Pattern Drafting & Cutting

The Cutter’s Craft

Pattern Drafting & Cutting Course in London

The course for people who run tailoring businesses, or want to. Whether you’re opening your own shop or growing one you already have, the person who controls the pattern controls the quality, the fit and the profit. Over 16 weeks you’ll learn to draft, cut and correct fit in the British tradition, so your business never depends on someone else’s patterns.

In a bespoke house, the cutter decides how a garment will look and fit before a single stitch is sewn. This course teaches that craft directly: how to measure, how to think about posture and proportion, and how to turn what you see into a pattern that works.

What You’ll Learn

Foundations

• Taking accurate body measurements
• Reading posture, stance, balance and proportion
• Recording a figure so it can be drafted from

Drafting & Cutting

• Drafting a jacket pattern by the direct-measurement method
• Drafting the trouser and waistcoat patterns
• Checking and truing a pattern
• Preparing the cloth, laying out the pattern and cutting accurately and economically
• Marking, and leaving the allowances needed for fittings

Fitting & Correction

• Reading a fitting: what the cloth is telling you
• Diagnosing common fit problems
• Correcting the pattern for posture and figure differences
• Re-cutting and re-fitting

Master Pattern

• Building your personal master pattern
• Recording corrections so they can be reused
• Reviewing your work with your instructor

Skills & Techniques You’ll Learn

How You’ll Learn

Hands-on, from the first session. Each technique is demonstrated by an instructor trained in the British tradition, then you draft and cut it yourself, and test it in a fitting. Pattern cutting is learned by doing it again and again, so you’ll work on real figures and real corrections rather than theory alone.

Who It’s For

Tailoring business owners and future owners, people who want to work as a cutter in a tailor’s house, tailors who want to draft their own patterns, designers who want garments that fit, and anyone who wants to work from the body rather than from a book. Tell us about your experience and your plans when you register, and we’ll guide you on what to expect.

Where It Leads

For many students this course is the foundation of their own label or tailoring practice. Pair it with a garment-making course to cover both the cutting and the making: build what you draft in British Coat Making or Trousers & Waistcoat, or browse all courses.