Crotch Depth Drafting: Beginner's Guide to Perfect Fit
In this post, you will learn how to take measurements and draft perfect crotch depth in pants, jumpsuits and shorts .
Drafting crotch depth is a crucial step in creating well-fitting pants, jumpsuits, overalls, rompers, or shorts. Understanding and accurately measuring crotch depth ensures comfort and proper garment fit, especially around the hips and thighs. This comprehensive guide will walk…
Book Review: Patternmaking for Fashion Design, by Helen Joseph Armstrong
This pattern making book was recommended by the presenter at a Cosplay workshop I went to. So far I’m not sure I like the book - sure, it has sections on almost literally everything you might want to make, from shirts, to pants, to swim suits, but it reads like it’s written for a classroom setting and seems to assume that the people reading it are getting supplemental information somewhere else.
I’d say that, while this book might be great for fashion design students looking to get a degree, it’s not great for Cosplay unless you already know the basics of designing and making your own clothing. I’ve had some trouble understanding the explanations of the terms and concepts presented, and with figuring out the instructions for how to design different elements of a garment, so I’m not sure how others like me, with little-to-no fashion design experience, would fare.
I’m going to be honest and say I couldn’t really get through the instructionals in this book, and the bits I did try to figure out myself just made me turn to Google for help.
I’m sure it would be a useful book to have if I knew what it was trying to tell me, but I can’t get much out of it with my current experience level. Maybe in the future when I’ve made a few more costumes myself I’ll be able to decode the secrets this book contains, but that day is not today.
If you already know something about clothing design, or want to try your hand at puzzling out the instructions and explanations, you can get a copy of the book on Amazon for somewhere between $30 - $170 (it is technically a textbook, so some editions come with the textbook price tag. But if you get the paperback edition, which is printed for international use and has the same contents as the official US textbook version, it’s only like ~$30).
Tl;dr: Probably great for fashion design students taking a college course, not so great for Cosplay. The book assumes some kind of supplementary information is being given to you, and making sense of the explanations without that info requires excessive Googling.
Rating: I’d say 6/10. I’m sure it’s great for people who know what they’re doing, but it’s not great for newbies trying to learn, or for people who didn’t major in fashion design.
René Bergh’s step-by-step patternmaking book gives relatively easy-to-follow instructions for each of the most important aspects of pattern drafting. Her tutorials are designed to help people of all skill levels to create custom fitted clothing patterns for their unique specifications.
The instructions look kind of like high school geometry problems, and a few of the steps aren’t well worded so they can be confusing, but so far this book is the most useful pattern making book I’ve tried to use.
It was recommended to me by a professional costumer and Cosplayer I met recently. She uses it for all of her custom costuming projects, for everything from off-broadway theatrical costumes, to cosplay commissions, to personal projects.
I’ve gone through a bit of the book myself, and from what I’ve seen it’s pretty thorough. It has the basics, like drafting a fitted shell for a sloper template (the foundation of all your patterns, fitted to your specific measurements), and includes chapters covering everything from sleeves, to necklines, to pockets. It even has a section of quarter-scale basic patterns, which can be copied out, scaled up, and used to create the fitted shells if you don’t want to do all the drafting by hand (drafting can be a time-consuming pain in the ass).
As for the instructionals themselves, they’re pretty straightforward, as far as I can tell. I tried the basic bodice block tutorial, and didn’t have too much trouble with it, although there are a couple places where it says “place X point” but doesn’t say specifically where, which caused a bit of confusion. The tutorial comes with diagrams though, so I could guess.
The basic bodice draft I ended up with seems to be approximately the right size for the mannequin I based it on, so I’d say this book would be pretty useful for people who want to learn to draft their own custom Cosplay patterns, and really for anyone who wants to learn how to make fitted patterns of their own.
The book is also relatively inexpensive, if you get it used. I think I got mine for maybe $30?
Tl;dr: All in all, I’d say this book would be pretty handy for Cosplayers, whether you’re new blood looking to dip your toes into the world of custom Cosplay, or a seasoned veteran looking to spruce up your Cosplay game.
