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“I want to make my own patterns.” I hear this all the time. And it's usually very quickly followed with, "but how?”

When you start sewing, and for a while afterwards, commercial patterns feel like the whole sewing world.
With so many styles, sizes, and possibilities. It seems endless.

But then, there does come a moment when you want more.
More creative freedom. A better fit. Maybe you’ve imagined a garment that doesn’t exist in any pattern catalogue.

Or maybe you’re just tired of making the same 17 alterations every single time!
 
It's then the rabbit hole opens! Because once you start moving into that pattern altering window, you realise there’s not just one way to do it.

There are so many paths to choose from, and not a lot of clear guidance on how to begin making your own patterns.

You’re not alone if you’ve felt overwhelmed at this point, especially if you don’t have a background in fashion or drafting.
 
There are 5 ways to get to the same endpoint of making your own patterns, let's go over them:
 
✂️ Deconstructing or tracing a garment you already own
Use a favourite piece of clothing as your template. You can either take it apart or carefully trace it to create a pattern from a piece of clothing.

👖 Draft from scratch
Measure key areas (like crotch depth, shoulder slope, or bodice length) and follow a special formula (there are many) to plot this out to create a basic block pattern shape based on your measurements.

👗 Adapting existing patterns
Choose a pattern that's already close to what you want, or a specially designed block pattern, and then modify it by altering design elements, lengths, and tweaking for fit. Adding the design features to turn it into anything you want. This is known as using a flat pattern method.

🧍‍♀️ Drape in 3D onto a mannequin
Start from scratch using muslin or calico to drape and create your garment design right onto the body. This fabric pattern is then transferred either to paper or directly to the fashion fabric. This is known as the draping method.

📏 Work with a professional to draft a custom pattern for you
You can pay someone to do any of the above. This can be done in-person or online.
 
I mostly use a combination of techniques, based on the flat pattern method. I think it gives us home sewists the most reward for our pattern-making efforts and is the easiest to get started with without going to fashion college and learning drafting.

 
If you've wanted to create your own patterns, what's your main reason? Fit? Style? Creative freedom? Let me know in the comments.