Pattern Cutting: Where to begin?

With pattern cutting the sky is your limit! You can produce a garment equally as beautiful in design, make and fabric quality as top end designer clothes for the fraction of the price! And this is not an exaggeration! A simple dress by Marc Jacobs can land you with a £1000 bill, but all it is apart from the label is a simple well-made well fitted garment made from quality fabrics.

Things to consider before start down the pattern cutting road:

Before you decide to plunge yourself into the world of handmade clothes, you need to think carefully which way of making clothes is most suited to you. Knowing how to pattern cut from scratch isn't the most complex science out there, but it is not the easiest. Pattern cutting is a technical skill that requires precision, patience and attention to detail. And you would need to work with numbers here and there, so it should be something you feel comfortable doing. This may sound discouraging, but if you are persistent in your desire to get better at it, you will succeed and the reward will be well worth it! Once you know how to pattern cut you cannot un-know it, it’s like riding a bicycle! And if you continue to make your own clothes, you can only get better and better at it.

If pattern cutting is way too time consuming and technical for you, don’t be discouraged. There are many ready made patterns that are sold out there. You can use them as they are or twitch them to make the fit better or change the design slightly. You don’t need to know pattern cutting in and out in order to do that. This way you can still produce well fitted and beautifully made clothes!

Where to begin?

If you are serious about making your own patterns and clothes and you have no knowledge about dressmaking, the best way to begin is from the beginning.  That means, don’t start by making a dress from start to finish. Learn the basics first; lay this foundation that you can fall back onto. And here I mean sewing: learn to sew and if you already know some sewing, learn to sew more complex pieces.
When I started learning, I knew absolutely nothing and had no experience in dressmaking. The first lessons taught me to sew and the more I sewed the more I understood pattern cutting.
This may seem strange, but I assure you, that it is not. First it gets you used to using the sewing machine, then it gets you to start understanding garments construction, literally, apprehend how the clothes is really made. And also it teaches you how different finishes are used on different fabrics and different types of garments. This fundamental knowledge will make is so much easier for you when you actually start making clothes.