Clothing / Fashion Construction Books, Projects

[High Monika]

What are the clothing and fashion construction books you guys like the most? This includes basics, draping, sketching, patternmaking, etc. Seemed to be interest I'm a thread so here it is.

[lawless]

a few things that I've picked up from my internship:

The design Process from start to finish:

SKETCH

MAKE YOUR SEAM LINES ON A DRESS FORM

-i find that this is very important because it tells you where you want your garment to go (ie. shoulders, pockets, neck line, etc.)

-ribbons work best since they are not very expensive

DRAPE

-I'm still a beginner with this part so I'd appreciate it if someone with more experience voice in

MAKE YOUR PATTERN

-make sure you include the seam allowance in your pattern

-this is done by marking every corner and sides of your pattern with tiny indentures called notches

PIN AND CUT YOUR PATTERN

-make sure you roll your pattern on the fabric and cut only what you need (i believe this is called blocking)

-when blocking the fabric I was taught to cut about 6 inches in and rip the rest from there. this is to show you that your fabric is still straight and not crooked potentially causing the rest of your garments to be abit off point

-when pinning your pattern to the fabric I would suggest to trace your pattern onto a large sheet of paper as I find it's a lot easier to match the corners and insure that the pattern is pinned and cut straight

or

-you could fold your pattern in half and draw a line over the fold and when you piece the pattern on the fabric use a ruler to line your pattern parallel to the selvage (again to insure the garment is made on point)

-pinning and cutting is self explanatory

-after you cut the pattern take your scissor and cut the indentures that you made on your pattern (remember this was called notching?)

-the reason for this is that it sets a guide so that when you sew you know where your going instead of having different sized seam allowances thus making your garment off point

-after notching take out the pins and your ready to sew

-after you sew I believe this is where the garment treatment comes in ie. distressing, waxing, etc.

[scorpstyles]

Great thread and good advice. I'm learning something already.

[sunkenshoes]

Honestly, I've never used the books I had to buy for school. I only use the RD Complete Guide To Sewing once in a while. You, or at least I do, will learn the most from just doing it.

In my Fashion Illustration class we have to try to copy the style of famous/well known artists. I learned a lot by doing this so far.

[Advantage]

thanks for this. I been willing to learn sewing and patternmaking for the longest time. Been planning to enroll in a class or something but cant get round to that yet.

I might just buy that reader's digest book thing to get me started. Thanks