Confusing, technical and overwhelming? I remember what it was like to learn pattern making. And with so much information out there, it can be hard to know where to start.
That's why I've created this free resource guide—a curated directory of my YouTube tutorials covering professional pattern making and pattern drafting techniques, draping, fitting, tailoring and more, developed from my experience creating patterns for Alexander McQueen and Jenny Packham.
Who's it for?
If you're a fashion designer, fashion student or home sewist looking to learn pattern making, improve your skills or find the right tutorial quickly, you're in the right place.
Browse the categories below and bookmark this page — I update it regularly as I publish new videos.
✂️ New to Pattern Making? Start Here
- Boring, technical…What is Pattern Making? – Pattern making is far more creative than most courses make it look. This video will change how you think about it — and prove you don't need to be good at maths to do it.
- 4 Ways to Make Your Own Patterns – This beginner-friendly video explains the four ways to create a pattern with clear guidelines on when to use each one.
- Beginner Pattern Making Tools ✂️ – The budget-friendly tools you really need to start pattern making — and an honest take on what's not worth buying.
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5 Pattern Making Tips I wish I knew sooner – These practical lessons will help you improve your accuracy, speed up your workflow and become a more confident pattern maker.
- Draw Patterns Like a PRO ✏️🏆 | Beginners Guide to INDUSTRY Sewing Patterns – Read and draw industry sewing patterns with confidence by understanding the essential symbols, labels and drafting conventions used by professional pattern makers.
📐 Pattern Making Basics
- Are Grain & Grainline the Same? 🤔 Essential Fabric Terms – A beginner-friendly breakdown of essential fabric terms. Plus the qualities of each grain so you know how to place your pattern pieces correctly.
- Get AHEAD: What are Blocks & How to Use Them – Blocks (aka slopers) are the professional shortcut to faster, better fitting patterns. Find out what they are and how to use them to create patterns for any design.
- Rotating Darts on STEROIDS ⚡⚡ – Move beyond basic dart rotation and discover how to transform dart excess into creative design features like style lines, gathers, pleats and flare.
- K.I.S.S.💋 Grading | How to Grade Patterns – Keep grading simple. Learn how to develop your own grade rules, apply them confidently to any pattern and use my Grade Distribution Charts to make manual grading faster and more intuitive.
- What is Pattern Hacking? My 7-Step Pattern Hacking Process – Discover how professional pattern makers transform existing patterns into new designs, saving time while achieving a better fit and more accurate results.
- What is Truing? How to True Seams on Patterns – Don't skip this step. Catch pattern mistakes before you sew by checking the length and corners of all your joining seams and darts.
Want to practice? Get my FREE 1/4 Scale Torso Block PDF
🧵 Draping
- Master the Art of Draping | The Ultimate Beginners Guide to Fashion Draping – Discover how to transform your creative drapes into production-ready patterns using my professional method.
- Drape DON’T Draft: How to Drape a Basic Dress Block (Front & Back) – Discover a professional approach to creating more accurate, better-fitting blocks and patterns by draping directly on the mannequin.
- Make Any Mannequin Your Size & Shape (Members Only) – Create a custom dress form that truly matches your body shape. In this two-part video series, you'll learn how to measure your body, compare it to your mannequin and pad it accurately for better-fitting patterns and accurate draping.
🧥 Sleeves, Jackets & Tailoring
- Conquer Your Fear: How to Draft ANY Basic Sleeve Pattern (Not Just Fitted) – Learn how to select the correct cap height and draft accurate sleeve head curves for any design — from figure-hugging fitted sleeves to oversized sweatshirts.
- Why are they STILL Teaching This?! 😱 How Jacket Lapel & Collar Patterns Are Made in the Industry – Most books and courses still teach a traditional tailoring method, but that's not how jacket are drafted today — even by high-end designers. Discover the modern industry approach and why it offers far greater design flexibility.
- Why Tailors Draft Two-Piece Sleeves This Way – Once you understand the tailoring theory behind two-piece sleeves, you'll have the confidence ands skills to adapt the drafting method to your own designs. Plus, understand common tailoring terms including 50/50 sleeves and false forearms.
Want to take your skills further? Master sleeve and jacket drafting with my step-by-step PDF courses
👗 Dressmaking
- PROs & CONs of Bias Cutting | What is the Bias & How to Cut Patterns on It – Bias dresses look and feel incredible — but they're a real challenge to sew. Find out what the bias grain is, how to cut on it correctly and whether the results are worth the effort.
