How to sell sewing patterns online
Creating a PDF Sewing Pattern Line: Behind the scenes of an indie pattern maker
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everyone this video is going to be a bit
different than my normal saying this
because some of you already know I'm
about to actually launch my first
garment sewing party ila leggings and
that pad will be out on November the
14th which is basically just about a
week away now there's still some things
to do for sure I'm not it hasn't done
they're always things that needs to be
check double check but I'm getting
really really close and that is actually
what I want to talk about in today's
video which is to share with you guys
the step that gives in to developing
upon when you're starting from scratch
and perhaps you are thinking about
developing your own paddle someday
oh just curious of what it actually
takes so I thought I'd just take you
through all the steps that I've been
processing now developing this pattern
and also last year I launched three
accessories selling pants video patterns
so I got my feet wet last year
developing this so this is basically my
collective experience now as you might
understand I'm definitely not kind of a
super experience when it comes to
developing PDF buttons because this is
actually only my fourth pattern but I
thought that was actually a valuable
thing because what I can share with you
guys is basically I'm just a couple of
steps in front of someone who's just
starting out which I think if you're
doing it for a lot of years sometimes
easy to forget the basics but hopefully
because I'm still so fresh in this I
will be able to remember to share with
you all that sort of stuff that goes
into developing your pattern so let's
start and look into all the different
steps it takes I know first step when
creating a path is to do the actual
pattern Rosie now I will talk like a ton
about that in this video because such a
massive topic but if you curious to
learn more about you can check out the
videos I've done about pattern making
and of course there are lots of books
and great resources both here on YouTube
you know a whole over length and you
will find great information about
dropping your pattern and I also
recommend that you take a class which
I've been taking two different classes
in pattern making getting started but
it's definitely like a process and just
because you take
we can floss or night evening class in
pattern making to expect here we become
super efficient it it's more like an
introduction I think the learning is
basically when you start doing and I've
actually been making my own patterns
since the 8th is so I think about
doctoring my first pattern almost 30
years ago and I still feel that I have
lots and lots of lots of learn so as I
say it's not like a quick process some
people figure it out faster than I do
but I think the most important thing is
to do a lot of experimenting and also
understand that you won't really nail it
at the first try even though you are you
know following the rules and doing all
the right things so what I'm trying to
say if the pattern maker is kind of
complex so that's why it's also
important to take your time when you're
developing a new pattern one thing
that's really important to think about
if you're drafting Pamela you plan to
sell is that you shouldn't really draft
it for yourself only
so you basically need to figure out a
size that you're dropping for them it's
difficult to make suppose it fits you
you like but at some point you need to
figure out what your sizing system will
be and your side shot by the way I've
done a video about password you can
check out in the description section but
that is a really good starting point for
instance when I developed this pattern I
decided on the size 38 that's my base so
I developed that and made sure that it
fits within the site shows I had in mind
also of course it helps that I am
similar to a size 38 in a lot of
Ridgewell but remember that I am a very
short person so I have to do quite a
substantial amount of alterations to
make God's fit so I had to ignore that
fact and draft a pattern for a person
that is much taller than myself which is
one of the reasons that it can be a
little bit dangerous I think they're
just being very focused on yourself and
creating something for your own body
because sometimes you know that is very
personal thing you need to find like
sweet spot but can actually fit a larger
range of people so that's why you kind
of have to like figure out what is the
size that you're a drafting for and what
size range do you plan to use what
to film your base pattern in your base
size then it is time to get this paved
product into a computer so you can start
with the digital process the first step
is to figure out how do I send this to
the computer a couple of different
weights are doing it I think the most
common ones are either then you scan the
pan and then obviously have to create
like sections because obviously most
part pieces will be much larger than
your average scanner another way is to
take a photo like flat photo
modak habit when it comes to taking flat
photo is that lots of cameras will
slightly distort the image to do the
lens which means that you might have to
check that when you're actually using
the digital photo later on because you
have to make sure that there is not some
type of distortion happening which can
obviously influence on how the pattern
looks ok so now we have the file inside
the computer it's a photo or it's a
compilation of several scanned image but
how do I turn that into the pattern well
there has been like a workaround for
people like myself that is not a digital
pan maker I don't have access to the
