Pattern Grading Course London
Learn Manual & Digital Pattern Grading From Industry Professionals
268. Want to learn professional pattern grading for fashion production ? Our pattern grading course in London teaches you how to accurately grade patterns into multiple sizes using both manual and digital grading techniques used within the fashion industry.
Whether you are a fashion student, startup clothing brand, pattern cutter
What Is Pattern Grading ?
Pattern grading is the process of increasing or decreasing a base pattern to create a full range of garment sizes while maintaining fit, balance and proportion.
Professional grading is essential for:
- Fashion brands
- Clothing manufacturers
- Independent designers
- Sample development
- Production preperation
- Consistent garment sizing
Learning how to grade patterns correctly helps reduce production errors, improve garment fit and prepare collections for manufacturing.
What You Will Learn
During the course you will learn:
Manual Pattern Grading
- Understanding grading rules
- Size increments and measurement charts
- Grade points and pattern balance
- Grading bodices, skirts, trousers, and sleeves
- Maintaining garment proportions across sizes
fashion Industry Techniques
- Womenswear grading
- Childrenswear grading
- Commercial sizing systems
- Production ready pattern preparation
- Understandingbfit and sizing consistency
Who This Course Is For
This course is suitable for:
- Fashion students
- Beginner pattern cutters
- Startup clothing brands
- Fashion designers
- Sewing professionals
- Home dressmakers wanting advanced skills
- Industry professionals developing technical knowledge
No previous grading experience is required, although basic sewing or pattern cutting knowledge is helpful.
One-To-One Pattern Grading Training In London
Unlike large classroom courses, our training is delivered through personalised one-to-one tuition, allowing you to learn at your own pace with direct guidance from an experienced industry professional.
You will receive:
- Individual support
- Practical hands on learning
- Real industry techniques
- Tailored guidance based on your experience level
- Professional advice for fashion production
Learn From Industry Experience
With over 40 years of experience in pattern cutting, grading and garment production, we provide practical training based on real fashion industry methods.
Our experience includes:
- fashion manufacturing
- Pattern development
- Garment fitting
- production grading
- Working with independent designers and fashion startups
The course focuses on professional techniques that can be applied to real world garment production.
Course Options
In-Person Pattern Grading Course London
Train in person with practical demonstrations and Hans on guidance.
Online Flexible Training
Flexible online tuition available for UK and international students.
Beginner & Advanced Tuition
lessons can be adapted for complete beginners or experienced fashion professionals wanting to improve technical grading skills.
Why Learn Pattern Grading ?
Professional grading skills can help you:
- Prepare garments for manufacturing
- Create consistent sizing
- Improve garment fit
- Reduce production mistakes
- Work more independently as a designer
- Increase technical fashion skills
- Develop fashion industry career opportunities
Pattern grading is one of the most valuable technical skills within fashion product development and garment production.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is Pattern Grading In Fashion ?
pattern grading is the process of scaling a base garment pattern into different sizes while maintaining correct fit and proportions.
Do I Need Pattern Cutting Experience ?
Basic sewing or pattern cutting knowledge is helpful, but beginners are welcome.
Is This Course Suitable For Fashion Students ?
Yes. The course is ideal for fashion students wanting to improve technical garment production skills.
Will I learn manual or digital grading ?
You Will learn manual grading that can also be applied to digital grading in a later course
Is One-To-One Tuition Available ?
Yes. All training is tailored to the individual students experience level and individual goals.
Manual pattern Grading Training
This manual pattern grading course is conducted from London studios in Walthamstow . These are one-to-one pattern grading classes conducted by highly experienced graders and tutors.
This course provides a short introduction to manual pattern grading for menswear, ladieswear, or childrenswear. No experience is necessary, although a basic familiarity with patterns or garment construction is advisable.
The classes can be for anyone considering taking up grading or pattern cutting as a career. Or for someone wanting to learn grading as part of a dressmaking hobby. Or to be able to adjust patterns to fit themselves.
Within the fashion industry, manual pattern grading is still widely used by smaller labels just grading one or two sizes. For anything else, computer grading is far more cost effective. Many brands outsource the grading to specialised digital grading services.
For anyone interested in becoming a professional grader, we recommend our digital pattern grading classes. Just ask for details.
Grading is an important part of the clothing production process. It involves the scaling of pattern sizes up and down from the base size, to provide an accurate fit in all sizes. This is a very useful skill both for the fashion professional and the home sewer.
Basic grading is fairly straightforward and can be learnt quickly. If you are considering learning how to grade via a computer, then it is a good idea to learn manual grading first as you are dealing with real physical patterns, rather than a computer screen.
Grading can be a useful introduction to pattern cutting, and every pattern cutter should learn how to grade.
It can be very expensive to have patterns professionally graded. Many graders will charge for a minimum of three sizes, so to have just one or two sizes graded can work out prohibitively expensive.
Grading The Bust Dart.
Grading is generally a very simple and straight forward process, except for the bust dart. Grading the bust dart is also straight forward, but when it is inconveniently positioned it can be really hard to understand. Sometime it is necessary to temporarily reposition the bust dart in order to grade it correctly.
Manual Pattern Grading.
Grading manually is the best way to learn how to grade initially. This way you get a feel for the patterns and how the shape changes as you grade to different sizes. The hands on approach is best.
Our manual pattern grading courses are suitable for beginners or intermediates. In order to learn pattern grading it is useful to have a basic understanding of patterns, but it is not necessary to be an accomplished pattern cutter.
Today most professional pattern grading is done by computer rather than manually, as it is far more efficient. However, there are many small companies and individuals that still grade manually rather than invest in the necessary equipment for computer grading, or using grading services that can be very expensive.
There are three methods of manual grading – Pattern shifting; slash and spread; stack grading. Stack grading used to be the method used by professional graders in the not too distant past. It was faster than grading individual sizes, but could be hard on the wrist joints.
Pattern Shifting.
The quickest way to grade by hand is to use the base pattern, shifting it in a clock wise direction, marking out a different part of the pattern as you go. This replicates the slash and spread method without having to cut the original pattern up.
Some people find it hard to grasp this method, and to visualise it. But it is really easy once you get the hang of it.
Slash And Spread.
The slash and spread method involves cutting the base size pattern up in order t create the new size. Many dressmakers may use this method, but it is very time consuming.
Stack Grading.
Stack grading used to be used by professional graders as it could be way faster than grading individual sizes. No one really uses the stack grading method today, except maybe digitally. It involves cutting all the sizes at the same time.
The disadvantages were that it was hard on the wrists, could produce quite rough cutting lines, and it was difficult to double check the grade accuracy – If one size was wrong, then all sizes were wrong.
When grading individual sizes you could then stack one pattern piece on top of the other in order to check the accuracy.
Grading Rules.
Whether you use computer grading or manual grading, it is still necessary to understand the basic rules of pattern grading. These are really quite straight forward for most styles that require only three or four sizes.
While to fully understand pattern grading would take years of practise and study, the basic rules can be picked up very quickly.
Our pattern grading classes focus on the basics of practical manual grading. This way it is far easier to understand the process and apply it either in manual pattern grading or computer grading. Our qualified tutors will guide you through the processes of grading basic tops, dresses and trousers.
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