Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Commercial Patterns & Made to Measure

Made to measure patterns are a one off pattern made to the specific measurements of a person, allowing for a more accurate fit than that of a commercial pattern.

Commercial patterns are produced from measurements based on what industry calls "Standard measurements". In Australia we have our own set of standard measurements, which may vary from other countries. From past experience whenever I have used a commercial pattern from Europe I found that their measurements were smaller than ours.

The most popular commercial patterns such as McCalls, Vogue, Simplicity have their headquarters in the United States. Therefore, I assume that these patterns are produced in the United States using their standard measurements.

Commercial patterns are produced from measurements set by industry professionals and may vary from time to time depending on what the fashion is at the time. Pattern Makers, Designers need these measurements to create new designs and patterns.

There are so many body shapes and sizes that the industry is not able to accomodate everyone. It would be impossible and costly for manufacturers and designers to try and produce clothing to satisfy anyone who is not considered to be of standard size .

I would suggest that for your own personal block development for you to take your own measurements and record them and compare them to the Australian standard measurments, thus enabling you to create your own personal blocks for which you could use time after time adjusting the design as you please. You would avoid alot of alterations this way ensuring a better fit everytime. Basic blocks are easy to create and are definitely the better alternative to commercial patterns for the home dressmaker and for others.

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