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Those of you who make your own clothes and sundry, what are your favorite sewing patterns?
I'm also interested in hearing from those of you who draft your own patterns or go patternless.
What have been your favorite things things to make (most fun, most useful, most instructive, etc.)?
Basics I like:
The pants pattern in the book The Act of Sewing by Sonya Phillips
The Blanc T shirt
The Hathaway Tank
The Yanta Overalls
Instructions are good. (Except if you're using bias tape to finish the necklines and armholes for the Hathaway, you don't need to iron the tape into place. Bias tape can be eased into the curves without the heat in my experience.)
I tend to unfussy projects due to time and interest constraints, so no fancy suggestions from me :)
Unfussy sounds good to me! I am particularly intrigued by those overalls.
Have you made any of the other patterns from these sites as well? Are there any you would not recommend?
I can't say that I've gotten straight up lemons from any of these folks (I've done a few of Helen's Closet like the [Elliot Tee] (https://helensclosetpatterns.com/product/elliot-sweater-and-tee-pdf-pattern/) oh, and try the [Costa Tote] (https://helensclosetpatterns.com/product/costa-tote/) which is free when you sign up for a newsletter. I think I've only done those two from Blank Slate). I did the basic shirt from The Act of Sewing and feel like I need to fine tune the arms for fit as they ran a bit big for me, but the pattern is just fine (and the pants I love).
I enjoy making my own patterns. I learned a lot from Patternmaking for Menswear by Gareth Kershaw which is a great introduction to drafting bespoke patterns and has step by step guides for a bunch of different clothing items to measure. Now, I use CLO3D to build custom patterns directly on a model based on my measurements. Super cool software that let's you experiment a lot without wasting/spending a ton on fabric.