Sewing: Patternmaking essentials course

If you’re a confident sewer ready to move beyond commercial patterns, this Patternmaking Essentials course will help you develop the skills to draft, fit, and refine garment patterns using your own measurements.

Designed as a practical introduction to patternmaking, you'll create skirt, bodice, and pant blocks that form the foundation of well-fitting garments. Working step by step, you'll learn how to draft patterns on paper, sew and assess toiles (prototype garments), and refine fit through careful adjustment and testing.

As your understanding grows, you'll discover how shaping, balance, and proportion influence garment fit. Your finished patterns will then be transferred onto durable cardboard blocks complete with seam allowances, hems, and construction markings, creating a personalised set of reusable templates you'll use again and again.

Combining technical skill-building with creative problem-solving, this course will help you become more confident, independent, and precise in your garment making. Small class sizes ensure plenty of individual guidance throughout the drafting and fitting process, helping you build practical patternmaking skills used across sewing, fashion, and garment design.

Course content

During the course, participants will be guided through key concepts, techniques and approaches that typically include:

Lesson 1: Drafting and fitting a skirt block

• Taking accurate body measurements

• Drafting a skirt block on paper

• Cutting the pattern in calico and constructing a toile

• Fitting the toile and making adjustments

• Transferring the final pattern onto a cardboard block with seam allowances and hems

Lesson 2: Drafting and fitting a bodice block

• Drafting a bodice block using personal measurements

• Creating and fitting a toile

• Refining the pattern through adjustments

• Transferring the final pattern onto a cardboard block with construction markings

Lesson 3: Drafting and fitting a pant block

• Drafting a pant block using your measurements

• Constructing and fitting a toile

• Making adjustments to improve fit

• Creating a finished cardboard block with all necessary markings

Lesson 4: Refinement and further patternmaking techniques

• Finalising skirt, bodice, and pant blocks

• Completing any unfinished work

• Checking and refining pattern fit

• Introduction to simple pattern adaptations such as pockets, waistbands, or sleeves, or commencing a personal patternmaking project

Intended audience

This course is designed for confident home sewists and creative makers who are ready to move beyond commercial sewing patterns and create garments tailored specifically to their own body.

It is ideal for anyone interested in developing professional patternmaking skills for dressmaking, fashion design, costume, or personal garment making.