tools nor to have a knowledge but a lot
of people now are using Adobe
Illustrator which is a vector-based
program from the Adobe Creative Cloud
and the good thing about this program is
that a kind is similar to like making
programs in the way that you create
vector graphics you can scale you can
move around and also I would say the
probably any type of CAD software can do
something similar but I would say that
perhaps a new illustrator has now become
like the standard for a lot of
independent companies when you sort of
transforming that photograph or that
scan file into digital pattern of course
you can also actually draw off the
pattern from scratch inside of Adobe
Illustrator which I actually deal with
these idle ladies because because it's
not like a very complex pattern in terms
of
pieces that goes together I actually
found that I didn't really need to do
that I can just drop from scratches
using grid where I settled for the
measurements and then I dropped it just
using the curves inside of Adobe
Illustrator but if you have a photo you
need to basically trace over it using
the illustration tools that you have in
Adobe Illustrator and I can have to take
a little time I think again you will
find it or that as well and I also know
that there is I think there are some
classes you can take educational
programs on how to do this it definitely
takes a lot of time it definitely
requires some practice so again don't
expect that this will be like a very
smooth ease process as for my background
I have been doing a graphic design
computer-aided graphic design for over
20 years so I have a lot of experience
using the Adobe suite and it also has a
certain has a lot of experience with
pattern making still to be honest it was
really really hard to learn this process
and trying to figure it out by myself
probably because I I didn't have like
any much reference reference material
how can I learn everything myself which
ah yeah it definitely took a lot of time
figure all this stuff out
I'm sure if you buy one of those classes
or perhaps there's some other resources
you can use you would probably spend
less time with this learning process
than I did but if you're unused usually
so probably definitely expect there will
be a quite a steep learning curve again
that's with everything else though once
you invest the time in it sooner or
later you know it's not to make sense
and you will see those improvements as
we're grading well that it's definitely
a beast I think more so me personally I
decided that this is not a journey I
should go on because that it's
definitely outside the scope of my
knowledge when it comes to pattern
making and I don't want to be a pattern
have messy stuff the sizing specially
says I plan to make a path with ten
sizes and I was like this is so not
something I want to do that said I know
that you can find a way of doing
like trailing steps within Illustrator
but again remember it's not a program
that it's designed to great patterns so
you definitely need I think to do some
lip hacking in order to do this properly
but I know people do it so Stefon doable
but because I didn't want to mess things
up and I also realized from the research
I did it'll be this way it's really
clunky too for grading I decided that I
was going to enlist the help of a
professional so that's what I did I had
connected with the pattern maker here in
Sweden she's called Molly and I of
course link to her as well
she's also developing her own pattern
sewing pattern line so she understands
both water so she supposed to understand
the red where will and she also had the
perspective of us home service I thought
she was perfect for this type of talk so
I enlisted her and you know she did the
grading a her professional program in
just a matter of hours which to be
honest had literally taking me weeks to
figure out and not just that I would
probably also have messed things up so
if I were to give you an advice even if
you're doing this on a shoestring
definitely see if you can punch it in
using a professional grader if you're
developing comment because that's
probably we save you so much time and
also be much more assured regarding the
quality of your grading especially if
this is not something you have
experienced with previously as I said I
knew people who get this done anyways
but I would not take that risk
personally that's in my opinion but I
just definitely think there's something
you should consider so I go to file back
from Melina and I was able to input that
into the illustrator and then the next
big process stones which is basically
creating sizes with all the markings to
formatting for PDF to create a grid so
that when you print it out it looks nice
and are easy to assemble this took me
forever pretty much I have to
and I was actually surprised along
YouTube because as I said I have a lot
of experience with graphic design I am
very versed especially in using the
sister program to the illustration which
is Adobe InDesign I understand that well
I also I'm pretty good at Adobe
Illustrator but I still struggle a lot
trying to find the best system for this
now I'm really happy with what I
accomplished when I'm with the finished
product but this was definitely a big
learning curve for me to create that
great looking grid and also making sure
that everything like flowed together the
layout and all that stuff we do when
using it in real estate is that you use
odd force odd force a look similar to
pages and what you do is that you settle
on the size of the printed rectangle you
know the rectangle that usually it's a
bit smaller than the actual paper and
has a line around it that our board is
what would be the actual like pattern
size of when you're gluing all the
pampies together so it's not like a full
