August 3, 2012

Starting slowly

Obviously, inevitably, I had a whole lot of other things to do today before I could get started on digitalizing the twisty top pattern. Now, just before I have to start making dinner, I've managed to divide the pattern pieces into A4 chunks, scan those and re-assemble them. 


They look like this now. I plan to import them into Illustrator, clean up those lines and then grade them with the help of Illustrator's grid (at least, I hope that'll work). 

Before, when I made the pattern for the jeans skirt I put on Burdastyle, I graded by hand, with the pattern pieces on a large sheet of paper which I then cut up for the scanner. I hope using Illustrator (which I couldn't work with back then) will take less time and result in a clearer and cleaner looking final pattern. 

Of course, after grading, I will have to divide the finished pattern into numbered A4 pieces for printing and check the pattern. I will also have to try and write clear instructions. For this, I plan to make the top again and take step-by-step pictures.

This is why I usually share tutorials instead of patterns...

5 comments:

  1. Isn't digitizing patterns a pain in the neck! I totally agree!

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  2. That sounds pretty much like what I've done for making digital patterns (y'know, the whole three I've done.) The grading using the grid *seems* to work ok. I think Illustrator can print a tiled pdf for you, although you don't end up with as nice marking. That is by far the most work, though, getting the tiling and maching-marking right.

    Good luck!

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  3. working on patterns with Illustrator will save you time in the end but certainly it's a lot of time...just don't rush. It's nice enough of you to share with us your ideas so you should just do it when you can. Thanks for it! If you need help with Illustrator let me know

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  4. I love using Illustrator, just to get those clean lines and curves. Working with the grid helps. I also have a little utility that can measure between points. (If you have a mac, do a search and it's called Snapmeasure--no longer being supported but it still works with current Illustrator versions.) The tiling is such a big pain.

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  5. Ive digitalised things on StyleCAD before at school, but I assume you use something else. I'm curious to know what program you would use at home? Im impressed by all the time you take to do it all!

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