Udemy Pattern Drafting Class Review & Drafting Discussion

Like most of you probably do, I get a lot of ads on social media for Udemy, Domestika, Craftsy, etc. I finally got an offer I couldn’t refuse, an introductory pattern drafting class for $17 or so. So I signed up, only to discover it was only an hour of content, and largely an ad for the instructor’s YouTube channel and website. But, it did have a couple of useful tips, I suppose. So I completed the hour and got a certificate, hooray for me:

I did like the instructor’s style very much, and have since subscribed to his YouTube channel, but I won’t be in a hurry to pay for any more Udemy classes. It did prompt me to buy a kit with some additional curve rulers and such for pattern drafting, and a pattern notcher:

This was all purchased on Amazon as I couldn’t find all the items from a single local/Canadian seller. I did already have a smaller set of French curves from Staples, but they don’t have measurements marked on them, and I didn’t have a hip curve. In addition, I’ve fixed up my adjustable dress form to current measurements, she’s wearing a bra similar to my current fav, and I’m planning to make a bodice sloper so that I can hopefully adjust future patterns with it.

For my particular body, regardless of what size I happen to be, I nearly always have too much fabric in the neckline of clothes, probably because most patterns are drafted for a smaller cup size than I wear, so to go around the largest part of me, it makes everything else proportionally larger which I don’t necessarily need. That’s my hypothesis anyway. And from my Lutterloh dress-making, I discovered my bust point is at least 1-2″ lower than that particular pattern was drafted for which I assume has got to be a factor in RTW clothes as well. I also think I might have narrow or more sloped shoulders or something because I often find tank tops sliding off my shoulders, or the neckline just generally too wide, so this will be an interesting process. And that’s just from the waistline up! I believe I have a short torso from waist to crotch, proprtionally, but I’m also taller than average at 5’9″, so something like a one-piece RTW bathing suit is still always too short, and the cups are never in the right place. Oh and throw in long legs and arms for good measure – sleeves are never as long as I want, nor are pant legs. Basically I’m built nothing like the average woman’s body they draft patterns for, or use for RTW clothes. I’m convinced I’ve never had an article of clothing that fit me properly, based on what I’m coming to realize about fit.

Of course there is probably no one who fits the “average” exactly, but when I learned that many commercial patterns are drafted for a B cup and a height of like 5’5″, I started to understand a little bit more about why things may or may not look right even if they technically fit. I did just find this AMAZING chart on CSews for various pattern designers and the heights and cup sizes they draft for, in addition to overall size range. It makes sense to me that I loved the fit of the one thing I made from Style Arc, paper bag waist Ellen shorts, because if they’re drafted for 5’6″ the rise length is probably closer to mine, and I wouldn’t have noticed the legs being too short (in fact I shortened the shorts a lot when I made them.)

Anyway I’m rambling at this point. The big takeaway here is that I wouldn’t pay for another drafting class from Udemy personally, but I did like the instructor, and he recommended the Helen Joseph Armstrong pattern drafting book I already have a copy of, so I’m going to keep experimenting with drafting and take a crack at a drape for the first time using the principles he talked about, and hopefully get a few steps closer to clothes that actually fit!