Please post any ideas for enhancement and feature requests in this discussion. I will collect them and periodically hold polls to vote for the most wanted features. Please try to conform to the same format as this post to make it easier to find descriptions of features, versus discussion of same.

One feature that I have heard from a friend and new-ish user of Dress Shop is the ability to browse designs by viewing a list of the "technical drawings" of designs, instead of browsing through directories and files:
Synopsis: Browse designs via a listing of the technical drawings
Description: This feature will allow user to browse designs by viewing a list of the "technical drawings" of designs, instead of browsing through directories and files. The designs will still be grouped in the same groupings as before i.e. user will first select "Blouse", "Dresses", "Jumpsuits", etc. then for example, within "Blouse", select "Casual", "Close Fit", "Comfort", "Fitted", "Halter", "Princess", etc. Each listing will be a graphical listing of the designs' technical drawings, rather than of directories and files.

Would love to see dart rotation ability.. I know we have a very primitive version in the dart tool section but it does not give a true dart rotation.

The waist shaping of the empire styles needs a lot of work. Currently the side shaping at the waist goes like ) instead of (. There is a large internal dart uptake but this combined with a convex side shaping at the waist really skews the grain.

Also I'd like some of the patterns in the collections to be listed alphabetically or at least grouped w/the main menu patterns.

Having been a beta tester I own all of the collections but searching thru them to find a specific pattern is time consuming.

Welcome aboard - looking forward to great things happening for MPD. Bonnie Triola

I'm not sure if the function is now available, but wouldn't it be nice to see the changes you make to a chart, and at the same time see the result on your pattern at the same time. Right now, when making adjustments to a chart, 1/2 the pattern is covered by the chart.

Hi Anna,

I am probably wishing for the sky, but I'd really like to see the manual curve adjuster for the crotch and inseam back/front in pants that was available a couple of builds ago. Optionally a series of curve options that best suit the body type wanting the pants. You may have seen the articles in Threads Magazine, or Palmer and Pletch showing around 5-6 different crotch shapes in women of the same size, or even variations in people around you in real life....

Also tweaking so the program can cope with people like me whose measurements show a very tilted waist (in its perception . This means that currently to get an adequate crotch curve the measurements are fudged, then I have to redesign the side to centre-front waist by hand so the pants and even skirts sit down on my waist and not up over my diaphragm.

Hope this makes sense.

I sew for multiple shapes in the family both male and female, and lately prefer pants patterns printed several years ago to current versions. I do think the upper body drafts for shirts and blouses are very good.

Helen McBeath.
Sth. Australia.
Long term DS Pro and MPD Pro user.

Hi, Anna, and Happy (almost) New Year!

I'll jump in with something I would dearly love to have......

Shaped facings for skirt and pants waistlines as alternatives to waistbands. Grosgrain ribbon simply doesn't work for me.

Hello Anna,
So good to see you on board! Excuse my ignorance, but can you tell us a little about yourself? Maybe I missed your introduction, but I am not sure who you are. I am delighted to see someone stepping in to support DS in any case! Where are you located? Any chance you will be offering workshops?
Kathy
in California

quote:

Originally posted by kt:
Hello Anna,
So good to see you on board! Excuse my ignorance, but can you tell us a little about yourself? Maybe I missed your introduction, but I am not sure who you are. I am delighted to see someone stepping in to support DS in any case! Where are you located? Any chance you will be offering workshops?
Kathy
in California

I am actually about to send out an email to everybody who has a login on livingsoftnw.com to introduce myself. In that email, I'm including a link to this discussion. I posted this discussion and then I got busy with other stuff and the result is that you have no idea who I am!

I have actually added a post introducing myself in the "Announcement" forum, but of course you wouldn't have known about that reading my post here!

Briefly, I am taking over the Dress Shop reins from Bob et al. Full details are in my introductory post, here .

What a great introduction! Great to have you on board!
Duh, anna Austin tx. I get it now....

I am looking forward to a great future for DS. Maybe with 3D printing we can get custom-made dress forms one day?
Kathy

Hi Anna,
Glad that you are with us! I look forward to the new features that you will bring to Dress Shop! I am particularly interested in porting the patterns to other programs. Right now I have a way to get my patterns into AutoCad where I do my design work, but it is cumbersome. It would be nice to be able to output the pattern in a .pdf format which one could the import directly into AutcCad. Also I am doing some work with 3D body scans and you could basically drape the patterns on the body scans if you could get them in a more "user friendly" format. OK, that's my rant. Glad to meet you and I look forward to your stuff.
~Giovonnae

quote:

Originally posted by Scardybeachkitty:
I'm not sure if the function is now available, but wouldn't it be nice to see the changes you make to a chart, and at the same time see the result on your pattern at the same time. Right now, when making adjustments to a chart, 1/2 the pattern is covered by the chart.

I would also like to see this added to Dress Shop. I struggle with the crotch curve on pants.

Add an around-the-body thigh measurement, and a measurement for how far below the waist it is. Currently we only have a thigh circumference measurement. I have large thighs which affect the ‘hip curve’ on patterns, but I can’t get the program to put that curve where I need the greatest fullness, because it’s below my butt. I'd also like to see the ability to change the pants shaping in the knee area. Now, we can do that only by fiddling with thigh and calf ease.

Karel,
Great suggestion! My hips are only 34" but my muscular thighs are equal to/greater than that. Thanks for mentioning that.
Kathy

quote:

Originally posted by kt:
What a great introduction! Great to have you on board!

Thanks!

quote:

I am looking forward to a great future for DS. Maybe with 3D printing we can get custom-made dress forms one day?
Kathy

Er... let's not get carried away with the ideas, haha !

Seriously though, the ability to 3D-print is a great idea. It's a huge idea though, especially if coupled with 3D topological scan of a body! I think the idea is big enough around that one can build a whole company!

quote:

Originally posted by Vonnie A:
Hi Anna,
Glad that you are with us! I look forward to the new features that you will bring to Dress Shop! I am particularly interested in porting the patterns to other programs. Right now I have a way to get my patterns into AutoCad where I do my design work, but it is cumbersome. It would be nice to be able to output the pattern in a .pdf format which one could the import directly into AutcCad. Also I am doing some work with 3D body scans and you could basically drape the patterns on the body scans if you could get them in a more "user friendly" format. OK, that's my rant. Glad to meet you and I look forward to your stuff.
~Giovonnae

I don't know for sure but I suspect adding the ability to output in other formats might not be too difficult nor time consuming. I'll keep this idea in my ideas queue.

quote:

Originally posted by kt:
Karel,
Great suggestion! My hips are only 34" but my muscular thighs are equal to/greater than that. Thanks for mentioning that.
Kathy

Thanks, Karel and Kathy! To be able to draft for "alternative body features" is certainly a desirable functionality. I suspect, though, that the drafting engine will require significant changes for such a functionality. I'll keep this idea in my ideas queue.