Best 5 Pattern Making And Pattern Grading Software
Are you in the market for the best pattern making software to help streamline your product design and development process? Or maybe, you are tired of grading your patterns manually and need a software solution to make your work less stressful and faster, so you’re looking for the best pattern drafting software. Either way, this post is for you.
Truth be told; creating a piece of garment customers would like and want to buy can be laborious, especially if you are building from scratch rather than customizing blanks. You will have to devote a considerable amount of time to creating sketches, drafting and grading patterns, and putting together a tech pack. You can easily get overwhelmed if you attempt to do all these manually, hence the need for a software solution.
In this post, we will review the top pattern drafting and grading software tools used by professional pattern makers in the fashion industry. Be sure to read to the end.
What is Pattern Making and Grading?
Pattern making is the technique of creating a blueprint of a garment based on a designer’s concept. It involves drafting, adjusting, and finalizing templates, often using paper materials, that define the shape, size, and structure of each clothing piece.
Patterns can be made manually or digitally, depending on the tools and technologies used in the process. A well-made pattern ensures that fabric pieces fit together seamlessly, resulting in a garment that looks good and functions well.
Pattern grading, on the other hand, refers to the process of adding increments (or decrements as the case may be) to a base pattern to increase or decrease the size.
Benefits of Using Pattern-Making Software
Why switch to digital pattern-making and grading software? Here are some of the biggest advantages:
Reduces fabric waste by enabling precise pattern placement and automatic adjustments.
Saves time by automating manual tasks, making production faster.
Improves fit consistency by ensuring accuracy in different sizes and styles.
Enhances collaboration between design, production, and manufacturing teams.
Design faster and collaborate easier with manufacturers using Uphance PLM
Best Digital Pattern Maker and Grader Software Solutions
Let’s now review some of the best professional pattern-making and grading software solutions that allow you to create patterns and grade them without breaking a sweat.
Uphance
Although not a pattern drafting software so to speak, Uphance is great for managing your products’ lifecycle from ideation and design to material ordering to cutting and stitching to sales.
One area where Uphance really shines is in tech pack generation. It allows you to generate a well-detailed packed with sample images, properly annotated sketches, size specifications, and care instructions. The best part is that once you’ve generated the tech pack, you can send it off to your manufacturer via email with a few taps of the button.
What about handling graded specifications? Uphance handles that nicely, too.
Modaris By Lectra
Lectra is undoubtedly one of the biggest software vendors in the fashion industry, offering a wide range of software solutions, including Modaris. With Modaris, you can easily create a new pattern from scratch or develop from an already existing one. This means you can effortlessly create digital patterns for production purposes.
Besides making it easy to create digital patterns, Modaris also provides you with all the tools to grade your patterns to ensure they fit well and your designs come out in the right sizes.
Wish to create 3D prototypes of your designs? Modaris makes doing so a breeze.
CLO
While most professionals in fashion design use CLO for creating 3D prototypes, it can also come in handy for creating digital patterns. Like many other pattern-making software, CLO comes packed with lots of features to make drafting patterns a walk in the park.
One of such features is Seam Tape Extension, which allows you to align the start and end point of a seam correctly on your patterns. Another interesting feature is Pin Improvement which enables you to duplicate pins symmetrically on your patterns.
TukaTech
Third on this list of pattern design software with advanced grading tools is TukaTech, a fashion CAD software that allows you to do everything from creating digital patterns to creating custom grade rules and many more.
Why use TukaTech for your pattern-making needs? For starters, it comes with a set of pre-made pattern templates you can easily customize. Secondly, it’s flexible enough to allow you to draft your own grade rules. On top of that, it is packed with lots of marker-making tools that save you valuable time when developing a design.
Optitex
Optitex is another fashion design software that can help you streamline and speed up your pattern-making process, and you can do so collaboratively with your team. The best part is that it lets you create both 2D and 3D patterns which you can save and share in multiple different formats.
What’s more, Optitex allows you to grade your base patterns with just a few clicks of the button. Did we forget to mention it comes with a suite of marker-making tools?
How to Choose the Right Software for Your Needs
Choosing the best software depends on several factors:
Budget – Look for a solution that offers the best features within your price range.
Type of Business – Small brands, large manufacturers, and freelance designers may require different tools.
Ease of Use – Consider how much training is required to operate the software effectively.
Integration – Ensure the software works well with your existing systems.
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