- My PainLESS Method 💕 How to Draft a Dartless Dress Block & Remove Bust Darts – Traditional methods leave you with unwanted excess fabric. Discover a simpler approach to creating a clean, well-fitting dartless dress block.
- Make A Bodice & Skirt Block from a Torso Block — Saving time, money and unnecessary pattern drafting by transforming a torso block into a separate bodice and skirt block.
- Do Bias Dresses Still Need Darts? – Not always, but there are ways to reduce or remove darts on bias dresses without affecting fit. Learn the pattern making adjustments to create beautifully, body-skimming dresses.
- How to Make MODERN Corsets | FASHION INDUSTRY TIPS – Move beyond historical corsetry and discover the professional construction techniques used to create modern designer corsets and support high-end strapless garments.
- The Video I Will NEVER Do: How to Draft a Bodice Block – Discover two faster, more practical alternatives to drafting a bodice block and create better-fitting patterns with confidence.
📏 Fitting & Adjustments
- Dress Not Fitting Right? EVERYTHING You Need to Custom Fit a Dress Sewing Pattern or Block – Discover the three-step fitting method I use for private clients, celebrities and runway models to achieve a cleaner, more accurate fit for your unique body shape.
- Why Your Dress Rides Up | How To Fix This VERY Common Fit Issue – Discover the real reason fitted dresses ride up and the simple pattern adjustment that fixes it.
- Simple Full & Small Bust Adjustment 💃 Adjust Sewing Patterns to Your Bra Cup Size – Most patterns are made for a B cup. Learn how to adjust patterns to your own cup size for a cleaner fit and more flattering silhouette.
- My Flexible Fully Tummy Adjustment | Customise to Your Body Shape – Learn a flexible full tummy adjustment method allowing you to adapt sewing patterns to your unique body shape.
- No.1 Body Part You NEED To Fit ⚠️ – Most sewing patterns assume the hip is your widest point—but for many people, it isn't. Learn how to find your widest point and adjust patterns for a more comfortable, flattering fit.
Want to practice? Get my FREE 1/4 Scale Torso Block PDF
👔 Shirt Pattern Making
- How to Draft the PERFECT Shirt Collar … if you ONLY have 2 patterns, you’ve been doing it wrong! – Learn how to draft a perfectly fitting shirt collar and customise it to your own design using this simple professional method
- How to Add a Button Placket to ANY Pattern – Discover the professional method for drafting button plackets, calculating the correct widths and positioning buttons and buttonholes accurately
👖 Pant Pattern Making
- Classic Tailoring ✂️ How to Draft a Pleated Trouser Pattern – Create your own pleated trouser pattern from a basic pant block (incl. fly, pockets, pleats & waistband).
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Pant Flies: 99% of Tutorials Are Teaching This Wrong – Discover the vital first step most pant fly tutorials skip — the professional technique that conceals the zip or button along the fly opening.
- Dream Summer Wardrobe ☀️🌈 How to Draft a Shorts Pattern with Elastic Waistband – Create your own elastic waistband pattern from a basic pant block (incl. grown-on waistband with frill and drawstring, and side seam pockets).
- Why Pants Have Pleats (& How to Draft Them) – Pleats are much more than a design detail – they can contour the waist, add room at the hip and crotch, and change the leg silhouette without adding style lines. Discover how to add them to any pant pattern.
- DON'T BUY My Block 🚨 How to Lower the Crotch on Pant Patterns (Members only) – Traditional pant blocks are drafted for jeans and trousers — but most modern pant styles have a more relaxed fit around the crotch. Learn how to transform any trouser block into a relaxed fit block in 5 simple steps.
Ready to make your own patterns? Explore my Pattern Making Kits with professionally fitted blocks and step-by-step guides
🎓 Fashion Industry
- Fashion Career: What it's REALLY Like Working at Alexander McQueen as a Pattern Maker – Go behind the scenes of one of fashion's most iconic studios — an honest, insider look at what professional pattern making really looks like at the highest level of the industry.
- Design to Production: How to Create YOUR Fashion Collection – Ready to launch your own clothing brand? A complete guide to taking a collection from design to production — covering sampling, essential documents and retail and wholesale pricing.
- Get Your DREAM Pattern Making Job 🌈✨ How I Got Hired by Alexander McQueen & Jenny Packham – How I beat the competition to land senior pattern making roles at Alexander McQueen and Jenny Packham — and exactly what it takes to nail your pattern making trial.
