Adobe Illustrator for flat pattern drafting

I’ve gotten impatient with drawing and redrawing patterns by hand.  I’ve learned a lot while doing it, but I’m getting impatient with constantly tracing, cutting, pivoting, retracing, etc.  I’ve also reached a point where I really want to be able to save each step along the way (for future reference) without drowning in a sea of previous-version paper patterns.

So I spent this morning studying the use of the pen tool in Adobe Illustrator.  I really think this will work!  So far I’ve just diddled around with drawing basic shapes, moving darts, and adding seam allowances.  (I thought adding seam allowances would be really laborious, but it turns out to be a thirty-second maneuver using the copy/paste/resize functions.)  My goal for tomorrow morning is to redraw the current coat pattern using Adobe Illustrator, and then reshape it according to Sharon’s directions.

The challenge, of course, is printing out a large pattern piece without having to overlap dozens of sheets of paper.  Towards that, I’m picking up a large-format printer this morning from a surplus equipment store.  (A small one – not one of the big behemoth plotters, thank goodness!)  This particular model will do 13″ x 44″ panels (meant for printing large panorama photos).  13″ photo paper rolls turn out to be expensive, but! 12″ paper rolls are much, much cheaper.  In fact I can get 1000 feet of white butcher paper for about $20.  The print quality probably won’t be superb, but since I’m only printing black lines for cutting and marking, I think that should be just fine, and will save me from a LOT of taping and gluing.  At $15 for the printer and $20 for the paper, it’s well worth the effort.

Meanwhile, feedback on the collar colors has been quite divided – about equal for each of the colors, believe it or not, though each forum I’ve asked has had a different consensus.  So I think any of the three can work, and it’s just a question of what “feel” I’m after – harmonious or dramatic.  I’ll think about this more while weaving up the dark panels.  I’ve knitted a few small blanks that I can use to sample, once I get the base color down.