Selection of commercial patterns and Merits, Demerits

COMMERCIAL PATTERN:

Development of Commercial Patterns: Commercial patterns were first made, in U.S.A in the 1850's by Ebenezer biter of who was a tailor. In the beginning they were crude patterns in rough paper, for simple demonstration only. The first pattern was of men's and boys clothing Patterns for women and children were also developed later and became, available commercially. You may have seen fashion magazines like Vogue, McCall's Pictorial Simplicity etc. and their pattern books.

Commercial patterns are usually done on tissue Paper. Since tissue paper is not bulky, it allows many piece of pattern to be packed compactly in an envelope. In commercial patterns seam allowances are included for safety. Patterns of established companies are usually printed and marked clearly with straight grain lines. Seam lines, cutting lines, darts, centre lines and all the necessary construction details. Good patterns are carefully labeled with the following information; the pattern size, name of each pattern (back, front, sleeve etc), number of pieces to cut horn each pattern piece etc. In addition some companies provide instruction sheets explaining the steps involved in using the pattern to cutout the garment, transferring pattern markings, and constructing the garment.

In India there are very few concerns making paper patterns probably because there is not much demand for them. Unlike in foreign countries we have the facility to get our clothes custom tailored at fairly reasonable rates, housewives and woman who know a little bit of tailoring prefer to make their own patterns rather than buying expensive ready made patterns. This may be another reason for the lack of demand for commercial patterns.

1. Selection of commercial patterns:

Patterns for women's and children's garments are usually sized according to bust measurement. Pants and skirts are sized according to waist, hip and length measurements. Hence before selecting the pattern, you should take your body measurements accurately and buy the correct size. The measurements listed on the pattern envelope are the actual body measurements, (Note: The pattern pieces will be somewhat larger, since a certain amount of ease allowance is included. The amount of ease will vary with the manufacturer and the garment design).

2. Merits:

Reputed companies standardize their patterns after doing a lot of research and trying out the fit on models, if your measurements have the same proportions as for the standard size figure it would be simple to buy a Commercial pattern than to draft one yourself. So the Commercial pattern saves you time and of foil. It may even give a better fit than a home-made pattern if you are inexperienced.

3. Demerits:

Commercial patterns are expensive. Secondly patterns for different types of garments are not readily available in India, and good patterns are especially hard to get. For people whose measurements don't have the same proportions as the standard figure. Commercial patterns do not give fit without some alteration pattern alteration processes are rather complicated and may prove more laborious in practice than drafting pattern based on rarely be used more than once unless you copy it on to thick paper for further use.