Ever wondered how we make our patterns?

We are very excited to let you know we have a new pattern coming out next week!

It’s been an amazing process designing this one and I wanted to give you a little insight into all the people involved in making a Made My Wardrobe pattern come to life. 

Each MMW pattern starts out life as an idea in my head. I have an infinite number of things I would LOVE to make and those ideas are constantly brewing away until one bumps it way up to the top of the pile and becomes a priority. 

In this case it was a Swimsuit. 

When I design, I don’t sketch, I barely measure, I just draw the pattern out on paper creating shapes that look right to my eye based on years of making clothes to fit my body. Sometimes it works first time. Sometimes I have to make a few toiles. Once I’ve made the garment I wear it for a few weeks (or years) to see how it feels. If enough people tell me they would love to make something like that I start to think about turning it into a pattern. 

Then Jamilla our resident pattern cutter comes in and together we think creatively about how to refine the pattern so that it’s the best possible garment it can be. Made My Wardrobe has a series of blocks for different base garments which correlate to our size chart. We usually block the pattern to a size 12 then we sample it, refine it, sample it, refine it... In this case I made eight swimsuits before I was happy with every single aspect of the shape, style, fit and construction. 

When you finally nail it, it feels so good!

We then copy this design out on to card with seam allowances and notches and send it to Helen down in Cornwall. She is the most eagle eyed pattern cutter I know and has worked for some incredible designers. She measures and tests every single part of the pattern to check its consistent; the seams match up, the notches are in the right place, the proportions and the balance are in the right. Literally nothing can get past this woman, which is why I’m so grateful for her!

We then send the triple checked pattern to the graders to be graded digitally into sizes 6-24 (up until this stage everything is done using a pencil/paper by hand) I’ve never met our Pattern Grader Del in person but he is always the perfect level of charming and sarcastic on the phone. 

Once he has graded the pattern I ask him to print out a size 6, size 16 and size 24 and send it back to us on card. We then make up a sample of each of these sizes to check the grade has worked and not distorted the pattern in any way. We then try the pattern on two women from each size category. Based on these fittings I will then make any tweaks necessary to the original pattern or to the grade. In the case of the Swimsuit we added more coverage to the bust of the size 16+ so that fuller busts would feel secure when they were swimming. 

Once we have made these tweaks Del prints off the new file in all the sizes from 6-24. We then make a sample in every size and I try them on as many women as I can possibly find. The more shapes and types of bodies I can see the garment on the more I can think about how to help people get the best fit possible. 

Whilst we make the samples up Ana our Studio Manager will photograph every stage of the construction and send these images to our illustrator who is also called Lydia! She then turns the photographs into really clear illustrations for the instruction booklet. 

In the meantime I send the digital file from the the graders to Anna our Graphic Designer (yes we have two Annas and two Lydias on our team!) and she lays it all out beautifully so that you can print it at home and understand what each piece is. 

Next up I work out lay plans for each of the size brackets in order for everyone to get the most economical use of fabric. Minimal waste is the name of the game in this family. 

Then I compile all this information, illustrations and instructions in to one beautifully presented booklet that becomes your guide when making the garment. I try to make it as clear and beginner-friendly as possible. 

Then it all comes together when we do a photoshoot and see the garment on lots of different women. In this case our photographer Tasha worked with 6 models in order to show how the garment looked on a range of shapes. This bit always feels magical!

I then send the photos to Anna our graphic designer who designs the stickers that go on our envelopes and I add lots of photos to the instruction booklet too. 

Once everything has been checked and checked again the file is signed off and ready to go to the printers or converted into a PDF for you to print at home.

And then it’s ready for all of you to sew!

The number of hours that go into making a pattern work out at roughly..

Lydia (Design, Project Management) = 80

Jamilla (Pattern Cutting, Sampling) = 24

Ana (Sampling, Documenting) = 24

Helen (Pattern Cutting, Checking) = 6

Del (Grading) = 8

Anna (Graphic Design) = 8

Lydia B (Illustration) = 8

Tasha (Photography) = 7

15 Models (To check fit and photograph) = 15

= 172 hours!

Approximate cost of paying all these wonderful folk and producing a pattern = £3978

I think what I’ve realised is that you have to really love clothes and love people’s bodies in order to do what we do. At Made My Wardrobe we are trying to make folk feel like making their own clothes is a viable, sustainable and more joyful alternative to fast fashion. We have to really believe that the garment we are designing is the best possible option for folks to make and wear.

We are really proud of this one and we hope you love it too. So without further a do, our next pattern will be the Freya Swimsuit, dropping next week!