Copy your clothes Series

The Copy Your Clothes Skills Kit starts with the basics, covering the exact tools and techniques required (and how to use them), and then walks you through garment tutorials of increasing complexity - a basic T-shirt, a button-up shirt and pants - to show you how to apply them.

And the best part? You don’t have to pull the garment apart to copy it!

If you’re keen to add more patternmaking skills to your sewing repertoire (or just make a start), this is the project for you.

Skills covered in this Kit

• How to use a French curve
• Checking & truing patterns
• Change the amount of ease in a sleeve cap
• Adding seam allowance
• Marking notches
• Truing darts
• Adding pattern markings
• Drafting additional pieces, such as button plackets, slash pockets, straight waistbands, in-seam pockets, patch pockets, sleeve cuffs, neck ribbing etc.
• Making a toile and sewing your designs.
  

Specific tutorials include copying: 

• A basic T-shirt
• A button-up shirt
• Pants
• Garments with darts, tucks and/or gathers.

The Make It Your Own Skills Kit, will help you turn your patterns and wardrobe ideas into truly unique-to-you garments.

Through a number of prompts we’ll help you consider the different areas of each garment to determine if fit adjustments are needed or style alterations desired.

Then we’ll show you how to apply a range of professional patternmaking techniques and skills to achieve the exact look you’re after. Use the resource to personalise patterns you’ve drafted from a ready-to-wear garment, or a pattern from your stash!

Skills you will learn

• Altering garment fit through grading and darts
• Dart manipulation 
• Panel lines - horizontal, princess, curved and variations
• Changing a garment's shape - length, fit, removing sleeves, adjusting armholes, waist height
• Adding volume
• Drafting facings

As always, these tutorials have been created so you can use them over and over and adapt them to any project you like.

The adjustments are supported by a range of tutorials that cover everything you need to know about tracing patterns, marking notches, adding seam allowances, and checking and truing patterns and darts.

Difficulty

Copy Your Clothes Skills Kit 

As the process of copying a garment is probably new to most sewists, we’ve started with a basic garment to give you an overview of the process from beginning to end and allow you to familiarise yourself with the skills required.

We then introduce a new technique in each of the following tutorials so you can gradually build your skills towards being able to copy any garment in your wardrobe. Whatever your skill level, this is a resource that will help you build on the sewing skills you already have.

Make It Your Own Skills Kit 

We've created a range of different fitting tutorials and hacks that you can apply to patterns you’ve drafted from ready-to-wear garments, or any pattern in your stash. They have been designed so that no matter what your patternmaking experience is, there will be something for you. 

We recommend starting small and building on your skills one adjustment or hack at a time. This approach will stop you getting overwhelmed or confused. As you take time to fully understand and correctly apply the techniques and skills you’re learning, you can be confident that you will love the process and finished garments all the more!