Reddit mentions: The best sewing patterns

Hi! I'm so flattered that you like my cosplay and want to do Belle for a local con! Hopefully, some of my experiences can help.

Bow: The bow was actually pretty simple. I did use the same fabric of the dress. I backed it with some light weight interfacing to make it more stiff. There are probably a lot of tutorials on how to do basic bows online ( search sailor moon bows if your having trouble...) But the basic concept is that you sew two squares together like a pillow case then fold then like you would if you were making a paper fan..Take another rectangle strip fo fabric ( I also put interfacing on that back of that and just folded in the edges so it looked nice. ) and wrap it around the middle. I sewed mine and then uses a metal clip to clip it on the hair near the ponytail holder. though you could probably do the sam with bobby pins.

Wig: I did style the wig! The wig I bought was Christine at Amphigory no cutting required, If you have any experience in teasing chances are this will turn out better for you. Just make sure you have a wig head to secure to and some patience. I sectioned off the hair at the very front of the wig where the hairline is then right behind that I tried my best to tease two kind trangeler bumps on both sides of the part. after that was pretty solid I took the sectioned off front hair and lightly draped it around the teased bumps so it's looked smooth and then took the rest of that separated hair and tiwsted it down the sides. Then I gathered the two twist into a ponytail at the nape of the neck, it honestly just took a lot of finagling and even by then end it looked kinda funny when I put it on my head. I remember thinking it looked fine on the wig head then when I put it on it looked like a raccoon hat :P. But once I tried it on with the dress it just worked so don't get discouraged.

Shirt: I made the shirt but honestly if you're trying to save time that's the easiest thing to go out and buy, If you want things to help in your search I would try keywords like "3/4" and/or "bishop" sleeve "white" "Blouse" or "tunic". I just threw the dress right over mine and a bought one would work in the same manner.

Dress: I'm not sure what you have access to as far as sewing goes. but I can tell you what I used. The pattern I used was McCalls M6027 though I also considered Simplicity Amazing Fit 1537 which may be better if you don't want the extra princess seems to be as apparent. The only alterations I made on the McCalls was making the skirt longer, squaring off the neck line and switching out the normal back zipper for an invisible one.

As far as fabric, I went with something that was a bit heavier since I wanted the dress to have some structure and some light stretch. It's all kind of up to personal preference.

Other notes: I love the purse book idea! one of the things I adored about this cosplay was that the book was such an easy prop to have, and everyone was always excited to see that I had one. The basket is also amazing for carrying things while remaining in character...just throw some fabric in there to cover up your phone and wallet and your good to go.

If you do go with a fabric that's in the light blue range as opposed to the typical teal blue that most cosplayers use, be prepared to be mistaken for Dorthy from wizard of oz a few times...especailly if you have a basket :)

The underskirt is a nice touch but I don't think you need it for this cosplay, I plan to make one eventually but currently I just wear it with out.

I hope at least some of that info helps...

Feel free to pm me if you have any questions you think I could help with and either way, I would love to see pictures once your finished!
GOOD LUCK!

We used "Patternmaking for Fashion Design" by Helen Joseph-Armstrong for our first patternmaking class and reference it all the way through our senior design classes. It's an awesome reference book--almost any project/design I've had I've been able to find the alteration I've wanted in this book, or at least the basic starting point. It has a LOT of information/ideas, so sometimes jumping into more advanced techniques can be a bit daunting if you haven't learned or at the very least read through the basics. I haven't purchased and used them yet, but if you're looking for some cooler patterning techniques I've heard both first hand from classmates and in general online that the Pattern Magic books are amazing.

For draping we used "Draping Basics" by Sally Di Marco. I think this book is a good reference, but my professor thought it wasn't the most beginner-friendly. I didn't struggle with it throughout my classes and think it's great, but it can be a bit dense to read through if you don't have a teacher/person demonstrating the technique in front of you and have no previous draping experience. Again, great reference and has tons of info, just takes a tad more effort if you've never sewn or draped before before you pick up on the terminology/patterns of what they're doing.

