Zippers & Hardware
The hardware you choose decides how you draft the opening. The wrong seam allowance, or no clearance for the hardware, makes zippers buckle and lets metal show along the finished edge.
Fastener Extensions
A button closure needs two things from your draft: enough overlap to hold, and buttons in the right place. A common beginner mistake is adding an extension without knowing where the Center Front line sits. The result is a closure that does not line up, or a garment that gaps open when you move.
Buttons & Buttonholes
Buttons and buttonholes look like a simple finishing detail, but the wrong spacing, direction or size makes a placket gape, a collar band choke, or a buttonhole stretch out too soon.
Plackets & Pockets
How to draft sleeve plackets, and how to choose, size and mark patch, in-seam and welt pockets.
Facings & Edge Finishes
Every edge on a pattern has to be finished somehow. Most edges are finished by sewing them to another edge, like a side seam or a center back seam.