Pattern Magic

I think Pattern Magic is a great book for serious designers & sewing people who already have some pattern drafting and sewing experience. For beginners, I'd recommend looking for a beginner-level book about basic pattern drafting---there are some good ones by various authors that show how to measure and draw slopers. (Slopers are the basic bodice/skirt patterns used as a basis for patternmaking). Readers with some drafting experience who want to move beyond slopers will find Pattern Magic helpful. This book illustrates how to alter slopers to create different dimensions and details (such as bodice tucks, highly structured geometric garment details and flowing lines). The bodice front & back sloper examples (in the back of the book) are useful. Page 101 says to enlarge them to 200% to make full-sized, but the slopers can also be used at the small scale to practice the design techniques described in the book (the slopers need to be traced onto separate sheets of paper so that they can be cut apart---or you can use your own full-scale slopers). I assume the example clothing in this book was selected to show the reader how to break apart a sloper to achieve different structured effects. Although the finished example garment designs look complex, the book shows that slopers can be altered into fashion patterns in 3 simple steps: by closing darts, cutting the sloper to make the paper pattern flat, then open out the paper and trace around the pattern. The book is translated from Japanese, and the style is a bit different from other pattern books I've used. Pattern Magic is well-illustrated and shows step-by-step how to create the example bodices and details. I thought the instructions were clear & detailed. I worked through some of the example designs, and found it very educational---working through the example patterns should help readers understand how to create their own designs by folding and cutting their own slopers.

I tend to be very conservative in what I wear, and while I found some of the garments *beyond* hideous, it was the techniques that were important, as once you learn the technique, you can do whatever you please. I was thrilled to see this available in English; I have collected Japanese-language craft books for decades, since I discovered these astonishing creations while living there. The books were so carefully and beautifully done that you could use them to make wonderful things even if you could not read a word. Crafts there are about care, not mass production, and the books are delights to behold. No matter what you are creating, that attention to detail is what makes it something you use and treasure the rest of your life. The section on adding a built-in bow to the bodice was worth the money of the book alone, and the beautiful bodice with alternating folds up the front, somewhat like a wheat stalk, was lovely. Note that this was not just some fancy cutting and stitching, for which fit is sacrificed; the darts were simply rotated and incorporated into the design. And not all of the techniques must start with a sloper; some can simply be incorporated as modifications to an existing pattern of the appropriate type that fits well. Flat-pattern drafting is well within the reach of anyone who understands the basics of sewing very well, such as the effects of grainline changes for different types of fabrics and the importance of darts (as well as how different types of darts are used to control fullness). All in all, this is a wonderful addition to a field in which there are not enough books, largely due to unwarranted fear on the part of many who sew. (I frankly find it much easier to simply draft a sloper to use to create other patterns rather than go through endless fitting changes for every new pattern -- fitting changes which differ by pattern company.) By the way, I got sick of trying to draw my own croquis all the time, so I purchased Fashionflat Sketchpad {Womens Collection} , which has extremely thick covers and good-quality paper.

As an experienced pattern-maker/draper it is difficult to find a pattern-making book that is challenging and includes something other than basic sloper instruction and boring styles. I was thrilled to find this book, which is everything that those other pattern-making books are not. . . it has original and creative ideas with clear instructions and good quality pictures. This book is GREAT! It's a small book but each of the styles/patterns are intriguing and the skills shown can be applied to other new designs. This book assumes a basic level of pattern-making skill (the stronger your skills the easier it will be to re-create these designs). You can use your own slopers (or blocks) to try out the techniques shown or you can copy the half-scale slopers (front and back bodice pieces) that are included at the back of the book, allowing you to start practicing the examples immediately. Note: the measurements given throughout the book are in centimeters (cm.) so those of use who are used to working in inches have some converting to do! The sketches (lots of them!) for each style/pattern show each of the major steps very clearly and the book includes many photos (all very clear and lots of close-ups which are helpful in understanding the shapes and steps involved). The author uses paper to mock-up many of the concepts then cuts them apart to create the patterns -- think of draping, but with paper instead of muslin! (The author doesn't mention the need to add seam allowances to the patterns created from cutting apart these paper mock-ups -- you will just need to know that it's necessary and how to do it.) I imagine that anyone with some background or experience with pattern-making or draping will thoroughly enjoy the projects shown in this book (even if you don't make them, just reading about some of the ideas will be enjoyable). This book was definitely worth the price. In fact, I'm going to purchase both of the other Pattern Magic books (volume 2 and volume 3) by this author.

