Manually drafted moulage into seemly?

[PepaCarro]

That would be great!!

[Gennyg]

I do use a pencil with iPad …

[Gennyg]

Thanks so much, laptop arrives Friday and so my weekend is set aside for giving this a go!

[Grace]

Ah… @Gennyg. May I wish you many, many, happy Seamly flat pattern making years

Please don’t hesitate to ask, if you get stuck. We’ll all try our best to help.

[Gennyg]

hello - i probably should have mentioned I’m a mac user I’ve just seen the thread about how Mac crashes when you use measurements via seamlyme (and yes it still does) Anyway - for now I’ve drafted this block inputting measurements as I go per line which was fine. So much more left to figure out! Proper armscye curve, true-ing neckline and armhole seams, turning this into a pattern… figuring out dart manipulation… that’s my weekend sorted I guess! Still it’s fun

[Douglas]

@Gennyg

So much more left to figure out!

You’ll get there.

One thing I noticed off the bat are the curves - specifically the control points. You should formulize the control points so the curves adapt to the pattern to create smooth curves. For ex: Generally you would want the control point of the endpoints to be at a right angle to the seam it intersects. Also the length is important.

I’m currently on my phone, so maybe @Grace could illustrate what I’m referring to, and I suggest you read the thread of Keith’s on smooth curves - it helped me a lot.

Creating Smooth Curves: The Kolson Method

(I just called it the ‘Kolson Method’ here just to differentiate it from the ‘Sspencer Method’, etc.) (Mod Edit: As of January 2019, Keith put a more complete tutorial on the wiki: Creating Smooth Curves: The Kolson Method - Seamly2D) Based on my (somewhat limited) experience with V, here is what you need to watch out for: Always do curves last. They depend on control/reference points and lines that must be in place before you place your curves. It’s an issue with V itself, which needs to…

@Gennyg

I’ve just seen the thread about how Mac crashes when you use measurements via seamlyme (and yes it still does)

Could you be more specific? Ate you referring to the Fx button → dialog?

[Gennyg]

@Douglas

Could you be more specific? Ate you referring to the Fx button → dialog

Yes exactly that, using the Fx button to launch the measurements pop up from seamly me for inputting stored measurements crashes seamly 2d. I’ll take some screenshots later if you need.

[Gennyg]

@Douglas

One thing I noticed off the bat are the curves - specifically the control points. You should formulize the control points so the curves adapt to the pattern to create smooth curves. For ex: Generally you would want the control point of the endpoints to be at a right angle to the seam it intersects. Also the length is important.

I’m currently on my phone, so maybe @Grace could illustrate what I’m referring to, and I suggest you read the thread of Keith’s on smooth curves - it helped me a lot.

Yes the curves are very “just do it” over do it well! I’ll read that thread and try again. I just wanted to see if I could approximate the physical block ( I did) and identify my areas of learning needed so I could focus on finding those videos ( I did) so all up a successful evening and looking forward to playing more later.

It feels frustrating spending so much learning time again, but i can immediately see the benefits for future use and efficiencies I’ll gain.

[Douglas]

@Gennyg

It feels frustrating spending so much learning time again, but i can immediately see the benefits for future use and efficiencies I’ll gain.

Trust me… it does get easier.

[Grace]

Oh, wow! Very well done! @Gennyg It looks very similar to mine - we’re having power issues at the moment, so the PC is off & plugged out, but as soon as I can, I’ll go in & have a look for it & send you a pic.

Dart manipulation is using the Rotation tool in the Operations section. A small tip that you may have already picked up on… Once you’ve picked up a tool, as small Help text appears in the bottom left of your screen, outside of the drawing board that can be really useful when using the tools. Otherwise, just do the best you can and then right-click on the item just created & go to Options where you will be able to fine-tune and make changes.

@Gennyg

that’s my weekend sorted I guess! Still it’s fun

I’m so glad that it’s fun for you, too. Almost 6 years later and it’s still fun for me.

