New User introduction and questions about software, about me

Newbies
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Hello everyone,

I’m excited to join the community here at Seamly Patterns Forum - Seamly Patterns Forum!

My name is Will, and I’ve been running a small upholstery business for the past seven years.

I have been sewing for 15-16 years, I starting with my grandma who taught me how to sew when I was about 17 years old. I wanted to build tactical paintball gear as a product, So my grandma was nice enough to teach me how to sew on her pfaff 1222e domestic sewing machine. She passed about 2 years later so I really cherish the time I got to spend with her.

While I have gained a lot of hands-on experience in the industry, I have no formal sewing education. I am always eager to learn new things and improve my skills, which is why I’m interested in transitioning to digital patterning. I believe this would help increase my workflow and improve the quality of my work.

I joined this forum because I would like to know more about the applicability of the software to my industry and how I can best utilize it. I’m also looking for resources that can help me learn more about the software and how to use it effectively.

The types of projects that I do in my shop are Cars, Boats interiors and covers Home furnishing Furniture’s and Furniture restoration

80% of my work is upholstered in fabric.

I’ve decided to transition to digital patterning because, I have a few cnc machines that I use for wood frames and I’d like to be able to store my patterns digitally, right now I have been using chipboard to make my patterns, while this works I think I need to keep looking at better ways to do things.

I have looked into products like Optitrex or Exactflat. but I am hesitant to spend $7500-$90,000 on a product that I may or may not use.

I just thought I would get your opinions on this software and see if the user group thinks this software would be applicable for my work and industry.

I’m excited to connect with others in the community and learn from their experiences. Thank you for having me!

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Hello and a huge welcome to the Seamly2D Forum, @WSimmons.

A while ago, we had someone wanting to make a pond liner on the forum, which may help you a little to see the diversity of the program - if for nothing else, then at least to refine your pattern into geometrically and scalably correct proportions. (I hope this is the term I’m looking for.)

One of the things that I have on my bucket list is to buy an old, beat-up caravan and redo its interior - or build a Gypsy trailer :rofl:

I’ve used Seamly to make cake boxes, cushions, quilting designs and sewing patterns, so I do know that it can do anything easily and elegantly without having a multitude of tools that one needs to learn to get the job done. And since you have something that cuts your patterns onto fabric/chipboard will make it even more useful to you.

In your case, you can choose to create your own (Unknown) measurements in SeamlyME or you can create them in the Variables Table to keep them “inside the pattern” for easy changing for different projects using the same shaping (by changing the measurements, the pattern will adjust accordingly).

There are many questions that have been replied to, here on the forum, and lots of info on the Wiki. However, we are always around if have any questions.

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Welcome @WSimmons to Seamly!
Feel free to post photos here of your project or ideas for projects, it will help us to know how to help you.

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Welcome Will… I will speak as someone who has been in the theatre and costume business for 42 years (until a fire destroyed our shop a couple months ago.)

While we aquired an Optitex system second hand, it did not include the “made to measure” module - which was another ridiculous cost. Much of my job making patterns was producing patterns to custom sizes… which led me to find Valentina, the precursor to Seamly2D. With my programming abilities the V application would fill my needs quite nicely. For awhile after the fork, I worked on developing the app myself, and then a bit later decided to apply that to Seamly.

Besides being open source, and not costing an arm and a leg… the real power of Seamly2D lies in the “made to order” aspect - where 1 draft will automatically resize based on the measurement file applied. While the measurements are geared towards the human body and garments, there is nothing that precludes using the app for other industries. For example… you could easily create a cushion pattern that produces the pieces say based on the width, length, and height - which could be provided by a measurement file or through custom variables (which are contained in the pattern file itself). Although my original background in Civil Engineering also includes nearly 50 years of drafting, I can’t say whether Seamly2D would fit your needs any better than some other apps?

I would need to know more of your workflow… like do you need to have a pattern adjust sizes? Or are you looking to be able to trace or reproduce existing pattern pieces?

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