I've just completed my first fitted jacket, pattern and man, I truly understand why it's one of the most expensive garment to have a pattern drafted for. First of all , there are so many pieces, you've got the shell, the facings, the linings to make sure the jacket looks almost as good inside as it does outside and the interfacings that keep the crisp, clean cut look for the jacket. Then you've got to make sure all the pieces correspond with eachother correctly while not being the same shape. This is where careful notches come in.
Actually now that I've drafted a jacket pattern, I'd say that if someone just learnt how to correctly, professionally draft a fitted jacket they'd have the foundation to drafting all other patterns except, skirts and pants that is. I'm just exaggerating here, really, try constructing a bra with what you know about suit drafting, hmm...
When I read that the going rate for coat, jacket/suit and tailored blazer pattern drafting, ranges from $125 on up to $325 (this is actually separated into two categories) I thought it was a bit much, but not after getting a little experience in with the drafting process.
I want to nit pick my working process though to hone it to a perfection. To do this I'm going to use the information provided in the article "How To Hire A Patternmaker" at Design Entrepreneure.com and make up a bunch of colorful mini lists as a computer desktop image so I can go through them each time I complete a client's pattern. :) what a happy solution. I'll post my desktop list on my blog when I've got it completed so all of you fellow patternmakers out there can use it too if you like.
If my patternmaking progress and my blog posts seem a bit slow for a while, it's because aside from doing some patternwork for my clients as well as for myself when I catch a free hour or so, I've also got 5 writting projects to work on for my article client. The workload is heavy right now. But I'll try to keep things at least at a steadier trickle than I did before.
If you'd like to read more about fashion, information on the industry and online schools check out my site at:
Budget Online Fashion Design Schools and Resources
If you're a designer or home sewer and you'd like to find some cool eco-friendly fabrics and more check out my resource page at:
The Eco-Friendly Fashion Designer's Resource Page
A note on the site url, it's designer-entrepreneurs.com, more directly, http://designer-entrepreneurs.com/hire.htm
ReplyDeleteIt's also available on Fashion-Incubator.com at http://www.fashion-incubator.com/products_services/table-of-contents/
I've developed a longer and much more comprehensive list (excel spreadsheet) for criteria to use in hiring a patternmaker that is available in the documents library on the F-I forum. http://fashion-incubator.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=6369