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« on: April 08, 2021, 10:43:25 AM »
As others have said, initially drafting doesn’t let you off the fitting hook. You draft a block to your personal measurements, but then need to sew it up in calico, fit it ( don’t overfit!) and transfer any alterations back to the block. After this stage, which can be slow and tedious if you don’t have a fitting buddy, you have the means to draft styles and know that they will fit, usually without further fitting hours.
What drafting doesn’t do is guarantee that you will be pleased with every aspect of the design, so you may still find yourself modifying your first stab at a pattern. That bit has been done for you when you buy a pattern. For example, how much gathering in the layers? All of the bust dart used in neck gathers, or just some of it? How deep and in what proportions the tiers.
To start drafting you need basic maths and good accuracy and an eye for shapes. I used to think it was a walk in the park until in teaching it I met students who couldn’t eyeball lines and shapes or recognise a right angle when they saw it, and some who couldn’t figure how an asymmetric line had to go as it wrapped round the body.
I would encourage anyone to learn drafting because I find fitting other people’s patterns a PITA, but many brilliant dressmakers get along just fine and never want to embark on that journey.