Sewing is a technologically complex and multi-stage process of creating things. The key task for the tailor is not so much to sew the product as to be able to design it by creating a high-quality pattern. For venerable professionals, this process is easy and smooth due to vast experience in their field and because they have irreplaceable helpers - patterns. These are ready-made templates with which you can quickly and correctly make a pattern.
What is a pattern?
Patterns are special tools that tailors use to facilitate the design, modeling and construction of patterns, its details. Their main function is to measure the contour of a particular curve of the line in the drawings with subsequent correction. In order to avoid special terminology and give a more understandable explanation of this subject, we can say that the patterns are ready-made templates that are used to construct the basic pattern of the future product or its individual elements. So, the greatest difficulty in performing the drawing for fashion designers is often the marking of the curved lines of the armhole, shoulder, ridge, neck and others. That is why the patterns were created.
In sewing, this term also refers to patterned patterns, the so-called basic patterns. These are variants of the most common product models, the details of which are tailored in the course of work by tailors , depending on the style of clothing and the wishes of the client.
Types of Curves
There are several types of sewing patterns. First of all, these are tools of constant or variable curvature. In the first case, the tool is a ruler without a scale and markup with one or more curved lines, with which circles are drawn in the drawings. Patterns of variable curvature are special angles with a scale and an additional device that helps to selectively lower or raise the curve, taking into account a specific model. Most often, such tools provide millimeter markings to help fit the part to size.
Patterns for sewing clothes are ready-made patterns of the product, and only the main basic drawing of the human body on paper. The latter is carried out in accordance with the measurements taken. It is on the basis of the basic template that the final versions of models for cutting are created. There are also working patterns for sewing clothes. They are constructed on the basis of the features of a particular model, a standard dimensional grid, according to individual customer standards.
Basic cutting tool
Professional patterns are high-precision tools with which a tailor can perform several functions at once. The main and most significant is the competent and accurate design of the drawing for a clothing model. However, even after creating the pattern, it is too early to set the pattern aside. It can be useful in adjusting it, making corrections after the first fitting, as well as during fitting the product to a figure.
Another area of use of the tailor's tool is the transfer of ready-made patterns (for example, from magazines or downloaded from specialized websites) to paper. The patterns presented in the periodicals are also patterns, the size of which is greatly averaged. Using tools, the cutter will be able to adjust the pattern to the desired parameters.
Where to get the pattern?
Beginning tailors often have a reasonable question about where to get patterns of clothing. Especially if the sewing process is put on the conveyor, and the wizard simply does not have enough time to make patterns every time manually. It is much simpler and more efficient to adjust an already finished sample created on the basis of patterns to the desired size and style. This tool can be purchased at specialized sewing stores.
Outlets offer their customers several of its varieties, the most popular are universal for drawing armholes and sleeves. In the first case, we are talking about a small tool resembling a golf club in shape. The inner side of such a pattern is flat, but the outer one is a convex line that ends with a wide circle. A marking scale is applied along the entire length of the arc, which greatly simplifies the work of the designer.
A universal tailor pattern is a corner with graph paper, inside of which one or more curves of different lengths and depths are provided. Some models even have special slots for creating buttonholes. In addition, patterns with a large number of arcs and curves of variable radius are realized.
Alternative
The price of a simple plastic pattern in specialized sewing stores starts from a thousand rubles. More advanced models can cost 2-3 thousand, for a professional tool of high quality will have to pay even more.
However, you can always cheat and buy ordinary drawing patterns, which are sold in office supply stores and build patterns on them. Another option and the opportunity not to splurge on an expensive tailor's tool is the creation of patterns yourself. It is enough to build a high-quality pattern on the necessary parameters once, transfer it to thick cardboard or paper (the covers of glossy magazines are well suited for this) and use the resulting template in the future.