Complexes around using patterns?

I learn a lot about the construction process, especially on historical projects when using patterns. Someone else went to the trouble of figuring out a style so I may as well see if it works for me, or what I would change next time. But then I'm lazy about drafting my own patterns when there are so many parts & pieces already figured out which lets me get to the color combination & sewing phases which I enjoy.
Of course there are plenty of times I have to resize pattern pieces...& If competent at drafting one might argue I could save time by just doing the math in the first place...
Main thing is getting those shirts made. ;}

 

hmm, i don’t have any complexes, but it might be because i grew up in a tailor shop where sometimes patterns (store bought) WERE used, but after alterations or even just having to redraft it sometimes, in the end the actual bought pattern was just a reference since a different one had to be made anyway (even if it was still the same dress/skirt/whatever). does that make sense?

patterns, historically, were published with detailed guides on how to draft and draw your own pattern from the guide & illustrations given, more or less. obviously there’s a lot more history & reasoning there, but my point is a pattern is no less a tool than your fabric or your thread. you can modify your fabrics by embroidery and appliqués and trim, but if you choose not to, is the thing you made LESS “your own”?

i’ve got plenty of mixes of other people’s patterns and my own, and yes my own outweighs other’s only because usually i’ll find a particular outfit i like but not in the right size, so if it’s an etsy creator or something i’ll buy the pattern as support and then size it up or down, make alterations to fit my doll, etc. there’s still plenty of “your own” work even if you followed every letter of the original pattern to a T, and there’s still plenty if you decided to follow 75% and then added ruffles to EVERY hem there wasn’t any before. the pattern is simply a tool.

additionally, are the patterns in your book to scale with your dolls, or are they human patterns? if they’re not even for your doll’s size, the amount of work you’ll have to do to redraft and refine to keep it to scale should outweigh the feeing of “i didn’t really do anything”, because you’re doing so much translating- if you read a translation of a book, did you not really read the book?

anyway, i hoped this helped somewhat!! i had a similar crisis over my illustration style back in college, it wasn’t 1:1, but the whole ‘xyz is a tool and not representative of the whole’ was part of something someone told me once that helped. plus having grown up in an environment around professional pattern makers, tailors, etc, i’m sure one of my relatives would tell you the same

(obvious disclaimer of pattern making is a whole art itself and just calling a pattern a tool isn’t diminishing the amount of work they take + this isn’t advocating for stealing patterns without credit etc etc etc incase someone in the future reads this and misinterprets that lol)

 

No not at all, I want to make a finished product, how I get there isn't a big deal to me. Professionally as well, sewers in factories make everything and they use patterns made by other people so it doesn't matter because the interpretation of each pattern is different.

 

Interesting topic. Am I nervous about using patterns, especially from other artists?
Maybe a little bit. For me, patterns from others are a suggestion or roadmap for tailoring. First of all, the bodies of dolls / BJDs are very different from the human body. Since I collect artist BJDs, there are almost never clothes that fit these dolls, let alone patterns.
Furthermore, clothing for dolls requires finer seams and different techniques compared to human clothing. The fabrics also have to be thinner and softer in order to achieve attractive results.
So, as a layman, I don't have much remorse when I use other people's patterns. It's only a small part of the journey to the destination.
Thanks for the tip and sharing
And good luck for future creations!

 

Actually it's the good old question from when something counts as self-made. There are sooo many steps until the finished product. Let's assume using a pre-made pattern still counts as self-made. What's next? Does it still count as self-made if you're using pre-made fabric or yarn or do you have to wove and spin it yourself? Do you have to shear a sheep yourself or reap flax to make fabric?

What I want to say is that there's always a "before" step. Even before reaping comes the sowing. But nobody would say that a self-woven fabric is not handmade because they didn't sow the material themselves. So why should your work be less worth just because using someone else's work for a previous step?
And it's not like you wouldn't alter the previous step. You're cutting the fabric, changing the pattern etc. I understand the feeling of "not self-made enough", but actually self-made is self-made as long as you do stuff on your own.

