First project of 2023

 

This t-shirt was inspired by one a friend wore a couple of years ago. I have made a similar one (never blogged about) at the time and thought it was time to do it again. 

I used a basic t-shirt pattern and made it into this pattern. The original inspiration piece had a higher neckline, this one was drafted with a lower neckline. It's the sort of change you can do easily.

As I always like to share the process, below my process in 7 steps. In the past year I made the move to digital pattern drafting and making my own pdf patterns, even for personal use only. Must say that's someting from someone who has been opposed to pdf patterns for a long time! 

The main advantage of digital drafting? No paper! Easy to keep an original, start again, save it in a folder on my computer, work on a draft when not at home, etc. The downside is that it's costing more than pencil and paper. I've used Adobe Illustrator initially because other programs couldn't do some essential things in pattern drafting (like measuring the length of a curve). Recently Affinity Designer 2 was launched, which is the program I used this time. This new version can measure curves and while it doesn't have all the bells and whistles of Illustrator, you can surely draft patterns with it. Big advantage is that you buy the program and there's no subscription fee! I'm not affiliated, but like to share this in case some of you are interested in digital pattern drafting but the cost of Illustrator is too high (it's a ridiculous high amount if you only use it for a hobby and probably occassionally). 

I'm working on a tutorial of using Affinity Designer 2 for sewing patterns. Let me know if there's something you would like to see!