Are there any sewing hobbyists here who draft their own patterns? I have done a couple, but am wondering if there any resources that you would recommend as I go further into this.
Also does anyone upcycle clothing, or remake items into something new as a hobby?
I’ve used both Make Your Own Patterns by Rene Bergh, and How to Make Sewing Patterns by Don McCunn & Robin Lew - the McCunn and Lew book was actually one of my costume crafts textbooks.
Both are suitable for beginners, and have their high and low points, but together they make up for each other pretty well.
What I have personally found most useful is to take an article of clothing that is either perfectly or closely matching in form to whatever I wanted to make, and dissassembling it as a pattern-master. If I like the original, I’ll make a tracing-paper copy and then re-sew it, if it’s old or I don’t like the original, then I’ll just package up the original pieces as the pattern.
If you go that route, remember that if you’ve got stretch items, or something older or well-worn, the fabric may well be quite distorted from the original shape - that’s usually somewhat obvious when it’s ironed and laid out flat.
Also to consider is that the item only has to match in the area that you’re interested in. I’ve bought dozens if not a hundred items from thriftstores that were perfectly awful, except they had the perfect collar or pockets or sleeve panels or waistbands for my needs.
And yes, I constantly turn old clothes and fabric items (and sometimes crafting or hardware supplies (again, thrift stores)) into new clothes - although in my case, they’re more often costumes rather than clothing. I find that for the “rich” looks that I often need (historical or fantasy/science fiction), it’s much more cost-conscious to buy cheap used clothing made of that fabric than to buy it new off the bolt. If I can get 2 or 3 yards of silk from a skirt for $4, then there’s no reason on earth to spend $8 or $10 a yard from the fabric store. Likewise for trims or embellishments.
Much cheaper to upcycle, and more practice for me in disassembly, dying, and figuring out how much fabric a given pattern or shape comprises.
I’ve not done a whole lot of drafting from whole cloth, so to speak, but lots of adaptation and mixing and matching. For me, the key is to look beyond the fabric of the item or the picture on the pattern cover and look at shape. The shape of an A-line skirt has been used in many different genres and decades, it’s the details and the fabric that enable you to decode one as '50s or '70s or '90s, for a housewife or for a steampunk show.
When I made this dress for an Elizabethan Renaissance Faire, I could find no patterns for an Elizabethan dress that small. I had just about given up and decided to go the (much easier) peasant girl route when I found this Mulan pattern (view C) from Butterick. It doesn’t look a bit Elizabethan, until you put the collar down instead of up and a farthingale (hoop skirt) underneath and eyelets and lacing in the back instead of a zipper, and of course an entirely different color scheme. But I was able to see the basic shape in there and work out the details independent of the pattern directions.
Recently (as in, the past couple of days) I’ve become a tee shirt deconstructionist, thanks to this fun book, Generation T, that I found in a pile of giveaway books. I’m not a big tee shirt person, as I don’t have the right shape for it, but I’ve been hacking away at the sentimental tees people have given me that I can’t bear to get rid of and now I may actually wear them!
I’ve found that lots of sewing with patterns, and as **Lasciel **says, lots of deconstruction of existing garments, has taught me the concepts that have begun to free me up to do my own patterns. Kind of “learn the rules so you know how to break them”; the learning curve that separates crafters from artists. I’m still a crafter, but I’m slowly learning to be an artist.
Lasceil, thank you. I’m going to check out both of those books. Like you, I get tons of great fabric from larger sized clothes from the thrift store. The “Bargain Barn” Goodwill (different from the regular Goodwill store) in my area sells clothing by the pound at 1.69/lb. I can get some amazing fabric for dirt cheap.
WhyNot…wow the Elizabethan dress is amazing! And I do see what you’re saying about about looking at the basic shape. It takes looking at it in a different way and I’m learning to do that. I’m going to check out Generation T as well. I have done a little bit of this with thrifted T-shirts and also with many of my race shirts. Every time I run a race I get a t shirt, but they are always so ugly and never fit well.
I’ve been playing with drafting patterns with the same silhouette as some of my favorite clothing from my closet. I only taught myself to sew about two months ago, so still very new and very much a beginner. I’ve drafted patterns for and made some pencil skirts, a wiggle skirt, a knit skort, some knit minis. I made a really cute pencil skirt from a silk leopard pillowcase I thrifted for .50 and made a knit mini from a thrifted T-shirt I bought for .50 as well. Some success so far, and some epic fails, but I am loving it. I find I can get lost in this hobby. I’ve shopped the Goodwill for 20 years, but I guess now it is “hipster”.
