Drafting Garment Patterns in Adobe Illustrator CC

Hello Everyone,

Adobe Illustrator is not a core application for garment pattern drafting. However, this application can become a lifesaver for small businesses.

In addition to creating technical garment drawings, textile prints, placement prints on garment details and so on, the program allows you drafting accurate garment details, manipulate patterns for new designs or create production patterns.

If you draft a garment base sloper once in Adobe Illustrator, you will be able to use this sloper many times for designing a new garment by pattern manipulation.

Look at several examples. In the picture below, you can see the basic torso sloper and the blouse front and back pattern details created by using this sloper.

It is very convenient to make a pattern plan in Adobe Illustrator before you begin the pattern manipulation. For example, in the picture below you can see the plan of the skirt with flounce based on the basic skirt pattern.

Then you can do the pattern manipulation and create the final pattern with seam allowances. The flounce skirt pattern is presented in the picture below.

After fitting the first sample garment, you can add all necessary changes to the pattern pieces and then create the production pattern for this garment.

If you scale the pattern pieces 4 times, you can make the layout on the right side of the fabric. It will help to calculate the exact amount of fabric needed for the garment. The fabric should be at the same scale as the pattern pieces.

The layout of the pattern details on the fabric depends on the textile print, as well as your desire to align the textile pattern on the front and back garment details. If you reduce the garment detail Opacity, you will be able to see the textile pattern through garment detail. It will help to align the textile patterns perfectly.

In the picture below, the production pattern is prepared for the right side of the fabric.

If the fabric doesn’t have any print and nap, pattern pieces in the marker should be as close to each other as possible to reduce fabric waste.

You can print the final pattern pieces on the special paper, or print the marker by using a plotter machine for laser fabric cutting.

My e-textbook "The Craft of Garment Design with Adobe Illustrator" will help you to learn how to perform various Apparel industry tasks in Adobe Illustrator.

If you want to learn how to draft a straight skirt pattern in Adobe Illustrator, read my e-book "Drafting the Skirt Pattern in Adobe Illustrator".