Intimates Patterns Coming Soon

I'm still going ... this is taking a while. I've changed tracks a little in that I'm re-formatting my women's underwear patterns (hereinafter referred to as intimates) so that they are the most simplistic pattern units possible .... Just basic front and back panels (and gussets if required) which can be joined at the side seam and can be combined, cut or modified to create other styles ... they're really obvious as to how they go together (they're only two pieces!) and the seam allowance is abundantly obvious if you want to remove or change it for differing edge styles. I really can't make them any simpler that this.

These are all at 10% negative horizontal ease and I'll probably get around to doing the whole lot all over again at 15% as fabrics are so variable.

I'll also try to put guide lines of certain pattern pieces to suggest how to modify them for things like 6" (15cm wide) stretch lace.

As usual they'll be available as fully editable layered/nested CAD and PDF files.

Anyway ... I'm getting there ... I want to put several simple styles into one complete package of one style per page and 13 hip sizes from 85cm to 109cm hips (60cm to 84cm waist) per style. This is where I'm up to so far .... I'll make them a little more prettier still ...

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Under Over Grading

Everyone knows you can use the BLEND tool in Corel Draw and Adobe Illustrator to create multiple sizes between your smallest and largest sizes. But that's pretty much the limit of how you can grade in generic CAD programs. You need to have the very smallest and the very largest before you can blend between them. But what if you have two sizes that aren't the smallest or largest but instead somewhere in between? Then you need to be able to grade under and over those and you can't do that in a generic CAD program ... until now ... I created a macro for Corel Draw to do just that which is free to members of my little website community.

What this means is that if you have ANY two sizes of a pattern (with all the nodes in the correct matching place on each) you can now do incremental grading at the click of a button without having to work out the complex grading rules required of very expensive fashion specific CAD software. But how do you get two sizes without grading rules??? The most ridiculous question every asked that I hear coming from proponents of fashion CAD software .... you made one size from measurements on your size chart didn't you? Well make another size exactly the same way but using a different size from the same chart. Just duplicate your process. And in a generic CAD program that's pretty easy because you can cut and paste your original and stretch or contract certain parts to match the new measurements exactly as you would when you draft from scratch ... and this way all your nodes will also be correct as will your curve angles and lengths. It's so much easier and faster than trying to create a chart of equations and rules for every node on a pattern ... especially with stretch where the fabrics all have different rebounds/stretch properties ... none of that is even slightly important if you have any two correct pattern sizes. Checkmate fashion specific CADs! For more discussion on this, why not join our Facebook group?

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Need Help With Fashion Illustrations?

Georgia Fellows asked for some croquis illustrations that can be imported into and edited in CAD so people can do fashion illustration on their computers ... so I've been reformatting the ones I frequently use such that they're layered ... ie; you can turn the guidelines on and off .... just go to croquis illustrations under the projects menu ... and click the link under each one to download a zip with PDF, CDR and AI formats ... all free to members.

They're all on A4 page size with plenty of border so you can print them on US Letter size too ... but really you probably want to open them in your CAD program and scale them up or down (they're fully scalable and editable line art) to have multiples on each page or whatever ...

I have lots more to different poses to add and then a basic write up on how to do things like shadows, seams, top stitching etc ... and even how to select photos to trace around to make your own. It's not all that hard ... I just don't have enough hours in the day ... and yes I'm still working on utility fashion! I'm just trying to source some neoprene to demonstrate a few things (which is really difficult when your 2000km from a coast line during Covid)

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