- Money-Saving Tips? 💰 How Fashion Designers Create MEMORABLE Collections and SAVE Money – Discover the pattern making strategies fashion designers use to reduce sampling costs, work more efficiently and create collections that are cohesive and memorable.
📸 Recreate the Runway
- How to Make Michelle Yeoh’s Oscars Dress | Balenciaga Couture (feat. Kim Kardashian) – Recreating an existing design leaves nowhere to hide! 🫣 Learn how to drape Michelle Yeoh's stunning Balenciaga Oscars dress.
- Can I Do Better? 🤔 Recreate Gwyneth Paltrow's Iconic Tom Ford Dress – Follow my draping process as I recreate this iconic dress and share a clever pattern making technique to improve the cape.
- This BLEW My Mind 🤯 Recreate Alaïa Barrel Pants – See how to use the slash and spread technique to recreate the twisted side seam and rounded leg of these incredible Alaïa barrel pants.
✏️ Copy Your Clothes
- ✨FREE WORKSHOP✨ How to Make PATTERNS From Your Clothes – Learn how to accurately copy your favourite clothes without unpicking them and check your pattern is correct before sewing.
- The TRICK To Copying Sleeves – Discover how to account for ease, check your measurements and create an accurate pattern that captures the fit and shape of the original garment.
- Struggle with Darts? 2 Accurate Ways to Copy Clothes with Darts – Darts add shaping to a garment, making them difficult to copy because they can't be laid flat. Discover two professional methods for accounting for dart excess and creating accurate patterns.
🪡 Pattern & Sewing Projects
- Circle Skirts Are NOT Circles: Make a Pattern for ANY Flared Skirt – Move beyond traditional drafting methods and discover a more intuitive approach to creating beautifully balanced flared skirts tailored to your own designs.
- Let’s Start Sewing! Easy Circle Skirt From Tablecloth (Thrift Flip) – Perfect for beginners, this simple sewing project turns a tablecloth into a beautiful circle skirt.
- DIY McQueen Armband Pincushion – Make the armband pincushion we made and used in-house at Alexander McQueen in just 20 mins. It's perfect tool or gift for designers, pattern makers & home sewers!
Ready to make your own patterns? Explore my Pattern Making Kits with professionally fitted blocks and step-by-step guides
❤️ Can't Get Enough (Members only videos)
- Jacket Lapel & Collar (Step-By-Step Pattern Drafting Tutorial) – A flexible 10-step method for drafting any jacket lapel and collar — peak, notch or shawl, single or double breasted — with industry tricks to calculate button extension and placement, and ensure the lapel and collar roll beautifully.
- Make Clothes For YOUR Body Shape 🍑 How to Measure Your Body and Find Your Body Type – Learn how to take accurate body measurements, identify your body shape and create clothes that are tailored to your unique proportions—not just a standard size chart.
- How to Draft a Two-Piece Sleeve | The Tailoring Method Professionals Use – Your arm isn't straight, so why should your sleeve be? Learn how to transform a one-piece sleeve into a tailored two-piece — improving comfort, movement and fit while reducing fabric wrinkles around the elbow.
- Make Any Mannequin Your Size & Shape – Create a custom dress form that truly matches your body shape. In this two-part video series, you'll learn how to measure your body, compare it to your mannequin and pad it accurately for better-fitting patterns and accurate draping.
- DON'T BUY My Block 🚨 How to Lower the Crotch on Pant Patterns (Members only) – Traditional pant blocks are drafted for jeans and trousers — but most modern pant styles have a more relaxed fit around the crotch. Learn how to transform any trouser block into a relaxed fit block in 5 simple steps.
- How to Drape a Slip Dress (Then Turn It Into a Pattern) – Learn how to design and make patterns at the same time — plus 9 professional draping tips to master the technique.
- 5 Biggest Mistakes People Make Cutting Silk and Other Delicate Fabrics – Cutting silk doesn't need to be a nightmare. Avoid these 5 common cutting mistakes and learn how professionals cut delicate fabrics.
- How Pros REALLY Rotate Darts – Traditional flat pattern methods are limited. Discover how professionals rotate darts and contour garments at the same time for faster, more accurate results.
Want access to members-only tutorials? Explore YouTube membership tiers and benefits
📚 Keep Learning
I regularly add new pattern making tutorials — bookmark this page and subscribe to Pattern Making with Leigh on YouTube, so you don't miss a video.
Can't find the topic you're looking for or have a tutorial idea? I'd love to hear from you. Send your suggestions to studio@cliqdpatternkits.com
Let your imagination run wild,
Leigh xx