Sewing: Patternmaking Essentials Course

What you'll learn

Take control of fit and create patterns tailored to your body with our sewing & patternmaking short courses in Sydney!

If you're a confident sewer ready to move beyond commercial patterns, this Patternmaking Essentials course will help you develop the skills to draft, fit, and refine garment patterns using your own measurements.

Designed as a practical introduction to patternmaking, you'll create skirt, bodice, and pant blocks that form the foundation of well-fitting garments. Working step by step, you'll learn how to draft patterns on paper, sew and assess toiles (prototype garments), and refine fit through careful adjustment and testing.

As your understanding grows, you'll discover how shaping, balance, and proportion influence garment fit. Your finished patterns will then be transferred onto durable cardboard blocks complete with seam allowances, hems, and construction markings, creating a personalised set of reusable templates you'll use again and again.

Combining technical skill-building with creative problem-solving, this course will help you become more confident, independent, and precise in your garment making. Small class sizes ensure plenty of individual guidance throughout the drafting and fitting process, helping you build practical patternmaking skills used across sewing, fashion, and garment design.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this Patternmaking Essentials course, participants will have developed practical skills and knowledge in areas such as:

• Taking accurate body measurements for pattern drafting
• Drafting skirt, bodice, and pant patterns using personal measurements
• Creating and fitting toiles to test garment fit
• Making pattern adjustments to improve fit and shape
• Developing a personalised set of skirt, bodice, and pant pattern blocks
• Building a strong foundation in patternmaking for future garment design and construction

After finishing this course, you may wish to continue with our Patternmaking Extension course, where you'll learn how to transform your basic blocks into custom garment designs featuring collars, sleeves, cuffs, pockets, yokes, waistbands, and other design details.

Course content

What will be covered in this Patternmaking Essentials course?

During the course, participants will be guided through key concepts, techniques and approaches that typically include:

Lesson 1: Drafting and fitting a skirt block

• Taking accurate body measurements
• Drafting a skirt block on paper
• Cutting the pattern in calico and constructing a toile
• Fitting the toile and making adjustments
• Transferring the final pattern onto a cardboard block with seam allowances and hems

Lesson 2: Drafting and fitting a bodice block

• Drafting a bodice block using personal measurements
• Creating and fitting a toile
• Refining the pattern through adjustments
• Transferring the final pattern onto a cardboard block with construction markings

Lesson 3: Drafting and fitting a pant block

• Drafting a pant block using your measurements
• Constructing and fitting a toile
• Making adjustments to improve fit
• Creating a finished cardboard block with all necessary markings

Lesson 4: Refinement and further patternmaking techniques

• Finalising skirt, bodice, and pant blocks
• Completing any unfinished work
• Checking and refining pattern fit
• Introduction to simple pattern adaptations such as pockets, waistbands, or sleeves, or commencing a personal patternmaking project

Please note: Most Patternmaking Essentials courses run as four full-day sessions. If you are enrolled in the eight-session evening course, you will cover approximately half a lesson per session.

Content may vary slightly depending on class pace, participant interests, and instructor approach.

Intended audience

Who is this Patternmaking: Essentials course for?

This course is designed for confident home sewists and creative makers who are ready to move beyond commercial sewing patterns and create garments tailored specifically to their own body.

It is ideal for anyone interested in developing professional patternmaking skills for dressmaking, fashion design, costume, or personal garment making.

Participants should be comfortable using a sewing machine and have experience constructing simple garments. We recommend completing our Sewing Essentials and Sewing Extension courses, or having equivalent sewing experience, before enrolling.

Course venue

Rozelle Campus

2A Gordon Street, Rozelle NSW 2039 (corner of Gordon St & Victoria Rd on the grounds of St. Joseph's Church

Accessibility: This class takes place in an upper-level room accessible by stairs only. The lift is currently out of service. We apologise for any inconvenience.

Course materials

What to bring to class

Patternmaking tools

• 5 metres of calico (150cm width) or 7 metres (115cm width)
• Ruler (minimum 50cm)
• Tracing wheel (spiked)
• Measuring tape
• Sharp pencils and eraser
• Notebook and pens
• One red and one black or blue thick marker
• Large glue stick (e.g. UHU)
• Stapler

Sewing supplies

• Pins and hand sewing needles
• Thread
• Small thread-cutting scissors or clippers
• Paper scissors
• Fabric scissors

Sewing machine supplies

• Domestic sewing machine needles: 130/705 H, size 80 or 90
• Plastic bobbins suitable for your machine (top-loading or drop-in models)
• Quality sewing thread (such as Gutermann, Rasant, Mettler, or Aurifil)

Other items

• Water and snacks

Additional information

Please note the following:

• For full-day classes, a 30-minute lunch break will be scheduled. You're welcome to bring your own lunch or visit one of the nearby cafés along Darling Street.
• Please wear closed-in shoes in the classroom.