 

I understand how you feel! I also feel that the clothes I've drafted for my dolls from scratch are somehow more... worthy? than using ready-made doll patterns (although I always have to adjust the patterns anyway) - maybe it's also because there's not much available for the dolls I have so my own work is bound to fit them better (although there is this certain sense of pride from making something from 0, too). I don't have this complex for sewing for myself, though... but obviously it's not as easy to draft for human scale than it is for a doll and it's more about making a functional garment than adding to an artwork in that case.

It also depends on what you are planning to do with what you sew! If you are sewing to sell or showcase, then using someone else's work comes with rules regarding that. If it's just for your own enjoyment, you're much more free to use/reference/learn from ready-made patterns - they have been published for sewing from after all. It's sometimes also just great practice to make something from someone else's patterns to maybe learn a trick or a more efficient way than you would have when just drafting your own.

 

Hmm, maybe it's because I've been sewing for 30 years, or because my own experience as a fashion student was not a good one, but a pattern, no matter who made it, is a tool, just like anything else in your arsenal. Drafting your own is a useful skill to have and can help give you a better appreciation and knowledge of how garments work on a body, but using free or commercially available patterns can also do that. It's a matter of experience. And sometimes, just looking at a pattern can give you an idea of what you *don't* want to do too, which can be just as helpful in adding to your knowledge! I've certainly seen and used my fair share of patterns with stupid design or construction decisions over the years xD

For dolls specifically, there are a different set of skills and techniques needed to get the right fit that can be a major shift between sewing for humans, so having some starting guides in a pattern can be helpful. It's similar with historical clothing; modern tailoring and construction techniques don't often work to get the correct silhouette, so using a pattern or guide from someone who knows the subject helps a lot, and unless you've got firsthand access to extant garments and sources, that's the only way to know how to make them.

The only issue i have about using patterns is people using readily available commercial patterns to make things to sell and not disclosing that the pattern isn't their own. Even though the construction work is theirs, is still feels dangerously close to taking credit for someone else's work to me personally.

 

Speaking of complexes, my poor boys generally wear purchased clothes...because while I've collected useful patterns, fabrics & reference ideas, I seem to tackle the challenges of sewing for my girls while finicky details on shirts & the rise in pants leave me worried before I even start. I have done some sewing for my guys & got the patterns adjusted so they fit fine but mostly I go to Volks or Sadol for their attire & get on with creating the next dress that comes to mind... ;}

 

As someone who didn't know the first thing abgout sewing, when I first discovered BJD a million years ago and mosly use patterns I didn't draft my self. I have to agree with others before me, the amount of work you'll probably have to do to have the garment fit well on a BJD, when the pattern was meant for a human. Will probably be much more, than if you had just drafted the pattern yourself.

I tend to modify patterns that aren't my own and are meant for OT dolls, because it's easier than modifying human patterns. The proportions are just vastly different. They are less complicated with doll clothing patterns to modify in comparison. There's still a lot of work as far as resizing and modifmodifying to fit BJD


I also agree that using a pattern is more like using a guide, or a map/recipe than cheating. It might seem more so to people like me who have no clue to what we are doing when drafting a pattern (but still try) than to a professional or fashion design student. However, it is still a lot of work to modify something to fit a completely different build. It's still your hard work you'll have to put into having the piece fit at all, even if you are using a pattern you didn't draft yourself. (:

 

I learned how to make my own patterns by looking at commercial ones. They taught me the basic shapes and how they fit together. I never felt guilty for looking at human-sized patterns for help, but weirdly enough, I felt guilty for using a doll pattern that I bought. I guess I figured that, since I was making clothes now, I should get better at doing it instead of relying on others' expertise. But see, that's where it proves that it's fine.

