HOW TO improve YOUR SKILLS AS A PATTERNMAKER
If you’re like me, you’re always looking forward to what’s next. I’m constantly asking myself,
What’s my next big goal?
What skill do I want to learn next?
I’m insatiable, but I’ve also learned to love this part of myself. If it weren’t for my insatiable desire to create new things, I wouldn’t be where I am today, teaching patternmaking to hundreds of students every year.
If you’re looking to reach the next level with your patternmaking skills, I’ve got you.
Read on, apply what you learn, and prepare to blow your own mind:
🥚BEGINNER
(you’ve never made a pattern before)
Start with my Free Illustrator Basics Course because much as I love paper drafting, it really just bogs you down.
You’ll learn patternmaking faster if you learn digitally.
Not only is drafting patterns faster when you draft digitally, it’s also more portable, more spontaeous (trying a new technique is as easy as copy+paste), and it’s more playful than drafting on paper.
🐣ADVANCED BEGINNER
(you already have a basic block or sloper, but haven't done much with it)
It’s time to take a stab at using your block to draft something you want to make!
A lot of people feel like their block has to fit perfectly before the can safely draft patterns using it. This is not the case! As long as the block is big enough for your current body measurements, and as long as you add ease to your pattern, you will surprise yourself with what you can do a block!
Pick a YouTube tutorial or a diagram in a book, and follow along! Then let me know how it went by tagging me on Instagram (@confidentpatternmaking).
🐤 INTERMEDIATE
(you’ve drafted a few things with your sloper)
It’s definitely time to pick something more challenging.
Here are two ways to build your skills at this stage:
Challenge your fitting skills by patterning, fitting, and adjusting something *very* close fitting and WOVEN.
Challenge your drafting skills by patterning a fully lined jacket (many pieces to true up with lots of design considerations for both style and construction)
YouTube and patternmaking textbooks are your friends. Pick something that feels edgy and go! You’ll be amazed at what you can do.
🐓ADVANCED
(you’ve already drafted your fair share of successful patterns but you’re feeling stuck in a rut)
Challenge yourself to draft something *without* consulting books and YouTube videos.
Choose inspo that challenges your brain, and feels borderline impossible to understand.
Get out your block or sloper, and start playing around.
Bringing your work into the digital realm will make your work feel more playful, so now might be the time to go digital too, if you haven't already!
There is always more to learn at EVERY LEVEL of patternmaking.
That might be why I love it as a practice so much - the more my skills as a patternmaker grow, the more possibilities that open up for me.
Regardless of your level, if you haven't gone digital yet with your patternmaking, you have gotta try!
I’ll teach you how to get started digital drafting with my Illustrator Basics for Patternmaking course completely for FREE.
