Fabrics and Pattern Cutting

A garment's cut has to suit the cloth it is made from, and that match is central to good fashion design. Learning to draft patterns that work with a fabric's properties is one of the hardest parts of a designer's education. As the range of available textiles keeps growing, grasping how fabric, form and pattern shape relate has become the most essential skill a designer can build.

Winifred Aldrich, a well-known authority on pattern cutting, shows how a garment's silhouette is formed. She covers the considerations that shape pattern making and presents a practical method for working through problems. Unlike other pattern cutting books, this one examines how individual fabrics behave, starting from an assessment of the cloth and the body it will cover.

This book is a revised and simplified version of Fabric, Form and Flat Pattern Cutting. It is richly illustrated with many practical examples and addresses recent changes in textiles, including new fabrics, new ways of constructing cloth and new finishes. Free block patterns are available online for printing and use in classes.