Everyone is at different levels, and everyone has different specialties. I've gotten good at making vests, for example, but when I bought that one doll pattern, I had no idea how to make a kimono. When I used the pattern, I realized the maker of the pattern was "ahead" of me in terms of sewing/patterning skill, especially with regard to kimonos, but that was okay. I was basically just learning from this person the way I used to learn from the human patterns. Now I could probably make my own kimono pattern, though my method would be different (and I don't see a need since I already have the one I bought).

So I guess it's kind of like looking up a tutorial. When you first learn to sew, someone somewhere has to teach you how. This is just that, only at a more advanced level. Let them teach you, and then you'll be able to do it, too. You gotta learn somewhere.

 

I'll use pre-made patterns if it's something I know will be the right size and type of item I'm looking to make.

BUT a lot of times I find the fit isn't what I was expecting, or I think "that was a silly way of making X, I would have done it Y" and end up altering/re-drafting pieces, and so on. For example, I have a few of the official BTSSB lolita dress sewing patterns for BJDs, and they're really overly-complex for what they are... there's more seams than there needs to be, which makes extra bulk at doll-scale, and some of them aren't properly adapted for doll-dressing so you need to remove the doll's head and struggle to pull it over the shoulders etc.

Basically, I trust using my own self-made patterns more than I trust using someone else's, because I know it's going to go together and fit like I expect it to.

 

You will make the inventors sad if you don't use the sewing patterns they invented because they wanted to help someone else have an easier experience making something.

 

My take on it is, "Why re-invent the wheel?"

Save tyour time and mental energy for drafting the patterns you can't find available anywhere else in the rifght sizes or whatever, and make use of the available resources by using pattwerns for the stuff that is available.

I can, and do draft my own patterns but not if there's already one available for what I need

Also, I'll use a pattern that fits my doll (or me, or whoever I'm sewing dfor) as a starting poitn for a different garment if adapting a pattern that fits is quicker than drafting one from scratch (life is short, don't waste it doing unnecessary work), and/or I will use a pattern for the right garment that isn't quite the right size and alter it to fit at the mock-up stage.

The bodice for this outfit, for example, started out as a blazer pattern that happened to be the right size for my doll:


So I guess my suggestion for you is to tell yourself you'd be wasting your time and energy by drafting your own pattern in instances where a perfectly good pattern already exists in your collection.

Teddy

 

Been thinking about this topic lately because in the past I had issues with using different things in my life for their intended purpose because I either wouldn't use them correctly (something installed in everyone my grandmother came in contact with) or that what I was going to do with it or use it for, like a note book, didn't have any value (because I didn't feel like I had any value due to depression). Add in not being able to afford much while growing up and feeling I had to be even more careful. A pile of sketchbooks as tall as an SD doll and at least a dozen notebooks now sit next to my desk.

All that did was hold my creative side back. Since we're talking about sewing and making doll clothes I started making a few things in my teens but I wonder sometimes how faster I might have progressed if I could have loosened up and been able to experiment. Now I make all my BJDs clothes because I'm not paying more for their outfits than mine and most of my family are hard to fit off the wrack.

I also know how to draft my own doll patterns, became a necessity, and there's a few years of my life I'm never getting back. Accept that there are some people who have already been there, done that, and wrote a pattern book about it because we don't see the reason others should have to struggle when we can push them further along.

 

I like youtubers pattern tutorials for human clothing especially jeans and pants - its still a lot of effort on my end trying to make the clothes in doll size. (someone made a double waisted pair of sweatpants, they looked so cool)
Ive been trying to copy a pair of g stars for my dolls, so the fashion youtubers and their "how to copy patterns" guides are so useful. Also this is how rick owens got his start so, I dont get why anyone would feel bad copying a pattern

 

I draft a good 90% or more of my own patterns. There is a small percentage where I modify existing patterns as well.