The last really good book I'd recommend is "Professional Sewing Techniques" by Julie Cole/Sharon Czachor. newbies to sewing may need to Google some terms now and then, but it's perfect for all the little details--all the different types of pockets and how to sew them, different methods of creating tucks and pleats, etc. Say I know I want a specific detail, like a cuffed sleeve: I can look it up and see all the different ways they do it in the industry (all of which are easily doable on a home sewing machine) and see all the subtle differences those techniques make. For costuming, it can help you be more accurate and it's great to see all the variations laid out in front of you. It also makes a massive difference in how professional things end up looking.

TL;DR The three books in the links above should have you covered for flat patterning, draping, and all the little details that make your costume/clothing look professional and well-finished. Knowing at least the basics of sewing is recommended for the draping book, but the rest of the terminology used in all three beginners should be able to Google and understand no problem!

(Edit: formatting)

Congrats on wanting to pick up sewing! It's a great hobby that gives joy (and frustration) and I hope you stick with it. It's amazingly rewarding!

If you've never sewn anything before, I would highly recommend taking a class or buying an instruction book that shows you the basics of garment construction and fit. I also concur that you should make this out of practice material (old bed sheet, modified Goodwill coats, etc). For inspiration, also check out the Great British Sewing Bee. They did a couple episodes on making coats that were phenomenal!

Something else will be making sure that your machine can handle the thickness of this fabric. Especially in the corners the bulk can add up. I assume this is lined from the photo and that just adds more fabric to handle.

Looks like Vogue has some patterns similar to what you might be looking for: https://www.amazon.com/Vogue-Patterns-Jacket-Templates-40-42-44-46/dp/B00E8CAPQK/

Good luck and please let us know of your progress and if you have any questions!

New Complete Guide to Sewing for general sewing techniques.

For tailoring men's clothes, Classic Tailoring Techniques (and women's.)

For pattern drafting, Winnifred Aldrich has a great line of books.
There's also Fundamentals of Men's Fashion Design, casual and tailored. As well as Patternmaking for Fashion Design.

For corsets, Waisted Efforts and The Basics of Corset Building are good.

For making shirts, Shirtmaking.

For learning to sew stretch/knit fabrics, Sew U: Home Stretch is pretty good.

And for just having a bunch of fun with patterns, the Pattern Magic series is plain awesome. I think there's three of them out now.

Edit: thought of more!

The Art of Manipulating Fabric is great. And www.threadsmagazine.com as well as the corresponding print publication.

Men's Fashion in the middle of the 16th Century Venice

Women's Fashion from roughly the same time

My favorite 16th C Italian Resource

I'd use the doublet version of this pattern for a doublet. Ignore the skirt parts of the pattern, and just cut out the doublet. I think you have to draft out the princess seams, if I remember correctly, but that's not terribly difficult. You might want to make stays to go under - there is another Simplicity pattern, 2621, that is excellent.

For trousers, there is a pair for women in Patterns of Fashion 4. They are embroidered and Venetian courtesans often wore trousers beneath their gowns. They were very similar in shape, as far as anyone can tell, to men's trousers in the same era. Really, just take any basic pant pattern, make the legs straight rather than tapered, cut them off at the knee, and gather the legs up into a cuff. Just make sure you don't sew all the way down the seam - leave a slight opening so you can button them or tie them properly.

Since you do rapier, how do you feel about wearing skirts? You can tie them or hitch them up pretty high (I've easily seen just below the knee in period paintings from England and Germany). Also, you can really have fun, make a Venetian gown with an open front and have just the trousers underneath - full Venetian Courtesan!

