If you have an area within fashion that presents a great possibility for growth, a great salary and stability, it is the pattern professional.
I remember that when I entered the Fashion course this was already the reality of the market and it continues to be so today, since even though there are excellent fashion designers and creators, we need "engineers" so that clothes actually exist. And of course, these engineers are the patternmakers and seamstresses.
But as in any profession, no matter how much space it has in the market, only good professionals stand out, and how to walk this path towards success, since sometimes for those who are starting it is difficult even an internship?
Calm down, in the pattern area there is an advantage, you need hours of flight, as my pattern teacher at college Ligia Osório once mentioned, in an interview for my channel, when they asked precisely that question.
It makes perfect sense, a good pattern maker needs to exercise and know how to solve several problems related to the construction of clothes and for that he doesn't need much, just exercise the technique, building and deconstructing.
Well, I'm going to quote here 5 tips that I think are essential for you to stand out, shall we?
1- Learn more than one type of technique:
Don't be held hostage to just one pattern methodology, be it flat pattern, three-dimensional pattern or digital pattern. Explore as much as you can. I, for example, can't get right with flat pattern, but I've studied several methods, I understand a little about them. At moulage, the same thing, I'm a specialist in French moulage, but that doesn't stop me from exercising the moulage practiced in other places, I'm always researching and looking to learn new methods within the study of moulage.
2- Sew toile pieces:
I like French moulage because we can skip this step, that is, during the construction of the mold we can already visualize the final result, but if you work only with flat pattern, the interesting thing is always to sew all the prototypes to see how the mold turned out and understand the behavior of the mould, fabric and finishes applied to the model.
3- Study with a half scale mannequin
During the process of studying the model you will use a lot of paper and fabric and to optimize your process, the ideal is that you exercise in miniatures. This will speed up the time to build the pattern, make it easier to store the studies and help you save fabric, paper and time!
4- Create a personal library of samples
In addition to the habit of exercising several times, it is important that you document this process and store these exercises and create your personal library! Make the technical design of the mold, take notes, get used to recording the entire process, as this habit will help you save time when you have to replicate a model that you have already developed.
5- Challenge yourself
This last tip is for any area of life, not just pattern! But get out of your comfort zone, look for models that challenge you, that have a high degree of difficulty, that make you lose sleep until you solve the problem. I once spent weeks trying to solve a mold I had seen in a Shingo Sato video. I remember how challenging that experience was. When we challenge ourselves, we learn more, we discover the reason for things, and this is fundamental for a successful professional in the pattern field!
What did you think of the tips? Which ones do you already apply? Oh, and if you still haven't applied any, enjoy it and put it into practice now, I'm sure it will be a watershed in your career!