This reminded me of the time I bought patterns for my antique mignonette dolls. I was so disappointed when I got it. The dresses looked so lovely in the pictures, but it was all about cutting and gluing the fabric and embellishment onto material, with no room for actual sewing. I am no expert, but I am pretty sure that those tiny dolls from the 1800'swould have had everything sewn on them, not superglued. I try to use the patterns as a base to make actual patterns for the little dolls. But that didn't work out well. I had to end up drafting my own patterns from scratch. I paid quite a bit for the patterns, I wasn't happy.

I think that's why I am a little weary of just buying patterns. I did pick up some at a thrift store for my American Girl Dolls, they work nicely. If I go to do some costuming for my SD girls I might take parts of the bodice's and modify them, but most of my dolls wear modern clothes. I do not think that I ever stick exactly to any pattern. Maybe I am just bad at following directions?

 

I don't have a problem with the idea of using patterns, but I am really bad at following them I draft everything myself because I'd just get confused otherwise, and I admire people who can follow them properly and make so many pretty things

 

@RabbidBunnies Do you mean a Mignonette doll? I have a tiny replica lady who isn't much bigger.

This day and age you have plenty of people online to ask if they've had any personal experience with a pattern you're not used to, but if it's coming from one of the big pattern makers it should definitely work. I remember experimenting with enlarging 1/6 patterns to fit my first 1/3 doll for a while. Now when it comes to knitting and crocheting try a hook/needle the same size as the doll's finger. I was able to "enlarge" Barbie patterns that way and just needed to add a bit to the sleeves.

As for following pattern directions would it help to label the pieces with tailor's chalk? And see if you can pin the whole garment together before you sew it so you get an idea of what goes where. Quilting pins, they look like safety pins, work and they don't stick you.

 

Haha! I did I fixed it thanks! I was half asleep when I wrote that yesterday. I have one from the 1800's and few vintage replicas that were made later. They are so tiny and difficult to sew for. I thought having a pattern would be helpful, but the pattern was no good.

I would love to find actual original patterns for those small dolls.

 

Nearly forgot about this, go to Semptress (dot) org and look at their How to clone a doll tutorial. They show how to make a quick and basic pattern for any doll any size with aluminum foil but anything you can wrap a doll in will work.

I did a variation of this with fabric and duck tape to get started on doing an all cloth body for my Obistu 60.

 

I've never seen someone else express this but I have the same problem OP. </3 I feel like it's not "mine" unless I also made the pattern lol. it's crazy but you're not alone.

 

I'm still thinking about this and I wonder if you feel the same way about recipes or building something from someone else's plans or assembling something where the pieces were pre cut?

I'm in the middle of trying to make a dollhouse from a kit. While I might eventually learn enough to make the blueprints I could never cut the pieces out of wood (for several reasons) or do the fake glass for the windows. By the time I've finished putting it together and decorating it I will certainly feel it's "mine". The whole point to the kit is putting it together and personalizing it to become your own.

If you do your doll's face-up, choose the eyes, wig, clothes and all that do you feel that the doll is yours?

 

This makes a very good point. Why would you feel it wasn't "yours" if you didn't do all of it for one thing but not for another.

The first dollshouse I made (when I was fifteen, as a Christmas girft for my niece) was one I desined myself and made from scratch, it didn't feel any more my own work than the ones I subsequently made from kits. The dolls I dress, whether I've done the facup myself or not, don't feel any less my own work than the ones I make from scratch (I've been making and selling cloth dolls since I was fourteen, I learned to make porcelain dolls in my late teens). I dress my dolls in a combination of bought clothes, clothes I've made by using and/or adapting other people's patterns and ones I've patterened myself from scratch. Nothing I sew feels any less "mine" if I've made use of existing resources that other people contributed to.