I don't know if you have found anything yet, but I'm also working on the costume and for the jacket/cape, I used this pattern. I think it has been discontinued, as I had to get it online, so get it quick if you still need it. For the skirt, I haven't started on it yet, I planned to just add up my waist measurement, seam allowances, and the spacing for the pleats to come up with the amount of fabric I need. There should be tutorials on waistbands online if you need help with that. I'm posting progress pictures on my tumblr, feel free to check it out.
I've also looked at Sayunie's pictures on Instagram. She has a lot of great ideas.
I hope this helps.

I think part of it is that I’m not aware of this being taught in trade schools. Take this with a grain of salt, because my experience is with theater costuming in middle, high school, and college (including designing costumes for a play), home sewing, and historical re-enactment, but my major was neuroscience in college, so my knowledge is less extensive than a fashion major.

I have been sewing; however, for more than two decades.

That being said, Rosika Parker’s The Subversive Stitch makes a pretty good argument for the historic devaluing of sewing during the Middle Ages with concurrent social movements to restrict female power.

Here’s my perception of the hierarchies in the different careers and the education requirements (see further down)

1. fashion designer
   
2. line/season/show manager
   
3. higher level seamstress (might manage a couple outfits)
   
4. likely more layers of hierarchy
   
5. underlings (actually sewing the outfit parts)
   
   .
   
   
6. costume designer
   
7. levels of hierarchy (sorry)
   
8. underlings (actually doing most of the sewing)
   
   Here’s what I’m aware of for schooling (skewed because my experience is at a four year university)
   
   

• four year universities have majors in fashion design (which includes flat and dress model pattern drafting as well as rendering the patterns and concept art online), costuming (similar to fashion design but with more of a theater focus), and theater management (which includes designing concept art for plays, choosing and altering costumes, hair, and makeup)
  
  
• whatever the name for the fashion design seamstresses who manage an outfit for a fashion designer’s show is a one year masters program after four year university (for more info check out Zoe Hong on YouTube)
  
  
• theater set work (including costume making and alteration; not management) and (less sure for this) the actual sewing and embroidery work for fashion design is more of an apprenticeship area of work. You get hired already knowing how to sew and then receive on the job training to meet the costume designer’s standard (for theater and fashion design)
  
  
• and then there’s the tangential stuff like preserving and repairing historical garments for museums (likely masters maybe grad school) or working at historical sites like Jamestown, Williamsburg, etc. which from my understanding are also more of an apprenticeship (William & Mary undergrads are allowed to do this for the summer, so a college degree is not required)
  
  You might have better luck hunting down your local theater (you might be able to do this with fashion designer houses too; no idea) and asking for the required qualifications to be hired.
  
  For historical costuming, try an apprenticeship or membership with your local re-enactment society or SCA
  
  For learning how to sew (may not include pattern drafting, rendering patterns digitally, or concept art generation) try your local sewing machine service shop (search vacuum service shops too because they overlap).
  
  Here are some books to recommend:
  
  Fashion:
  
  For someone who already sews
  
  Here are ones I feel I have to include, but they’re kind of impractical:
  
  
  
• Patternmaking for fashion design by Helen Joseph Armstrong (textbook; too expensive to just buy)
  
  
• Draping for Apparel Design by Helen Joseph Armstrong (textbook; too
  
  Here are cheaper options
  
  
• Transformative Reconstruction by Shingo Sato
  
  
• Pattern Magic by Tomoko Nakamichi
  
  For learning to sew
  
  
• The Singer Complete Photo Guide to Sewing
  
  
• I don’t recommend Gertie Sews books for beginners because several of the patterns are misdrafted, also ignore older (pre mid 2000s) Burda Patterns because the seam allowances are wrong or inconsistent between patterns
  
  Historical Reconstruction
  
  For someone who already sews:
  
  
• Patterns of Fashion series by Janet Arnold
  
  
• Copies of historical fashion magazines like La Mode Universelle Ilustree (in French) and Harpers Bazaar are sold on EBay. They are only in one size and therefore require pattern drafting and alteration knowledge to use.
  
