Author: Studio Faro

The origins of my passion for creative pattern making start way back in 1980 when I first went to fashion college.  It was at this time that I was introduced to an amazing pattern making book that just lit up my brain.  Natalie Bray's technical diagrams leapt off the page and made immediate sense to me.  I could hardly contain my excitement at the potential of pattern making.  To this end I believe I was quite the pesky student in our pattern making classes.  The student with 20 questions every session, that drove the pattern making teacher crazy.  You'll find Natalie's books on all the usual book selling sites and the prices vary dramatically, so do your research.

A sweet opportunity... After a fabulous weekend in Melbourne, teaching at the Stitches and Craft Show, we drove the long way home and stopped off in Bendigo to catch this amazing exhibition. I'm not very good at giving myself time off for rest and recreation but I've long been aware of the great work they do at the Bendigo Art Gallery. And although the show has ended I've selected a handful of my favourite images from the show to share with you here. In particular the main exhibition image below: I'd love a pair of sunglasses just like Edith's. They're so stylish!

In this post I hope to link up some of the illustration and patternmaking resources I have on the website so you can plan your pattern making creativity over the summer break.  These suggestions are a combination of free access blog posts, PDF worksheets with pattern making instructions and Digital Garment Blocks to begin all your pattern making projects.

So often I'm asked how I make my fitting toile's for Trouser Blocks, so I'd thought I'd put together a short post with some detail.  Many of the points are small but essential for a good #FirstFitting. You can access a download of my Trouser Block here.  I've also uploaded a worksheet that covers the detail for the first stage of fitting the trouser block.  The PDF worksheet includes detail instructions and technical diagrams to take you through every step of the process.

This is a short but dedicated post for all those lovers of Vintage Style.  The focus is on using my fitted dress block to design and cut your own vintage dress sewing patterns.  To work your way through the fitting process you can go to SHOP on the menu bar and checkout My Blocks PDF (downloads).  The Fitted Dress block has to be one of my favourites and the best place to start for fabulous dress designs.

For the past decade I've been going into secondary schools and teaching fashion illustration and every time I learn something new about teaching. Each year I develop new materials and techniques to make learning fashion illustration fun.  This year I decided to create some up-to-date illustration templates to use as a ILLUSTRATION TASK in the classroom. After reviewing some recent designer shows I generated about a dozen new images like those below.  Mostly featuring latest catwalk fashion and they were so well received in the classroom I'm thinking of making them into a colouring book that everyone can access online.

Following on from the Skirt Block and Design Options post I've separated skirt designs that use a stretch skirt block to start your pattern development.  You can use my skirt block to make a stretch skirt block to use with all these pattern puzzle posts.  Some of them have been sampled and those sample posts are also included here.
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