PatternMaker shorts

Recently I had the good fortune to came across Make your own clothes by Marie Clayton.

At first glance I didn't think much of this book, the patterns look somewhat basic and a bit 1980's- however after I tried out the accompanying CD ROM to make a basic shorts pattern I am now totally hooked !!

Although the short are not totally finished, I can already tell by initial fitting that they are going to actually fit properly and better around the thighs and tush than ANY other pants pattern I have tried! (I know I sound like I am waffling but previous attempts at making shorts or pants had left me convinced that I should just stick to skirts!)

This is all due to the fact that on the CD-ROM you receive a basic pattern making program - type in your measurements for a particular garment and the program will draft it to fit.

The software used is from PatternMaker , they have quite a wide range of different "packages" available on their website but looking at the ones included in the book they seem to have most basics covered for the beginner/home sewer.

You are able to change the patterns in the book subtly by typing in different leg / arm width (hem / cuff circumference) thus changing ease allowance.

If you used the basic pants and scoop neck top patterns to make maybe make your own basic "sloper" you could very easily trace and redraw over them to create different necklines, seamlines etc creating outfits quite different than those on offer in the book.

For me the most interesting part was seeing how the back crotch seam looked after putting in my measurements, the back middle seam was a lot longer than anything I have seen in a regular pattern. I think this is why they will fit better.

Normally when making pants/shorts I struggle to get them to fit properly around my thighs and derriere, and if I do manage to make it look OK then the waist line will inevitatbly be higher at the front and much lower at the back. So far my basic shorts appear to sit evenly on the waist - I am stoked :) When I have finished them I will post a few pics on my blog comparing them with my other pant-making experiments so you can see the difference.

Now there are a few little quirks to the software, the very basic 1 pattern piece shorts that I am making don't appear to have an option to change the cuff circumference- therefore the allowance seems to be set at the basic (small!) size.
I was able to fix this up by extending the bottom hem out on each side by the required amount (I measured around my thigh circumference and then added a few centimetres) and then blended this new cutting line back into the top parts of the pattern, which appeared to be OK. I also measured each newly drawn seamline to make sure that they would match up when sewn together, I had to pinch out a tiny amount on one seamline to make them the same:

Whether this error was due to operator error or software design I am not sure, I plan to go back and re-read the relevant sections again.

There is also an online users group and help manual for PatternMaker software, which when I have more time I fully intend to check out.

Also I must point out that so far I have only actually used one pattern out of the book- so maybe I am not the best qualified person to review this as yet! Still what I have seen so far has me pretty excited! I have already played around with entering my measurements into the program for the Basic Pants Pattern and Sleeveless Dress (which features on the front cover) and hope to try these out next. I have a feeling how the bustal area on the dress works out will be a good indicator as to how useful this software will be for me.. it would be great not to have to do FBA's anymore!