of thin heat activated glue on one side which allows it to be fused on to the fabric. IT comes in many different weights and can be made from woven fibres or man-made non-woven fibres. It can be used to change to characteristics of a fabric, for instance by adding a fusible woven interfacing to a knit facing, the fabric becomes non-stretch.
Pattern Making Terms:
Trueing the pattern: Checking that all the sewing lines match up so that there will be no discrepancies when the pattern pieces are joined.
Walking the pattern pieces: The technique used to true the pattern. The sewing lines are placed over each other and “walked” together to check they are the same length, considering that some pieces may require easing into each other – for instance, princess seams.
Pattern piece name: What part of the garment the piece makes up – for instance, front, side, front, sleeve, front opening placket etc.
Cutting instructions: Instructions written on each pattern piece to tell you how any of that piece to cut out of fabric.
Finished garment measurements: What the garment measures after it sewn together with the specified seam allowances. These are important to enable you to work out how much ease is in the garment/pattern.
This is a live list which I will update regularly. If you spot something missing or have any questions, please get in touch and I will add it to the course syllabus!
This list covers most of the terms you will hear during this course and In the Be Your Own Designer courses series, we will explore all of these terms and more.
Next, find out what tools and equipment you’ll need for pattern making >>>