  
• Reconstructing History
  
  
• Laughing Moon

Eep! A week and no response, so you're down to two weeks!

Why not just buy the hakama online? There are other shops available, a quick Google search will turn them up. If you are confident that you can sew your hakama yourself in two weeks, I found a pattern for one. You can even modify the Kataginu pattern for your haori. If not, a plain white under kimono (or even a cotton, non-terrycloth bathrobe) can be painted on with fabric paint.

For that visor? Find similarly shaped plastic sunglasses/protective goggles, preferably in a light color, and spray paint them. Go easy on the lenses so you can see through them...unless you don't mind being blinded.

Here's a wig that will work, though it will need styling. Wig styling is not my area of expertise, so I can't help you there. I can't really see the boots in the arrancar picture, but in the captain picture, they just look like plain white boots.

Best of luck to you, this seems like a pretty tough project to get done in so short a time frame, but this is totally doable.

[EDIT]: I should amend this.

It's totally doable...if you can afford it. With cosplay, things take time and money. Now, you can substitute some time for some money, and some money for some time, but the less time you have the more money you'll need to spend. And you'll never be able to completely be rid of one or the other - every costume will take at least some time and some money.

It seems the more I read dress forms, the more confused I am.

I saw some very cheap ones on Amazon and Ebay, described as "tailors dummies" and they do seem to me like they would do the trick (description claims they're pinnable polystyrene).

My shape and measurements are pretty standard, I don't struggle to find clothes that fit etc., so it should be easy to pad it to customise it.
Am I missing something? Obviously I'm not talking about using them for any large scale or super frequent sewing - I was hoping it would make it easier to make stuff for myself, especially since I don't have anyone to help me fit myself.

This is the kind of thing I'm talking about:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dressmaking-Mannequin-Tailors-Dressmakers-Display/dp/B009RON2B4/

Yes, I used this pattern from amazon

I am going to make another with modifications. The pattern I have goes up to the nipples so can't wear it alone really, I will make one with an inch or so more. But it's a great starting point. Very solid pattern. I really couldn't follow the instructions...they were impossible to follow but I am good at putting things together so I just did that. I honestly don't know if I made it "correctly" but it certainly looks good.

Are you trying it again because you think you messed up on this one? You certainly did NOT mess up on this one. It's gorgeous! I wish I had the skills to do it. Maybe I'll try that tutorial you linked. In any case, it's definitely a job well done on your part :)!

 

My grandma on my dad's side was full Japanese and told me about this style of bodice and mentioned Tomoko Nakamichi's (the creator of this style of bodice) book called Pattern Magic way back in 2010 when the book came out. She bought the book but I have no clue where it went after she died. My grandma wasn't a seamstress by trade but she did enjoy sewing and would always support Japanese designers lol. I don't know how she heard about Tomoko Nakamichi's book but I'm glad she did so I could share it with you years later lol.

I'm in the Athens area and in the same boat as well, working on a bosysuit! I'd recommend seeing if Community downtown has any suggestions for borrowing or renting a sewing machine. I know they offer sewing classes (for a fee) so they may be able to help in your search.

For other tips, someone already mentioned Yaya Han's bodysuit pattern and I'll recommend this Kwik Sew pattern, it's a popular go-to pattern for catsuits/bodysuits.

Also, cosplaytutorials has some great resources as well. Definitely create a mock-up before using your real fabric, bodysuits are difficult.

You can find patterns pretty easily online if you or someone you know can sew. If you search for something like "18th century men's cloak" you might find a reenactor's site like this one that sells something like it. Maybe with shows like Turn and the popularity of Hamilton we'll start seeing some 18th century fashion come back in one form or another. Fingers crossed!

