Below I’ll give you my selections for the best Pattern Drafting books by a few categories. I will cover these and other great books more in depth later.
- The Pattern Making Primer: All You Need to Know About Designing, Adapting, and Customizing Sewing Patterns (2012)
- A Basic Guide To Pattern Drafting (2019)
- Pattern Design: Fundamentals: Construction and Pattern Making for Fashion Design (Volume 1) (2018)
- Patternmaking for Fashion Design (2013)
- How to Make Sewing Patterns, second edition (2016)
- Bare Essentials: Bras – Second Edition (2016)
- The Complete Photo Guide to Perfect Fitting (2012)
- Pattern Fitting With Confidence (2008)
- Sheet-Metal Pattern Drafting and Shop Problems (1975)
- How to Use, Adapt, and Design Sewing Patterns: From store-bought patterns to drafting your own: a complete guide to fashion sewing with confidence (2010)
- How Patterns Work: The Making and Sewing in Fashion Design (2013)
- Custom Pattern Making with PatternMaker Software: A Step-by-Step Manual for the Professional Studio With an Introduction to Macro Generator (2012)
The Pattern Making Primer: All You Need to Know About Designing, Adapting, and Customizing Sewing Patterns (2012)
Home sewing enthusiasts as well as fashion design students and professional pattern makers will want this book for their reference library.
A Basic Guide To Pattern Drafting (2019)
From Blocks to the basics of dresses, skirts, tops, sleeves and collars, this guide to basic pattern drafting will provide you the extra assistance you need to understand the fundamentals of patternmaking.
Pattern Design: Fundamentals: Construction and Pattern Making for Fashion Design (Volume 1) (2018)
Note that there are different versions of this book available.
Patternmaking for Fashion Design (2013)
Printed in Asia – Carries Same Contents as of US edition – Opt Expedited Shipping for 3 to 4 day delivery – – Does NOT include any CD
How to Make Sewing Patterns, second edition (2016)
How to Make Sewing Patterns solves the mysteries of pattern drafting with easy, step-by-step instructions and clear line drawings that show how to create custom-fit garments in a wide range of designs. The book’s detailed instructions on measuring and fitting include do-it-yourself photographs as well as directions for creating custom dress forms. “Don McCunn has certainly mastered pattern drafting and fitting a wide range of bodies.
Bare Essentials: Bras – Second Edition (2016)
This is the second edition revised July 2016. The new edition includes drafting and grading directions in Adobe Illustrator and in PolyPattern Software. The Bare Essentials series is an invaluable resource for anyone entering into the field of lingerie design.
The Complete Photo Guide to Perfect Fitting (2012)
No matter what size or shape you are, wearing garments that fit perfectly makes you look and feel better. Rather than making commonly accepted changes to a commercial pattern, the method presented in this guide . The fabric is manipulated to improve the fit, and then those specific changes are made to the pattern. The result: patterns that fit perfectly!With The Complete Photo Guide to Perfect Fitting, you'll learn: See the on basic garments, .
Pattern Fitting With Confidence (2008)
Nancy Zieman’s pattern fitting approach is easy – no cutting, slashing, tucking or pinching—just logical and easy pivot-and-slide techniques, providing a painless method to follow that results in a garment that is comfortable and attractive. Once you learn Nancy’s techniques for fitting, you will find it easy to make every garment you sew fit your size and shape.
Sheet-Metal Pattern Drafting and Shop Problems (1975)
This text has been prepared for use in vocational schools, trade schools, technical schools, and high schools offering courses in sheet metal pattern drafting and shop work, and for home study by apprentices and sheet metal workers. It meets every requirement as a textbook and is also well adapted for reference use by draftsmen, shop foremen, and metal workers engaged in laying out patterns for general sheet metal work, heating, ventilating, cornice, and heavy plate work.
How to Use, Adapt, and Design Sewing Patterns: From store-bought patterns to drafting your own: a complete guide to fashion sewing with confidence (2010)
An accomplished fashion designer shows women who make their own garments how to improve on store-bought sewing patterns by adjusting the clothing items length and other details to reflect personal taste and create a custom fit.
How Patterns Work: The Making and Sewing in Fashion Design (2013)
When you are trying to learn something new, the best teachers are often the ones who will walk you slowly through all of the basics in a way that is straightforward and easy to understand.
Custom Pattern Making with PatternMaker Software: A Step-by-Step Manual for the Professional Studio With an Introduction to Macro Generator (2012)
This manual takes you through the PatternMaker Software tools as well as teaching basic pattern making techniques. As a bonus, this manual includes an introduction to Macro Generator. Learn to create your own macros for personal use or to sell.
Best Pattern Drafting Books: The Ultimate List
We highly recommend you to buy all paper or e-books in a legal way, for example, on Amazon. But sometimes it might be a need to dig deeper beyond the shiny book cover. Before making a purchase, you can visit resources like Library Genesis and download some pattern drafting books mentioned below at your own risk. Once again, we do not host any illegal or copyrighted files, but simply give our visitors a choice and hope they will make a wise decision.
Modern Ladies' Tailoring: A basic guide to pattern drafting
Author(s): Sven Jungclaus
ID: 3679779, Publisher: Books on Demand, Year: 2020, Size: 13 Mb, Format: epub
Teach Yourself Stitch Craft and Dressmaking Pattern Making and Drafting Layout: Volume III--Making Your Own Patterns for Dress Designing
Author(s): Dueep Jyot Singh
ID: 3555785, Publisher: Mendon Cottage Books, Year: 2016, Size: 1 Mb, Format: epub
Knitting pattern essentials: adapting and drafting knitting patterns for great knitwear
Author(s): Melville, Sally
ID: 2723951, Publisher: Potter;TenSpeed;Harmony;Potter Craft, Year: 2013;2015, Size: 33 Mb, Format: epub
Please note that this booklist is not definite. Some books are absolutely chart-busters according to Washington Post, others are composed by unknown writers. On top of that, you can always find additional tutorials and courses on Coursera, Udemy or edX, for example. Are there any other relevant books you could recommend? Drop a comment if you have any feedback on the list.