It has been a long time since I have found a pattern making book that I have found as exciting as this book. Once you get beyond the basics of creating patterns that fit, commonly called slopers, what do you do with them? Most designs I see on the street, in catalogs, and in the stores are so easy to execute that the design process is not challenging at all. But there are a few designs that have me scratching my head thinking "How did they do that?" I have taken to calling them "Pattern Puzzles." This book is full of these designs. Each one is uniquely different but beautifully illustrated and explained in anywhere from one to three page spreads. Tomoko never takes more than three pages of illustrations to show how to make even the most complex and unusual design from a fitted sloper. I am pleased to see her using the front bodice sloper for women that I now use in my online patternmaking classes. It has one dart for the bust to the waist and one to the armscye (arm hole). In my experience this configuration for the darts provides the optimum way of achieving an accurate custom fit. I also believe it is the best sloper for visualizing how to create the lines of original designs so you can convert from a two dimensional form to a three dimensional one. She uses a technique for evaluating pattern shapes that I have found invaluable in my teaching which is to prototype design ideas in paper so you can assemble the shape before you even touch needle and thread. Tomoko also shares another passion of mine for developing design ideas using dress forms in scale. All the photos in this book are of the designs on a half scale manikin. Caveat #1: These designs are unusual. If you are looking for the conventional, this is not for you. But if you step beyond "I wouldn't want to wear that" and move on to "What can I learn from this pattern design technique," I believe you will increase your pattern design skills exponentially. Caveat #2: There are no sewing instructions. I would recommend when you try these ideas out you do what Tomoko does and try them in scale first. If you don't have a scale dress form, fashion dolls such as the ones Tomoko works with are an excellent medium to experiment with. Bravo Tomoko--I can hardly wait until your volume 2 is translated into English. Although your illustrations are so clear, I am almost tempted to get the Japanese edition. Don McCunn Author of How to Make Sewing Patterns

This is an interesting book with nice pictures and some interesting ideas, but it's not as out-of-this-world incredible as other reviewers made it out to be. If you're a geometrically-minded person, or just generally are good at conceptualizing spaces, you probably don't need this book. Most of the ideas here were things that I could easily figure out for myself, though there were a handful of new concepts for shapes in fabric that I would not have thought of. I suppose what disappointed me most was that the patterns presented in the book were not as conceptually elegant as I expected. What I mean by that is, when I'm looking at things like, say origami, I'm always impressed with how each crease and turn of the paper reveals new forms that were always there. But all of the forms in this book feel rather contrived to me. It's as if, instead of folding a paper crane, you cut out a silhouette of a crane and then glued on some wings and other cutouts until it looked exactly like a paper crane, but the construction was done in the most inelegant way possible. It's like instead of elegantly deriving physics equations, you instead did a bunch of brute force experiments to get an approximate equation - it's a valid way of doing things, but somehow much less satisfying. For all that though, I did enjoy looking at the pictures and imagining how I would do things without looking at the instructions. Although none of the items in the book are really intended to be actual articles of clothing, it is interesting to think about how the forms presented would look when recombined in a more subtle way. Also, I would like to point out for those who are complaining about how strange some of the designs would look as actual clothes, and who are complaining about the lack of imperial measurements in the book: this book is supposed to be a book of concepts, not designs for real, wearable items. As stated on page 11: "As my objective was to explain the construction of a pattern in an easy-to-follow way, I have omitted pattern markings such as facing lines used for actually constructing the garment and the amount of fabric required to make the garment." The idea here is to learn how to think about shapes in fabric and how to conceptualize and physically create original designs, not how to follow a series of instructions to arrive at a exact, predetermined end result. And it does accomplish that goal, if you actually read all of the text. Overall, I found this to be an interesting, pretty book, and it was worth reading, but I was disappointed at the inelegance of how many of the patterns were created. I suppose that technically, the methods presented in the book will always work, but I can't help but feel that there are more elegant ways to do things by using math and geometry.

Great book for professionals, is you still new to fashion world might confuse you.

This book is great. It really gives an insight into the professional pattern making process. I previously purchased the Bunka Fashion Series Books (http://www.amazon.com/Bunka-Fashion-Garment-Design-Textbook/dp/B004XYLRVK/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1372179273&sr=1-1, http://www.amazon.com/Bunka-Fashion-Garment-Design-Textbook/dp/B004LEPSF8/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1372179291&sr=1-2) where I learned in depth about sewing and how to construct a perfect sloper (the same exact one used in this book). This provided a sturdy foundation and I was able to fully understand and execute the pattern to my perfect fit, so fun and exciting! Also, I was seriously envying the little dress form she uses and after much searching I finally found one in the US http://beropa.co/products/bunka-half-size-dress-form I would HIGHLY recommend it, as she says its great for trying out new patterns, since its half sized its more manageable and won't waste too much fabric!

Pattern Magic is a gorgeous little book and inspired us no end. Whilst I agree with some of the other reviewers, that it would be difficult to wear some of the examples However, the ideas are all good and sound and could be used in moderated or varied ways, to create some very sensible and different clothing. The instructions are clear too. My daughter, who has no sewing experience, finally understood the theory of 3D construction by the illustrations here. I would recommend The Art of Manipulating Fabric this book to use as well.

Je suis fashion designer et je ne recommande ce livre que 1.aux passionnés aux bases de patronage solides. Il est 2.Aux étudiants en cursus de Fashion design 3. Aux stylistes et modélistes. Merveilleux ouvrage qui vous invite dans le monde du maître du moulage Reçu en a peine deux semaines et demi. Ravie j'habite au moyen Orient

Soy profesional del sector textil y me ha encantado descubrir estos libros, que no los conocía. Ya estoy poniendo en práctica sus patrones, aunque está en inglés, si no lo controlas, viene perfectamente explicado visualmente. Es muy inspirador y te da muchas ideas para otras transformaciones diferentes. Lo recomiendo!

I love it!

Il libro è in inglese però è molto facile e intuitivo

Não indicado para iniciantes, como os outros livros dessa coleção, as explicações são péssimas, e a possibilidade de se frustar tentando fazer é enorme.