Should I feel a garment (I make full sized historical costumes for reenactment and other costumes competitions) is somehow less valid as my-own work if I didn't raise the sheep, spin and weave the fibre into cloth, and hand sew every stitch instead of using a sewing machine. Should I feel I should have constructed the sewing machine myself from scratch otherwise anything I make using it isn't a "valid" creation by me...? Should I have made the paper I draw my patterns out of, made my own ink and tghe pen I put it in for drawing out those patterns...? How about the rulers and tape measures used in the process - do they need to be made by me too... ?

Where does the line get drawn as to what does or doesn't count toward the end result being your own work...?

Teddy

 

In my earlier sewing days, I wasn't keen on using ready made patterns. This was largely due to my interest in historical costuming. In my college days, while there were books like Patterns of Fashion 1-3, there weren't as many ready-made historical patterns for humans, let alone dolls. Hence a lot of the costumers I followed either drafted their own patterns, or based their off of antique patterns and reference books. This gave me the impression that self-made was superior to ready-made.

With more available patterns for humans and dolls, I've dropped this line of thinking. I still draft my own patterns much of the time, but there are occasions when I just want to sew rather than puzzle out how to make the pieces.

 

Same here

Absolutely!

Teddy

 

Very long winded post as short as possible- In the industrial age the average consumer would have seen the occasional scaled down diagram of what we consider a sewing pattern in a woman's magazine. It would have to be enlarged to the given dimensions then altered to fit the wearer. Dedicated magazines for professional clothing makers existed with more complicated patterns, again scaled down. There were structured classes in pattern drafting and learn to do it at home books but still they use standardized tools and methods to show you how to measure. Get thee to an online library.

As for doll clothes there was a whole industry of French and German dolls and stuff going on. If you had a home made doll then you probably had home made clothes for her as a lot more women sewed back then. Basic sewing was a part of a girl's education and among the first garments they learned to make were chemises and nightgowns for their dolls or a baby sibling. If a girl did show a talent for sewing nothing was stopping her from learning to make doll sized versions of the patterns in the magazines. Once you figured the math for dolly, like only make it X amount of time bigger, you were in business.

Edit- Here's an image for reference 32834e9164d6ce210e2a62b41da6abe70fecc031.jpg

 

All of human creation and innovation has been built on the knowledge and experiences of those who came before us, using the skills and tools and resources of our neighbors to fill in the gaps of our own. The baby blankets I crocheted for my children are no less my creations because I followed a pattern, so why would sewing doll clothes be any different?

 

I draft almost all my own patterns. To me it has nothing to do with prestige, it's all about saving time.

I started teaching myself how to draft patterns when I was still a kid, because the commercial patterns I had access to never made sense to me. In part because it was mainly from old Burda magazines and the instructions were usually not complete, they just assumed you would know at what stage to do the hem or how they wanted you to put in a certain type of zipper, but more because I quickly realized two things. One was that the patterns rarely worked out. A lot of times seam lengths didn't add up, direction of weave or stretch was incorrectly marked etc. It required a lot of redoing and reinventing the wheel, just to get the thing put together. The second was that they always added a ridiculous amount of ease, even to fitted garments, so even if my measurements matched the size chart perfectly, the garment never fit without some major reworking.
In the end, it was just faster to make the pattern myself. I would end up redrawing pretty much every line anyway.

These days I almost never bother with ready made patterns, for myself or the dolls.
For historical stuff I will look at extant patterns and drafting manuals if they are available, just to get a good idea of what to aim for.
Again, this saves time. But I've seen so many patterns and made so many things by now that I can usually just look at a garment or design and sort of separate and flatten the parts in my head to figure out their general shape.
Another thing that saves a lot of time is to make a carefully drafted and well tested base pattern. This is a wonderful shortcut for future drafting and you can usually get a good fit on the first try for patterns made from it. It saves a ton of extra work, mock up materials and frustration.

With all that said I don't think there is anything wrong with using a ready made pattern, that's what they're made for. As long as you came by it legally and use it as intended, of course.
If you know a pattern to be good and you agree with the construction choices, it may very well save you some time.
The garment is still made by you, even if the design isn't.