Why multiple draftblocks in a single pattern?

SeamlyMe
1

I wonder if my guess of the utility of several draftblocks in one pattern is correct.

I first thought that working this way would make it possible to import some blocks or pieces in other patterns, but I read the thread “Allow template draft blocks/pieces to be used by multiple patterns”, so no - thanks Douglas, I got the cue.

I then figured that by using several blocks, I could include variable pieces in a pattern, such as different types of collars, sleeves etc. for the same front/back. Am I right?

Of course, creating groups is useful to keep the working space clean by hiding what is not needed, but when there is no obvious link between pieces, working in different drafblocks helps me not to make a mess of a lot of points. Provided I don’t forget to include recurrent measurements in my variables table :joy:

Thanks for any comment or helpful idea.

2 Likes
2

Hello, @CarolaH

I totally agree that placing things in different draft blocks will be neat and tidy, however, I prefer to work with 1 draft block and place things in specifically named groups. This way, I can share lines with other elements of the pattern.

For instance:

  1. creating a collar is specific to the neckline of the pattern, so I can extend the collar from the shoulder of the neckline using the direction of the curve handle attached to the point that I’m extending from.

  2. Drafting a sleeve is sometimes connected to the underarm point on the bodice, I don’t need to copy everything from the armhole of the bodice to a different draft board. I have all of the points available to reference.

  3. If I want to join a skirt to a bodice to create a dress, I can just shorten the line connecting the 2 until they meet at a distance that I prefer and move a few darts around to make them match.

The list is endless, but these are a few ideas.

If you create everything to adjust to the main pattern pieces, these will all be ready for use with that pattern.

If you choose to create a pattern piece for each every type of collar, sleeve, skirt, trousers, bodice, closure type, etc. etc. then you can close the eye on the pattern pieces that you don’t want and only include the pieces that you do want in your printed pattern.

The magic happens in naming your groups clearly and naming your pattern pieces clearly so that you can identify them when you need to. It’s also a good idea to put the construction lines of each piece into a separate group along with the outlines AND the outlines into a group to make it easier to draft the pattern piece and to view the outlines when deciding whether to use it or not.

I do an A, B, C… naming system in the groups where A will be the bodices, B will be the sleeves, etc… Then I’d have A1 Basic Bodice, A2 Alex Bodice with front opening, A3 Alex Bodice with back opening, etc., etc…

You can choose your own style of grouping that suits you. It’s also an idea to keep a spreadsheet of your styles where you can record what type of bodice a client wants, what type of sleeve, collar, etc. that you can use to guide you when choosing the pattern pieces to include.

I’m all for everyone deciding for themselves which methods they’d be comfortable with, so please do work in a way that suits you, I’m just telling you how I work and why.

P.S. I use the Variables Table for complicated formulas attached to the measurement file but I also use it for things that I may wish to adjust, like the sleeve cap height & width, the ease, etc.

2 Likes
3

Well in earlier versions of the app it made sense to use multiple blocks from a naming point of view where if you were drafting on block A… point names would automatically go A1, A2, A3… etc. With a single block if you then wanted to use B, you had to rename every new point starting with B, because it would automatically pick the next A. Now you can just use one block and reset the naming prefix to what ever you want. If you want you could set the prefix to Zed, and the points are automatically named Zed1, Zed2, Zed3… etc. Go back to A, and it will then be where ever A left off - maybe it’s A10, A11… etc.

Most systems for mens jackets draft the collar on the front of the jacket. In fact most that I’ve used draft the back and front togther.

image

While the upper and lower part of the sleeve drafted on top of each other.

image

With manual drafting with pencil and paper it makes sense as there’s a lot less drafting.

3 Likes
4

Many thanks, Grace and Douglas, this is very useful to me. Your arguments are very clear and convincing, so I forget the draftblocks - and refine my naming techniques.

2 Likes
5

Hi @CarolaH !

Just to add some arguments in favour of using multiple draft blocks, I personally use multiple draft blocks because of the following reasons:

  • I like having all the points belonging to the bodice block starting with A, all the points belonging to the sleeve block starting with B, etc. By using a single draft block you have to remember to change the point name before adding a point to a previous “draft block”, if you want to give them different letters…
  • The draft blocks are parsed one after the other, which means that even if I create a point in the draft block A after one in draft block B, I could still reference it in block B. It’s especially useful since I usually create a draft block named “Calculations” which I only use to compute eases and other things. I usually give this block the letter O, so that I can for instance create a point named “Cw” (chest width) from O, using the length attribute to compute the chest width of my bodice. Then I could access it using the length of the line Line_O_Cw, and create another line Line_O_Chest_ease and so on…
  • You can move around draft blocks by dragging their base points.

But I have to admit that I’m very convinced by the arguments @Grace gave, and I might switch to a single draft block in the future :laughing: Also because I find pretty annoying having to change draft block each time I open a pattern.

3 Likes
6

There’s that too. Something I just thought of that may help in some regard is - instead of saving the current draft block in a temp variable, we could save it to the dom document, and ultimately the the XML, so when the pattern is opened it at least opens to the last used draft block. Maybe at I’ll look into that once I figure out the bug with the elusive changing blocks.

2 Likes
7

There’s another huge disadvantage to using only 1 draft block and that’s that anything that you add to the 1st block won’t be accessible to the later draft blocks because it will be added in last, instead of at the end of the 1st draft block. The only way around this is to use the History when adding things.

This sounds like something really useful :grin:

1 Like
8

Well it would be handy if a pattern has more than 2 blocks, and you were last working on a block that was not the first or last.

2 Likes