I mentioned a few posts back that I’d purchased a design program called Garment Designer by Cochinelle. My main motivation to get this was for machine knitting projects. But, it also does draft for sewing patterns.
My friend Liz came over and we spent a couple of hours getting my measurements, plugging them into Garment Designer and spitting out a pattern. The patterns can be printed on any size paper from taped to plotter size. I essentially used the options for the most fitted knit I could sew — allowing me to check out the overall fit of my sloper.
I have to say I’m pretty happy! No darts were harmed in the making of this sloper. I think I could use a bit more room in the bust, but not enough for me to care or (IMHO) for it to matter when it comes to knitwear for myself.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BFZHGsrj-Il/
Once you have your design, you can then punch in your gauge and the program spits out basic directions for your increases and decreases (along with the row count, needle position and estimates of yarn needed). If you’d like, they also give shaping instructions for making your bands too. Or, if you’re hand knitting, it will tell you how many inches along you should be and the number of live stitches.
I don’t know how much I’ll use it for sewing as I have plenty of patterns to make. But, never say never!
So, that’s an overview of the program. Hopefully next time, I’ll tell you if it actually works!
Miss Celie's Pants 
How does this compare with DAK? I’m interested in getting something for MK patterns too!
Well, it’s a lot less! DAK has on screen directions which I think is AMAZING. It’s generally for Windows machines only too but can be run on Apples. I’ve only seen DAK demo’d so I can’t be sure of other things. DAK does have a module that allows you to draft from scratch vs using templates to start from. But, I realized I didn’t need it.
If it ran native on a Apple and was a few hundred less, I might have been tempted by DAK. Especially now that I have a electronic bulky too. But, as a beginner I couldn’t justify the extra expense.
On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 4:29 PM, Miss Celie's Pants wrote:
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I also have a Knit Leader (unused so far) and can print out patterns from 1/8 to full scale. I know you can do that with DAK too. It’s just another reason I liked it.
Interesting! I think a friend of mine had bought this at a time I’d just started sewing. How does it pattern pieces like collars, cuffs, etc?
I’m not positive about cuffs as I haven’t drafted any shirts yet., But, you can place pockets on multiple places and there are multiple collar options including stand, foldover, shawl and ‘tailored’. It’s a pretty great program for the cost.
On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 8:04 PM, Miss Celie's Pants wrote:
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I’ve had Garment Designer for a few years. It’s not perfect, but I’ve had better luck making patterns for my hard-to-fit body using GD, than trying to alter patterns that I’ve bought. It does have certain quirks. For instance, I find that it spits out sleeves that are too wide for my taste. To overcome that, I reduce my arm circumference in the measurements I input for my sloper.
There’s a very helpful group for GD on Yahoo:
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/DesignerSchool/conversations/messages
Hope to see more posts about you GD experiences!
🙂 Chris
Thanks! I am a often questioner on the Yahoo group. I find it pretty intuitive. Maybe I should have tested my sleeves first… When I first input my measurements my sloper was very skewed. But, then I went to the size closest to my measurements (18) and adjusted from there. I couldn’t believe the bust fit!
On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 9:01 PM, Miss Celie's Pants wrote:
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Your top fits perfectly! Wow. I especially like the neckline—is that just how you laid it out on the fabric?
Ha! I noticed that too. Pure placement 🙂
On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 9:34 PM, Miss Celie's Pants wrote:
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Rose trellis is a beautiful lace pattern, that will make a stunning vest!
Well if that top is any indication of how good Garmet Designer is, I say its pretty darn good :O)… that top fits perfect I think. On a totalllly different topic. I am on the hunt for a indoor bike stand for riding my bike inside. Planning on some rides in AR this fall. Need to train over the summer as much as I can. We are now hitting hot outside here in Texas. Plus I have to drive to sites to ride here where I am. Sooo I thought insides bike riding stand! My question is as I know you cycle. Do you have a indoor bike riding stand or do you know of a good one to get. I am shooting in the dark on this. I checked Amazon, I was overwhelmed LOL. Thanks.
i bought GD a couple of months ago and have been playing around with it. I was able to duplicate my drafted bodice sloper and a favorite pair of pants, but it took a lot of time and attempts. I saw you on the yahoo group. I am going out to the retreat in NM in August. Looking forward to that.
There’s a New Mexico retreat? I’ll have to look it up. If it’s near Santa Fe I’ll have a place to stay! I just attempted to knit my first sweater using it and I had a few problems. Not sure how much was user error or how much was the pattern. I’m thinking I might start sewing a 1/4 scale version of things first just to test them out. I like to think the Yahoo group is so quiet because people have so few problems with it 🙂
On Sun, Jun 5, 2016 at 3:36 PM, Miss Celie's Pants wrote:
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