Methods of Garment Pattern Grading

Methods of Garment Pattern Grading

Harshani Wijendra
Sri Lanka Institute of Textile & Apparel Technology (SLITA)
Email: harshani_bipasha@yahoo.com

Pattern Grading
Pattern Grading is the process whereby patterns of different sizes are produced from the original master pattern. This process can be performed manually or automatically by a computerized system. Patterns are graded according to size charts which present the sizes and the average measurements of the population group for which the garments are intended.

Garment Pattern Grading

Methods of Grading
There are three basic methods of grading: cut and spread, pattern shifting, and computer grading. No one method is technically superior and all are equally capable of producing a correct grade.

01. Cut-and-spread method: The easiest method, which is the basis of the other two methods, is to cut the pattern and spread the pieces by a specific amount to grade up, or overlap them to grade down.

Cut-and-spread method

02. Pattern shifting: Pattern shifting is the process of increasing the overall dimensions of a pattern by moving it a measured distance up and down and left and right, (using a specially designed ruler) and redrawing the outline, to produce the same results as the cut-and-spread method.

Pattern shifting

03. Computer grading: This is the fastest method, but tends to be an investment only larger manufacturers can afford. However, sophisticated home computer software is becoming affordable.

Computer grading

Today most manufacturers grade pattern on CAD systems. The pattern maker guides a cursor around the edges of the sample pattern on a digitized table. At each of the key points, he or she pushes a button to record a grade point. Each point is cross referenced by a grade-rule table stored in the computer, which enlarges or reduces the pattern automatically according to the predetermined direction. If the pattern was originally made by computer, data are already in the computer and can be enlarged or reduced automatically.

Basic block pattern for female

It is necessary to draw the Grade lines from where the grading is done. As from those lines the increasing or the decreasing of measurements will be done.

Pattern line grading

Image Curtsey: http://www.fashion-incubator.com/

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