A pattern is a design or a template from which a part of the garment is traced onto the fabric before it is being cut out and assembled. Patterns are usually made of paper. Pattern making in garment manufacturing is a highly skilled technique that calls for great technical abilities. It also requires a basic sensitivity to interpret a design with an understanding of garment construction.

Pattern making is one of the fundamental steps for successful dress design. This function of pattern making connects various designs to production by producing paper templates for all components like cloth, hemming, fusible etc. This has to be cut for completing a specific garment. There are three methods of pattern making. 

Methods of pattern making: 

• Drafting: Drafting is a very basic two-dimensional method of preparing a paper pattern. The pattern is mostly prepared on brown paper using personal measurements of the wearer. The garment prepared by the method of drafting fits exactly right in accordance with the satisfaction of the wearer. It is highly economical and smart to draft one’s own pattern. Also, one can make changes in the style easily by adopting the basic pattern. This type of pattern can be easily constructed by either drafting manually or producing it by a computer which has been programmed to construct these basic patterns according to the given measurements of the wearer. 

• Draping: Draping is the method that involves a detailed survey and study of the wearer’s measurements in order to create a reliable fitting experience for the wearer. Originally, draping was called modeling. Draping was considered to be the original method of constructing garment patterns and wasl widely used while designing clothes. 

• Commercial Patterns: Commercial patterns provide fashion in current trends that are designed to fit certain sizes. It is mostly available in tissue papers. These patterns are mostly used to indicate neck sizes for garments such as shirts or chest or bust measurements for children and women or waist, hip and length measurements for pants and skirts. If someone has the desire to design their own clothing then commercial patterns are a good starting point.

Uses of Paper Patterns:

• Paper patterns are very useful for not only beginners but also for experts as there is no risk involved of the material being wrongly cut.

• It is essentially very useful to the beginner as it is one of the best methods of learning than cutting the material directly.

• Paper patterns are time and labor-saving as they can be preserved and used whenever required.  

• One can easily make adjustments in paper patterns in order to ensure a perfect fitting.

• One can easily bring changes in the design if they are using the basic paper pattern while garment manufacturing. 

• The use of paper patterns will ensure one cuts a garment with a minimum amount of fabric. 

Contents of Paper Patterns: 

• Margin: Extra safety margins are cut beyond the actual cutting line to allow for stitching changes. Upholstery pieces, such as sofa slipcovers, usually have margins.

• Cutting Line: This is the actual line of cutting on which garments are cut.

• Stitching Line: The stitching line is clearly seen on the paper pattern, allowing the person doing the stitching on the fabric to easily identify where the actual stitching needs to be done.

• Fold Line: Fold line on the pattern has to be clearly indicated to mark it as a fold line when there are two sides to a pattern such as the back & front sides. 

• Grainline: Every pattern piece has an arrow that indicates the grainline. This is drawn to identify whether the fabric has to be cut straight or cross-grain. Collars, cuffs, or other trimmings are cut on a cross-grain in order to give a better finish to the garment.

• Construction Details: Tucks, buttonholes, darts, center front, center back, buttons, pocket markings, style features of the garment, all are shown on the paper patterns.  

• If one requires graceful curves and shapes on the paper pattern, it is clearly indicated there as well.  

• In patterns, the particular pattern size of the front, back, collar, sleeve, cuff, etc are shown.

• If it is necessary the pattern can also suggest and explain the steps in preparing the garment like stitching, marking, and cutting of the garment. This is generally done in a commercial pattern in order to ensure the correct use of the pattern.

Why is Pattern Making Important in Garment Manufacturing? 

In the garment industry, patterns are used in order to cut the fabric pieces and to make the garment. Patterns are essentially made so that the same style can be easily duplicated when it is needed and multiple pieces can be efficiently made. Pattern making ensures that you don’t have to start from scratch while duplicating the patterns. Nowadays, with the technical advancement pattern making can be easily done by using various computer software. 

By using these patterns, garment construction can be easily done. As we talk about fashion designing, the first thing that comes to our mind is either apparel or garments. Therefore, garment construction is the core of fashion designing. It involves all kinds of processes like understating machines, seam types, and stitching of the garment. In garment manufacturing, the skills of pattern making and garment construction are essential as these are the core areas of garment manufacturing. It is very important to understand the garment from all aspects in order to perform pattern making. 

In the current scenario, pattern making is also being taken as a professional course in Fashion Designing. So what are you waiting for? Come ahead to fulfill your dreams of pursuing a career in fashion designing by choosing JD institute as your creative career partner. We at JD Institute make sure to provide our students with a great learning experience that makes them career-ready during their course time. Pursuing the right fashion designing course is an hour of need. Therefore, we at JD institute make it a reality for the students by providing them with deeper practical knowledge about the course.