[Grace]

@Grace

It looks very similar to mine

Here’s an image of mine where I put all the lines in for the dart rotation, etc.:

I see that I only did the front

[Gennyg]

I’ve made some progress with converting draft into pattern, and figuring out how to copy over internal darts etc. So yay for that. I’m trying to now take that block and apply design elements to it, and i’m struggling on how to think about doing that. A simple for instance using that back piece is how to split it into a yoke and back piece. I’ve drawn a line across the bodice at the base of the dart. I can select various points to ‘group’ or ‘rotate’ but as to what happens after I hit enter, i’m not figuring it out. In my head what I’d like to do is select the ‘yoke’ part, copy it and move it to the side. Then select the right section and close the dart. Leaving me with two new drafts. Please help

[Grace]

Ok, that’s really good. You’re doing very well

Before adding any design elements, I would place the back & front into groups of their own so that while doing any further work, the groups can be hidden.

Then save your master pattern and Save As under a new name. This way, your original ‘Master’ will always remain intact and you won’t need to keep creating it, but you will be able to edit it as you learn new ways to do things, and you can make the design changes and rotations on top of the existing draft thereby removing the need to copy the pattern over to the side.

Do do the rotation, pick up the Rotation tool and note the help message at the bottom left of the screen. Select the nodes and curves that you need included in the rotation while holding the Ctrl key:

Hit Enter. Select the point from which the rotation will take place, and hit Enter again. The following fine-tuning box will appear where you can enter the formulas:

Click on OK and your rotation is done. Now you can add the lines between the nodes that don’t copy over, hide the original part and you will see the result.

[Douglas]

@Grace

Click on OK and your rotation is done. Now you can add the lines between the nodes that don’t copy over, hide the original part and you will see the result.

While scanning the Github issues, I noted one regarding the fact that “lines” do not appear in the operations tools. I’m going to see if I can get the visualization to apply to the copied destination points OR the better solution might be to make lines actual selectable objects like points and curves… which would simplify some other aspects of the app.

[Grace]

@Douglas

OR the better solution might be to make lines actual selectable objects like points and curves

Oh, that would be amazing

What would also be really, really nice is if one can change the colour of the lines and nodes at the same time as choosing the label extension name. Either that, or to be able to edit the line types & colours later.

At the moment, it copies the line types and colours over from the originals.

[Douglas]

@Grace

Oh, that would be amazing

That will take a bit more work.

@Grace

What would also be really, really nice is if one can change the colour of the lines and nodes at the same time as choosing the label extension name. Either that, or to be able to edit the line types & colours later.

At the moment, it copies the line types and colours over from the originals.

This I’ve anticipated… where the copies could have their own properties, separate from the source objects.

[Gennyg]

@Grace

Hit Enter . Select the point from which the rotation will take place, and hit Enter again. The following fine-tuning box will appear where you can enter the formulas:

Ah this was the bit I was missing! Thank you.

I’ve saved a few copies of the back, haven’t yet done the front, I’ll hopefully get a bit more done this week.

[Gennyg]

I can rotate now! But when i go to do seam allowances - the option is greyed out and i can’t find what I need to do differently to be able to have this active. Apologies for all my questions.

[Gennyg]

this evening was about inputting the front bodice! Much easier and got entirely through to pattern. I’ve used the dart tool for the shoulder dart (it might not be perfect, but i get the concept)

Question: what’s an easy way (or any way) to true the dart cutting lines to get the little opposite curves? (I’ve just eyeballed the bust dart) (I’m going to think on how to true the armhole curve overnight … )

[Pneumarian]

@Gennyg

But when i go to do seam allowances - the option is greyed out and i can’t find what I need to do differently to be able to have this active.

This is when you first trace it, yes? In order to use all the juicy Workpiece Tool options you must be in the Piece mode, not the Draft mode, (find it on the icon set Draft, Piece, Layout.)

Right click the piece you want to edit the properties of, & choose Properties from the dropdown for a fully active Workpiece Tool.

Best Luck!