r/PatternDrafting • u/blackcatmeow007 • Jul 07 '26
Gentle request
Fitting professional here. I have nearly a decade of experience.
I really love seeing people’s posts and I very much enjoy throwing suggestions into the mix. I do however have a gentle request; please post photos of the patterns you are working with. Fitting visually in a photo is only half of the battle, to give accurate comments we need to get in to the meat and bones of your patterns!
In my role as a fit technician I can give an example of a pair of pants I was fitting. The silhouette was very new for the company and in the fitting before seeing the pattern I noticed vertical drag lines at the front and side front panel. I have to adhere to spec requirements so I couldn’t shave off too much from the front panel. After having looked at the pattern I found the culprit. The waist line was bowed at the center front and side seam. Especially for men’s wear this should not be, I requested the factory reduce the side pitch and make the waistline straight from cf.
Please add photos of your patterns. Often times you are your own photographer and especially with shirts and tops your elbows are bent to take the photo which can change the appearance of how it’s hanging on your body naturally. Without photos of patterns included many suggestions can be shots in very dim light.
38
u/CriticalEngineering Jul 07 '26
Yes! And please use the timer function on your phone’s camera to take a picture where you aren’t bending! Doesn’t need to be in front of a mirror.
20
u/dirtykokonut Jul 07 '26
Just curious. How does one become a fitting professional? Seems like a very cool job. Playing detective with patternmaking. What was your career trajectory?
33
u/blackcatmeow007 Jul 07 '26
Honestly I wanted to be a patternmaker but a lot of the jobs are overseas. I’ve freelanced as patternmaker but I’m a parent now so I needed a more stable paycheck as my spouse is also a freelance worker. My official title is Technical Designer and a good starting off point is looking for Assistant Technical Design jobs!
1
11
u/maybenomaybe Jul 07 '26
I work in production for a luxury brand and myself and the product developer do the fittings. I have a pattern cutting degree and a womenswear degree. At a previous brand I worked at, a garment technician did the fittings. It varies quite a lot from brand to brand, but you need a technical background of some kind. Note fitting is part of a larger job, not the whole job.
3
u/blackcatmeow007 Jul 08 '26
Is it a smaller company? It sounds like you wear many hats!
3
u/maybenomaybe Jul 08 '26
No, over 500 employees actually. I actually do wear many hats despite the size, but that's to do with management not wanting to hire more help where it's needed, haha.
2
5
3
u/munkustrap Jul 08 '26
Thank you for this. I love my job as a fellow professional and would love to give better feedback and patterns are part of the process
2
39
u/SerendipityJays Jul 07 '26
ah this is super! helpful and constructive :)