Basic Pattern Skills for Fashion Design

Loads of info on tops and skirts but not a thing on pants. Crazy man... Crazy!

I encountered this book at the beginning of trying to teach myself clothing design, and found it immediately illuminating. The book is divided into four sections: Bodice, Collar, Skirt, Sleeve. Using a series of pictorial examples, you are shown how to progress from the basic pattern through many, many variations, using dart movement and seams. Each example takes up a full page, with the minimum text needed and lots of illustrations. (Each example is given a punny name, such as "Seams to Me" or "Absence makes the Dart...Grow Yonder".)The book starts with a section on the Bodice, covering close-fitting, loose-fitting, and flared versions. The Bodice section starts with a basic pattern, showing how a simple piece of fabric drapes across a bust form, and then showing the flat pattern version of the same thing. A series of examples then show you many ways to modify the basic pattern by moving darts, combining darts with seams, gathering excess fabric, and slashing and spreading the pattern. Each technique is shown by multiple examples, starting with the simplest changes and progressing to complex ones.If you like learning by example, the detailed drawings in this book will make it very easy for you to learn flat pattern clothing design.