How to Use Adobe Illustrator to Make Sewing Patterns
When you look for software in which to create sewing patterns, you may not think of Adobe Illustrator, but it is more than capable of assisting you in crafting your next project, whether it's a garment or a craft design. In fact, given the precision with which digital-illustration software can draw the shapes you need for your pattern pieces, you may find that Illustrator exceeds the accuracy you require for a good fit. Along with its precision, Illustrator offers some tricks you can use to speed the creation of seam allowances.
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Instructions
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Create a new Adobe Illustrator file slighter wider and taller than the largest pattern piece you need to create. Illustrator's maximum artboard size is 16,383 pixels square, which equates to just over 227.5 inches or almost 578 centimeters, so you won't have any trouble making your document large enough for your project.
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Open the "Window" menu and choose "Layers" to bring up the Layers panel. Create a new layer called "Measurements." Activate the “Type” tool and key in your measurements on this new layer. Click in the locking column of the Layers panel so you won't accidentally delete your dimensions. Refer to the pattern-making system of your choice for the best way to translate your dimensions into a properly fitting pattern for the garment you want to create.
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Open the "View" menu and verify that the Illustrator's Smart Guides feature is active. Smart Guides show you on-screen verification when you align objects together by dragging the open end of one path onto the open end of another path. This feature increases the speed and precision of your drawing.
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Create an individual layer for each pattern piece. Name each layer so you know what to put where.
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Activate Illustrator's “Line Segment” tool to draw straight-line segments. You can click on your artboard to bring up the tool's options dialog box and set the exact length and angle of each line. Draw each straight edge of your pattern piece as a separate path.
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Switch to Illustrator's “Arc Segment” tool to create precisely sized curves for armholes and necklines. Although you can click and drag on your artboard to draw these curves, you also can enter their dimensions explicitly in the tool's options dialog box, which you can bring up by clicking once on your artboard with the tool. Draw your individual curved lines as needed.
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Activate the “Selection” tool – the solid-pointed selection arrow – and select individual arcs and line segments so you can position them correctly relative to one another. Illustrator's Smart Guides will show you the message "Anchor" when one open end lands on top of the corresponding open end of another line or arc.
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Switch to the “Direct Selection” tool – the hollow-pointed selection arrow – to marquee around pairs of open anchor points. Open the "Object" menu, select its "Path" submenu and choose "Join" to turn two separate paths into one continuous path. Continue joining your lines together until you've built a closed path that represents one pattern piece.
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Open the "Window" menu and bring up the “Color,” “Swatches” and “Appearance” panels one at a time. With your pattern piece selected, open the fly-out menu at the top right corner of the Appearance panel and choose "Add New Stroke." Drag this new stroke below the one-point default black stroke in the Appearance panel.
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Use the Color panel to set your second stroke to 100 percent cyan if you established your document in CMYK mode or zero red, 255 green and 255 blue in an RGB file. In the Stroke panel, set the stroke weight to 36 points. Click on the "Dashed Line" check box and enter a value of 12 points in the "Dash" box. Click on the "Align Stroke to Inside" button to apply the stroke inside your pattern shape.
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Go back to the “Appearance” panel and add a third stroke to your path. Position this one between the one-point black stroke and the 36-point blue stroke. Set its color to white by entering zero percent into all four CMYK color channels or 255 into all three RGB color channels in the Color panel. In the Stroke panel, set the weight to 35 points, activate "Align Stroke to Inside" and turn off the "Dashed Line" check box. The result of your three strokes is a pattern cutting line with an automatic seam allowance inside it.
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Open the "Window" menu and choose "Graphic Styles" to bring up the panel of the same name. With your outlined pattern piece still selected, open the fly-out menu at the top right corner of the panel and choose "New Graphic Style." Give your special outline an appropriate name. This style enables you to apply the proper outline to each new pattern piece with one click on its icon in the Graphic Styles panel.
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Draw your remaining pattern pieces. Switch to the “Type” tool and create pattern markings on each individual layer for each piece. Use the “Rotate” tool to angle your type as needed and the “Selection” tool to move it into position.
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Print your pattern in tiled sections. Use standard-sized paper, such as A4, Letter or Legal, that will fit in your desktop output device. Fit the tiled sections together, paying careful attention to the markings that show where sections overlap. Use adhesive tape to fasten the sections together. Make sure you secure both sides of your tiled output so the sections won't slip apart as you cut.
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Tips & Warnings
To create a different seam allowance, set the weight of your dashed blue line to the full width of the seam allowance and the width of your white stroke to one point less than the width of the seam allowance. Remember that 72 points equals one inch.
If you have access to a large-format printer or plotter, you can print your pattern pieces without tiling them.
Copy a measurement from your notes layer to the clipboard and paste it into the appropriate field in Illustrator's Transform panel so you don't have to type it in.
Lock layers on which you're not drawing so you don't accidentally disturb completed work.
Be careful of inkjet-printed pattern pieces when you cut. If your hands are damp or your work surface isn't dry, you run the risk of ink bleeding onto your fabric.
References
Resources
- How to Make Sewing Patterns; Donald H. McCunn
- How to Use, Adapt, and Design Sewing Patterns; Lee Hollahan
- Patternmaking for a Perfect Fit: Using the Rub-off Technique to Re-create and Redesign Your Favorite Fashions; Steffani Lincecum
- Design-It-Yourself Clothes: Patternmaking Simplified; Cal Patch
- The Adobe Illustrator CS5 Wow! Book; Sharon Steuer
- Real World Adobe Illustrator CS5; Mordy Golding
- Adobe Illustrator CS5 Bible; Ted Alspach
- Illustrator CS5 for Windows and Macintosh Visual QuickStart Guide; Elaine Weinmann and Peter Lourekas
- Adobe Creative Suite 5 Design Premium All-in-One for Dummies; Jennifer Smith et al.
- Photo Credit Maria Teijeiro/Photodisc/Getty Images