page especially tricky because obviously
we have different pattern paper sizes
and even possible world here in Sweden
we used a four I knew that in North
America use letter right from other
countries as well so that's definitely
one of the struggles you need to figure
out so you have to sell on the sides
that is smaller than a letter so you
still have the printer margins as well
but the magnetic both of our ports is
that when you print out the pattern the
PDF actually understands that this is
just smaller size even if you really
need to figure out is how to create that
grid of the lines around it and you know
all the markers that would tell the
serviced on how to piece all the Pampas
together all that stuff well that took a
long time to me to figure out the best
way of doing it I'm a house unhappy with
my workflow but I definitely thinking
that I was able to create a really good
consistent like layout don't think of
all the time and also I decide to do
layers which means that each size has a
separate layer so you don't really have
to print out all the sizes if you just
want to make one size and creating
sweet which is something I know that a
lot of people appreciate these days also
I have developed copy shop Merson which
is a large-scale version as well because
I know more and more people actually
using a large gate printer because you
know pay gluing together pdf pattern
pages well there looks way more fun
things to spend your time about it's
usually it's harder storage as well so
it does make sense if you're able to
have like a large scale printer I can
definitely see why that would be much
more attractive options than using your
home printer with those tiny papers so
that's why I actually designed two
different type of PDF one version for
the copy shop and one version for our
home printing tools and in PDF files
right you also need to create the
instructions now within this sewing
pattern movement I can definitely say
that the bar has been raised when it
comes expectations on how the
instructions looks like so a lot of
Industry patent companies they have very
detailed instructions with clear
step-by-step illustrations either
using photography or technical
illustrations that is definitely
different from the world I grew up in
here Europe where a lot of us learned so
you see the various pairs instructions
in German patent magazine which
spacecrafts which is super the pieces
together you've done so that that's a
very very big difference and of course
because as I said the expectations of
ended soon patent company is very
detailed instructions this is like
premium product so if my advice I think
that you really should spend your time
with the instruction because that's
basically where the expectations lies at
this point in in the business of
independent companies so I decided to
put a lot of effort into my structures
so I actually use technical
illustrations for most of the
instructions but there are couple of
things a couple of steps in my process
that actually it's better teach using
photos combined with industry
so I love this as well I just was
interested in basically in finding the
best way depending on what type of
assembly process it was but mainly I did
lots and lots of technical illustrations
I think over food if 40 foot in stations
again I am NOT illustrator by any means
I as I said my background is graphic
design war but I think after a little
bit of you know training in an
experiment they are thinking and came to
pretty good press when it comes to
developing this and again that I also
deal in Australia now of course it's
also there's always a debate on are you
carrying tissues photos or are you going
to choose technical illustrations for
your instructions I will say the general
consensus is that more so specialty
illustrations over photos but it also
depends on what you are able to produce
basically because for some people it
will just be a too big of a struggle to
develop technical illustrations and then
I think probably taking very good
helpful photos will actually be a good
option as well so you don't have to feel
like you have to do take illustrations
just in order to release a patent but
you can also do something which I have
done for a couple of techniques in for
my sewing parties that have actually
combined photos with some graphics and
technical illustrations just to make
sure that everything is like the best
possible way of sharing it I really like
that method but for the most part I did
technical illustrations another benefit
of the administration's I would say over
photos is that a lot of people will
print out the instructions and of course
if you can't do it with using
illustration that saves a lot of ink
again that could be something to
consider but as I said if you can't you
know hack it with illustration I would
definitely say go for the focus but see
if you can just add a little bit of
graphics just to clear some of the
things that perhaps aren't as clear when
you're just using photos and I'm still
in the process I'm doing the final
tweaks now before I am about to launch
my cabin which I'm very excited about as
I said
the 14 that's where it's all happening
you can also get on my email list and
you will be notified when it's on sale
and of course I will also have more
information in the description section
and when the patent if out I will do a
video about that too so you can see and
learn more about that pattern and see if
it's something for you I really hope you
enjoy this video I figure have any more
questions about developing PDF patterns
and the process gives bound the scene I
love to know so please ask in the
comment section and I hope to enjoy this
video
stick safe and I'll see you next time
