HI All is there a manual to download it would be a little easier to follow… I have been watching videos and started setting up seamlyme with measurements but I must be doing something wrong as I can’t find the window to input the measurements,
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Hello and welcome to the Seamly forum, @Saphire
Ummmm… Unfortunately the wiki is down, so there are so many help items not currently available and the manual is quite outdated, however, the good news is that I am working on a new manual that should be out in the next month or 2.
In the meantime, here are the old manuals. I think you will still get some valuable information out of them:
Seamly2D Manual.pdf (3.2 MB)
SeamlyME Manual.pdf (1.9 MB)
There are a lot of very easy to follow help topics on the forum and you can search them using the search icon on the top right of the screen. If you can’t find what you are looking for, please don’t hesitate to ask. Someone will be sure to pop by and either point you to a previous topic or reply if there isn’t one.
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Thank you grace, I am just playing at the moment understanding the tools, I have the help files and videos open on my iPad while working on my mac.
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That’s a very good idea.
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Leuk. Gedowload.Ik begin net. Doe jij nog iets? Ben benieuwd. gr Jos, vrouw
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Hallo en welkom, @jos1
Ik ben in Zuid-Afrika, dus ik deel een tijdzone met je en ik kan eigenlijk lezen wat je schrijft zonder te vertalen, hoewel ik een vertaler nodig heb om in het Nederlands terug te schrijven.
Er is veel hulp voor beginners op het forum, maar ik denk dat je een goed patroonmaakboek nodig hebt om je de basis te leren. Als je naar boven gaat in deze chat, zul je zien dat ik pas ben begonnen met het leren van patronen maken nadat ik Seamly had gevonden 
en ik vind het geweldig.
Als je tips of hulp nodig hebt, aarzel dan niet om het ons te vragen.
Hello and welcome, @jos1
I’m in South Africa, so I share a time zone with you and I can actually read what you write without translating, although I need a translator to write back in Nederlands.
There’s a lot of beginners help on the forum, but I guess one needs a good pattern making book to teach you the basics. If you go up in this chat, you’ll see that I only started learning pattern making after I found Seamly and I’m loving it.
If you need any pointers or assistance, please don’t hesitate to ask us.
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Hi there! My name is Daniela and I like sewing and computer drawing. Seamly2D is a wonderful gift for me and I use it every day. I learned professional pattern drawing and with my spacial sense, I am able to create pattern which fit best. Seamly2D in my eyes has a huge deficit. You can’t export and import draft blocks. Par example the draft block for a sleeve must be created for each pattern even though, you would like the same as in an existing pattern. Same for collars, wrist bands and so on. I wish you a merry Christmas and look forward to reading from you.
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Hello, and welcome, @feldfrauen - Daniela
It is so nice to hear that you are enjoying the program. It is a wonderful gift.
Just to help you, what I have done is, I have created a ‘Master Pattern’ file which I keep. It has all of the basic pattern pieces in it, sleeve, bodice front & back, skirt, trousers, collar, cuffs, facings, openings, but only in the clean basic pattern. I draw this master pattern, using a basic multisize measurements file, so that I can check that everything resizes perfectly.
Then I load this basic pattern, rename it and start changing things so a new design. If I want to use an individuals measurements, then I load them into the pattern so that I know that it is suitable for that person.
I hope that this makes sense and that it will help you in your future patterns.
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Thank you, Grace, that is a good idea. Until now, I made master pattern, but only for the bodice, trousers, skirts and all in a separate file. Your comment helps me very much, thank you!
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It’s not something we haven’t thought about. There’s a reason why importing blocks is not so easy. It has to do with the formula nature of the app and point name collisions. Let’s say you import a body block that has points named A1 to A30… then you try to import a collar block that has points named A1 to A10… what do you think will happen? Add to that point names are not limited to enumerations of the base point… they can be (uniquely) named anything… so you can’t anticipate what someone else might name points.
It’s not like that it couldn’t be done, but there would have to be an interactive import routine to pre-parse a block for name collisions with existing blocks, and provide away to rename any and all offending point names before importing.
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Wouldn’t it be simple to program that ALL points of an imported draft block will be renamed with a suffix like “_&” or “_2” or “_imp”? It is not easy to rename points. Often, the program collapses when one tries to rename a point which is used for another points definition.
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And what happens when you import a second block?.. a third block? Etc. We would have to pre-parse any imported block against every existing block. It’s not as simple as appending a suffix… as you need to keep track of how many blocks were already imported. Plus we’d have to consider what suffix format looks good. For ex: A point named A5_imp_imp_imp_imp is probably not the best name.
And just a note… the “&” is a reserved char, and is invalid in a point name.
That being said… in a vacuum if we had some sort of standard naming convention - instead of the incremental A, B, C… of basenames - we could develop a library of parts that would be easier to import. For example. F could be for fronts, B for backs, C for collars, S for sleeves, P for pants… that way you could load a Front, Back, Collar, Sleeve, and Pants to assemble a suit pattern. Which BTW is how I more or less name my blocks. But there has to be some standard for that to work, otherwise we couldn’t have shareable libraries of pattern blocks. Also if there is a limit of 1 per library type, it would be a simple import with no renaming neccessary.
Right… because of the “formula” nature of the program, and the fact the app works in a linear timeline - you can’t see into the future. The app only knows about what has been previously parsed.
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Just thought I’d post this… The national tour of Annie that we did the mens costumes for is in Buffalo this week. My partner and one of our employees (who’s working as a dresser for the production) were interviewed by a local news station.
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Wow! @Douglas. It’s still so sad to me. Those costumes are beautiful. So much talent and passion. Thank you very much for sharing. 
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I’ve joined patterns for people on here before manually (outside the program), but it’s a long job and I just don’t have the time to offer to do it for you right now. Besides changing the label names, one also needs to change the ID numbers. Each object added to the pattern gets an ID number and these can’t be duplicated, either.
If I can make a suggestion, take the most complicated file, the bodice - for instance, and add the skirt if you’re drafting a dress, or trousers if you’re drafting a boiler-type suit and save it as your new master. Later you can add the skirt/trousers when you need it.
Things like collars, cuffs, openings, facings often change from garment to garment, so if you only have the basic bodice, sleeve, skirt & trousers on the master pattern, it will be a great help for future patterns.
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There’s that too. Which is actually harder to deal with importing a draftblock than the point names.
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Hello, I am a veteran seamstress but want to learn how to draft patterns on my own using the computer. I would love to be able to take vintage designs and make them into modern outfits. I teach fulltime, so my sewing time is is limited, but I love sewing.
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Welcome to the Seamly community @dawnbuffum! Please feel free to ask any questions you may have! I hope your stay is long & happy.
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In the pattern drawing-school I made, there were fixed letters for Points - p.e. the Point in the neck was always “W”, the sleeve started with the Point “K” and so on. Seamly2D uses the suffixes for some workflows such as rotate or mirroring. We can define how we want these workflows-suffixes to be named in the preferences. I think, this is a really good thing.
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I fully agree with you and I see the problems with importing a pattern piece. Your advice to create first a masterpattern is a good behalf.
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