An essential guide to patternmaking for plus-size fashion, and the specialized skills, shapes, and techniques required to achieve a great fit and make beautiful clothing that truly understands plus-size bodies.
Featuring all the major block types for contemporary apparel – from fitted bodices to T-shirts, sleeve variations to swimwear – and packed with clear illustrations and step-by-step guidance, Brown and Kelleher guide you through:
- drafting a complete set of plus-size blocks suitable for use with models and clients
- industry plus-size fit forms
- adapting existing designs for plus sizes
- practical skills for respectful measuring, fitting, and working with larger bodies.
Covering every step of the pattern-drafting process, from developing a size chart, to considering mobility and wearing ease, to adapting smaller dress forms for use with plus-sizes, Plus-Size Patternmaking for Womenswear is an essential textbook for all modern fashion and apparel students.
Online resources available for download:
- Instructor resources, including class presentation slides
- Sample size charts, blank size chart templates, and ease chart
- Instructions for calculating required measurements for block drafting section
- Standard measurements used in block drafting
- A collection of plus size croquis in different sizes and poses
Gabby Brown is a technical designer in the US fashion industry. Her experience is in ready-to-wear apparel manufacturing for major retailers including Abercrombie & Fitch and JCPenney. Gabby's background is focused on fitting, construction, patternmaking, grading, and block development. She teaches workshops and intensive classes, and works with private clients to create their own custom wardrobes.
Leila Kelleher (she/her) is an Assistant Professor of Fashion Design and Social Justice at Parsons School of Design. She works at the intersection of fashion and biomechanics to centre fat bodies that are traditionally excluded by the fashion industry. Leila's teaching, research, and professional practice uses an interdisciplinary, decolonized, and anatomically-based approach that applies the principles of biomechanics, the study of human movement, to fashion design and production.
Her current research is centred on exploring best practices for plus size patternmaking, grading, and fashion pedagogy. She is also working on a project that explores the fat fashion experience through the lens of making and is the co-owner of Muna and Broad, a plus size specific sewing pattern company. Her previous research includes a multi-year Indigenous partnership in the Canadian Arctic, biomechanical research on sporting protective equipment and functional movement, and occupational injuries in professional musicians. Leila has a PhD in Biomechanics from Western University (Canada), a Masters in Music Performance from the Eastman School of Music, and was previously a Professor of Health Sciences and Wellness at Humber College in Canada.
