Pattern Drafting Book Review Series – Part 2 – Designing Apparel Through the Flat Pattern By Fairchild Publishing

Introducing the second book in my pattern making review series, titled Designing Apparel Through the Flat Pattern.

For those you who did not read the first part, here is a my disclaimer: I am a fashion design teacher and author. I am in the process of completing my own introductory pattern drafting book. I have worked my way through many books in the industry. I love parts of all of them, but other parts I dislike. I have written this series with the most impartial view I could have as a teacher.

I love all of my books, especially since these are the ones that made the cut to sit on my bookshelf. I won’t be reviewing any of the books that did not make it into staying in my collection. Know these are great reference books. Here you can see my inappropriately loaded shelves that have collapsed. Sorry for the lousy photo, but I have to crouch between two sewing machines for this shot. Nothing has fallen out of the shelves, so until that day comes This broken shelf will remain.

To start, this is definitely the most thorough book in drafting that I own. It covers everything, except draft by measure. This book provides a 1/4 scale slopers for drafting all the examples throughout the book. If you prefer to work in half scale, you can copy and scale up the patterns 200%.

If you understand the basics in pattern drafting, dart manipulation and how to turn a draft into a pattern, this book is awesome. It is definitely NOT an introductory book. You will need prior knowledge or you may get frustrated and walk away. The drafting steps are very brief. In the beginning, each page has multiple examples on it with only a paragraph of information.

What I love about this book: It is great for visual learners. I can depict what a picture says without the text, but unfortunately it took me years to get to this level of drafting. It covers everything! From skirts to jackets to pants to dresses, it covers it all.

What I dislike: It is very advanced. It is not for a first or even second year student in design. I believe it is more of a graduate level book. You must have a strong foundation of drafting to follow this book. Several of the drafting steps in the book also use the letter/number instruction steps which I have a hard time following. A teacher could follow this book to teach, but I would question whether the student could follow on their own.

If you are just starting on a pattern drafting path, put this on your wishlist. It is an expensive book, but will be worth it once you learn from the introductory books. Here is the Amazon link (this is an affiliate link – affiliate links help support my business). It looks like the last version of this book came out in 1992. Designing Apparel Through the Flat Pattern