The goal with development is to arrive at a pattern that fits well on as many people in the target market as possible, but even the best-fitting pattern can’t fit everyone perfectly. Because of this, it is worth considering how your designs might be altered so you can design with ease of alterations in mind.
With Illustrator being so widely used and accessible and traditional patternmaking software being so cost prohibitive, you might wonder if you can just make patterns in Illustrator. The short answer is, yes, you can. However, depending on your goals and how you will be using the patterns in your business, you might not want to.
In general, I think that when people think of quality production, they think of quality sewing. While this is certainly true, it is what’s upstream of the sewing – like the pattern – that has the most control over the quality of the finished garment.
I get to work with amazing clients and be part of making clothes that fit the lifestyle, values, and bodies of real women. This year has been the busiest yet and I’ve had a lot going on behind the scenes. Today I’m excited to share a few exciting updates about Alison Hoenes Design!
I often get asked “should I make pattern blocks for each category before developing and launching my collection?” Blocks and slopers are what we all were taught to start with in fashion. However, I recommend a different approach that gets you testing your market quicker and is more efficient for future development.
With a finished sample already approved, having a pattern made for the garment will be simple and cheap, right? Actually, no, that is most likely not the case. Having a finished sample is great for reference, but isn’t going to save you much money when it comes to getting a production pattern made.
You may think you just got lucky finding a factory that would develop your patterns and make you samples for free as part of your production order. What you might not realize is that those “free” samples and development will cost you in other ways.
Fashion is a very old-school industry. At the same time, companies are adopting technology within their design, development, and production processes – including patternmaking – more and more. This transition to digital has brought up the question whether traditional paper patterns or digital ones are better. Here’s my take.
You may be wondering what you can expect at your first meeting with your patternmaker. At the meeting, your patternmaker will need to ask you questions about your design and business. Here are some questions your patternmaker will ask and why the answers are important to the success of your design.
The pattern card lists each pattern piece for the style along with how many of each is needed to make one garment. It is split into sections by material type. Note, this page doesn’t show all the materials needed like the BOM does. This page only shows pattern pieces that need to be cut out.