Welcome to the Fashion Students Online FREE pattern drafting directory.
We have worked very hard to find all the best
FREE apparel patternmaking resources we can.

Please use the guide below to go directly to the section you seek, or scroll through the entire article and look at everything.

Please leave a comment if you notice a link missing. For tutorial sites we have not linked to individual tutorials, only collections (you can add individual ones to our tutorial directory). Also, we have not included costuming (fantasty, stage, ethnic, historical) because we plan to make another article at a later date covering this material. If you know of a costuming link please leave it here in a comment so that we can use them in the next article. We have included gloves on this page as gloves are quite often a part of fashion, fashionable daywear, or special occasion wear.

On this page you will find links to:

• instructions for drafting your own sewing sloper / basic foundation block
• free online patternmaking courses
• books which you can download or read online for free (vintage books) relating to patternmaking, dressmaking, glove making, and millinery
• websites containing a collection of pattern drafting tutorials which we feel use proper pattern drafting methods
• tutorials and articles which attempt to teach proper pattern grading
• menswear pattern drafting
• childrenswear patternmaking
• glovemaking and patterndrafting for gloves

Free Online Patternmaking / Pattern Drafting Courses:

http://www.patternschool.com (swimwear and stretch fabric)

Free Online Vintage Pattern Books (will often include childrenswear):

http://vintagesewing.info/category.html#drafting

http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=subject:%22Millinery%22

http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=subject:%22Dressmaking.%20[from%20old%20catalog]%22

http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=subject:%22Dressmaking%22

http://www.costumes.org/HISTORY/100Pages/1893to1898cuttersguide.htm

Free online tutorials for drafting more than just basics:

http://en.wordpress.com/tag/patterndrafting/

http://www.pattern-making.com/category/dress/

http://www.pattern-making.com/category/jacket-drafting/

http://www.pattern-making.com/category/skirt-drafting/

http://www.pattern-making.com/category/sleeve/

http://www.pattern-making.com/category/pants/

http://www.pattern-making.com/category/blouses/

http://www.leenas.com/English/draw_women_corset.html

http://www.leenas.com/English/draw_hood.html

http://community.livejournal.com/corsetmakers/114848.html (collection of corset patternmaking resources)

Pattern Grading:

http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/how_to_create_grade_rules_3/ (last entry in series, follow all links to get to the start and also this one which is not linked to in that other url: http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/grading-for-height-when-you-nothing-about-grading/ )

http://www.threadsmagazine.com/item/4368/making-sense-of-pattern-grading

http://www.pattern-making.com/category/pattern-grading/ (for stretch fabrics only)

Menswear:

http://www.leenas.com/English/draw_patterns.html

http://www.panix.com/~aqn/tailoring/drafting/index.html

http://www.pattern-making.com/category/men-pants-and-suit-drafting/

Childrenswear:

http://www.leenas.com/English/draw_children_jacket.html

Gloves / Glovemaking:

http://vintagesewing.info/1950s/50-hmg/hmg-02.html

http://www.glove.org/default.php

http://www.shira.net/costuming/cg/gauntlets-making.htm

Womenswear Slopers / Blocks / Foundations / Basics

In addition to all of these wonderful links we have included an indepth collection of tutorials for use when creating your own custom sewing sloper. A sewing sloper is also commonly called a sewing block, a pattern block, a foundation pattern, a basic, basic block, or any combination of the previous terms. Outside of the actual sewn product industry there is serious confusion with these terms and here at FSO, education is our goal so we will attempt to clear some of this up because a sloper and a block are 100% definitely not the same thing. You may also want to search Fashion-Incubator for terms like "sloper" and "block" to read further information.

Sloper - this term is used to define a pattern for any object what-so-ever which does not have seam allowance. You will be using it to describe a clothing pattern however it could just as easily be a pattern for a teddy bear.

Block - this term is used to define a pattern for any object what-so-ever which has seam allowances and will be used repeatedly to create new patterns. Your bodice block may be the same as your bodice sloper with seam allowance added, however you can also have a jacket block which is an entire jacket pattern that you can use to create new jacket patterns by simply making small changes to the jacket block rather than drafting a jacket completely from scratch again. In industry the block is decided by which style sells well, this is why you can purchase an item from the same brand season after season which fits exactly the same way -- they use the block that sold well and then make minor changes to style it differently for each season.

