You have to get a clear picture of where you are at with pattern making right now, how good you are with computers and technology, how much time you have to allocate to learning something new (at home, from a book, going to a course etc) and what you really want to achieve by the transition. Now you’re going to hear a lot of people recommending a lot of different programs and always remember they're coming from various different backgrounds, different experience, different needs and different interaction with other parts of the industry. It’s better in my opinion to get used to manipulating patterns on paper first … but of course, that’s up to you. I’m not fond of steep learning curves, but most fashion colleges do this … and many of their students don’t cope. If you’ve never made patterns on paper and you want to start out in CAD then you have twice as much to learn at the same time. And no one is more pleased to hear that than me! If you already know how to make a pattern on paper then the transition to CAD is really no more than learning new tools.

If you’re reading this it’s most likely because you’re interested in starting the transition from paper patterns to a CAD program … you want to start making digital patterns.

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