Made-to-measure sewing pattern, drafted to your measurements

A shop-bought pattern is graded on a size chart: one reference body, then regular steps from one size to the next. If your bust, waist and hips don't fall in the same column, you have to choose between two sizes, blend between them, then alter. Made-to-measure pattern cutting turns that order around: we start from your numbers, and the size chart disappears.

In practice, the pattern is built on your measurements: the shoulder line on your shoulder length, the back length on yours, the difference between your waist and your hips exactly as it is. There is no size left to choose, and no line to join up between the top and the bottom.

Four stages, always the same, whatever the garment:

• The design: a clear, front-on photo of the garment you like, or Guided design if you have no photo.
• Your measurements: the eleven body measurements we ask for (height, bust, waist, high hip, front length, back length, neck, shoulder length, arm length, upper arm and wrist), entered once in your profile and reused after that. To get started, a standard size is possible.
• The drafting: our studio reads the cut, chooses the matching pattern block and drafts the pattern to your measurements, seam allowances included, notches and grainlines marked.
• The check: the pattern and its sewing instructions are checked before they are sent. You print the pattern at 1:1 scale, at home on A4 or A3, or on A0 at a copy shop.

To measure yourself accurately, follow our guide to taking your measurements.

We cover a lot, but not everything. T-shirts and vest tops, skirts, jumpers and sweatshirts, hoodies and shorts are the families we know best; other everyday pieces follow, each on its own page, with what it can do and what it can't do yet.

Our studio does not draft these yet: bustiers, halterneck tops, wrap dresses, dressing gowns and kimonos, kaftans, ponchos, pleated skirts, wrap skirts, corsets, lingerie, swimwear, wedding dresses and formal occasion or haute couture pieces. If your design can't be drafted, no credits are deducted.

When a photo shows a detail that the drafted block doesn't reproduce, your instructions say so. We would rather give you an accurate pattern and a limit stated plainly than a promise your toile would contradict.