Using a dress pattern for the first time (with cheap-o fabric as a sort of trial run, but hopeful it may turn out wearable!) and I am mostly sure that I'll want the dress a few inches shorter than the pattern as I've found photos/tutorials of folks who have made the same pattern online who have made this change. Would you shorten the pattern to begin with or make it as recommended and then hem shorter? It is the Simplicity 1609 Jiffy Dress, if that matters. So excited to move away from pillows and curtains and try something wearable!

I think These look really nice! And I would love this! Thanks for the contest :)

I love my job

I volunteer at the local nursing home with a few of my colleagues. One of my colleagues is this 40 year old guy who decided to go back to college, I'll call him Pat.

Pat and I are helping a patient get into bed, and before we leave the room he looks at the occupant's name tag on the room and gets this shit eating grin on his face, but nevertheless, we leave silently.


In the elevator I just stare at him, and before I ask what his problem was, Pat starts GIGGLING LIKE A FUCKNUT and just repeating "Del-ay.. Del-AY.. DEL-AY!!" over and over again.


At this point I just lose it and we are both laughing, and Pat falls on the floor and is still yelling "DEL-AY", tears in his eyes.


The elevator opens to a lower level and Pat can't get out because he has been reduced to a convulsing mass on the floor, choking on his laughter. Some nurses just stare at us until the door closes, and we descend to the ground floor.


The next day I'm on the same floor as we were on before, and I check the room tag. It turns out the guys name was actually Delli, I had never seen that before, but I have no idea why Pat thought it was so hilarious. It was just completely unexpected I would share such an unrestrained moment with a seemingly nonchalant stranger who was about 40 years old.

Sorry I'm not the best at telling stories, and nothing really happens at nursing homes that's funny- just cute and maybe a bit sad. http://www.amazon.com/Vintage-Butterick-Little-Ornament-Pattern/dp/B00CVDF76Q/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=1HDUAZPRVGF3T&coliid=IEOKPHAE4HF3F

Pretty sewing things c:

You should get your mom something like this or this!

Myself, I would love this.

What a great way to use the community! :D

Enjoy! Nothing quite like a sloth rocking out on a poorly-drawn guitar while wearing basic plate... right?

Happy birthday! Hope you're having a day as awesome as you are!

Also, I don't know if you were including shipping with that $3, so here's my pick

I love it! Isn't it funny how 90s clothes had ZERO spandex and yet a lot of fancy design details? I'm so glad I sew!

​

Good luck on your hunt! Doesn't seem to go cheaper than $20, for now. On Amazon

I'm a little late to this discussion but I'm a plus size girl and I've recently become serious about altering patterns for myself. I ran across a book called Sewing for Plus Sizes by Barbara Deckert about a year or so ago. She also has a class on Craftsy.com that I discovered about a month after I bought the book. I recommend both.

For me they took the scary out of altering patterns and fitting. Also I got really excited about sewing clothes for myself as I'm no longer limited to buying plus size patterns, she shows how to alter any size pattern, as plus size patterns seem to be limited and most won't fit my 60" hips anyway I might as well alter something I really want to wear. The book/class also addresses something that CrankyWife brought up and that's shape. Finding the styles that flatter your shape, bring out your best features and are most comfortable really is key. Don't give up!

I got the pattern second hand but here it is on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Butterick-Patterns-B5497-Misses-14-16-18-20/dp/B005QSRSSI

Here's the flamingo print too in case anybody is interested :)
http://www.joann.com/novelty-cotton-fabric-44in-flamingos-on-cream/15518749.html

hahaha....I was just browsing Amazon and came across [this] (http://www.amazon.com/Simplicity-Sewing-Pattern-Misses-Jogging/dp/B0038IDNB4/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1377794936&sr=8-11&keywords=jogging+pants+for+women) hahaha. Some day our kids will look back on our fashion and laugh just as hard as I am laughing at this.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1561585513/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Searching my amazon history for the win!

Actually, the series I was thinking of was Pattern Magic. But they all look good.

Pattern Magic by Tomoko Nakamichi