To summarize: In industry there will never be a jacket sloper because slopers are never actually used in pattern drafting once the very first pattern is made. And they are only used by designers or pattern drafters who do not have a set of blocks to work from already. As a patterndrafter becomes established in their career they will have already made a basic pattern for most items and will thus have blocks to start with. As a home sewer who is attempting to make their own patterns, you may use your own custom sloper often because pattern making without seam allowances is much easier for novice pattern makers and therefore home sewers and some dressmakers may have a jacket sloper (a pattern for a jacket without seam allowance). I was taught by a career dressmaker to not use seam allowances on patterns for example because we used hand basting stitches to mark the sewing lines on the fabric and just ensured to cut enough seam allowance to do whatever finish we were planning.

Be aware of using the terms correctly and educating people you know to use them correctly also. In addition, be aware of the information source you are using to be clear if they are using the terms correctly or not. Many many home sewing "patternmakers" who have made books to sell to the home sewing market use the incorrect terms and this makes everything very confusing. If you are speaking with a professional industry patternmaker, or you attempt to get a pattern made for yourself, you could end up with difficulties in communication and/or errors in your pattern if you use the wrong terms (for instance if you call it a block when there is no seam allowance the pattern maker may not add seam allowance and then your garment is going to be quite small).

Without further ado, here are the links. Be aware we do not vouch for the accuracy or clarity of directions for any, these are simply ALL the links we could find on this topic and it is up to you to find the ones that you understand the best and can use to create your drafts.

Bodice:

http://www.leenas.com/English/draw_patterns.html

http://www.burdastyle.com/techniques/constructing-the-basic-bodice-block

http://www.panix.com/~aqn/tailoring/drafting/index.html

http://www.seamlyne.com/design/costume/bodice/bodice_index.html

http://www.patternmakerusa.com/PatternMaker%20Store/basic.html

http://www.pattern-making.com/category/foundation-slopers/

http://www.curiousfrau.com/patterns/pattern-drafting

Skirt:

http://www.leenas.com/English/draw_patterns.html

http://www.burdastyle.com/techniques/constructing-the-basic-bodice-block

http://www.panix.com/~aqn/tailoring/drafting/index.html

http://www.fashion-era.com/Pattern_drafting/pattern_drafting_atop.htm

http://patternsthatfityou.com/frskirtcl.htm

Sleeves:

http://www.leenas.com/English/draw_patterns.html

http://www.burdastyle.com/techniques/drafting-sleeve-for-basic-bodice-block

http://www.panix.com/~aqn/tailoring/drafting/index.html

http://www.craftstylish.com/item/7864/create-a-custom-sleeve-pattern

http://sewing.craftgossip.com/tutorials-pattern-drafting-for-cap-sleeves-bodice/2009/06/09/

http://www.pattern-making.com/category/foundation-slopers/

Pants:

http://www.leenas.com/English/draw_patterns.html

http://www.burdastyle.com/techniques/constructing-the-basic-trouser-block

http://www.panix.com/~aqn/tailoring/drafting/index.html

http://sew-whats-new.com/video/how-to-make-a-pants-sloper

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBHAWIGvq1Q (introduction to his course)

http://community.livejournal.com/patternsource/13095.html

http://www.patternmakerusa.com/PatternMaker%20Store/basic.html

http://wkdesigner.wordpress.com/2008/10/07/classic-jeans/

http://patternsthatfityou.com/frshortscl.htm (just extend the legs)

Commercial Patterns Commonly Used as a starting point for making a custom sloper:
(for those that do not want to draft their own - you need to know how to adjust patterns to fit you)

http://www.voguepatterns.com/item/V1004.htm?search=fitting&page=2

http://www.mccallpattern.com/item/M2718.htm?search=fitting&page=1

http://www.butterick.com/item/B6092.htm?search=fitting&page=1

http://www.butterick.com/item/B5746.htm?search=fitting&page=1

An article on how to adjust commercial patterns using your sloper:
(you need a sloper first)

http://www.threadsmagazine.com/item/4498/the-merits-of-a-basic-fitting-pattern

If you liked this article, you might like these patternmaking books:

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List of FREE Pattern Drafting Resources
Tuesday, 26 January 2010
Welcome to the Fashion Students Online FREE pattern drafting directory. We have worked very hard to find all the best FREE apparel patternmaking resources we can. Please use the guide below to go directly to the section you seek, or scroll through the entire article and look at everything....

© 2010 - Fashion Students Online