I am getting lots of emails about this Upgrade and thought I would throw in my 2 cents.

DS8 Is a complete revamp of Dress Shop- it's just as easy to use and ALL your prior owned collections are still in there and WILL ACTIVATE as soon as you go to file>retrieve my activations on line in a few moments. You don’t loose anything- you gain more patterns and options.

It stands alone so you do not need any prior versions of DS to make it work. So, if you are changing computers just go to the home page, click on downloads and you will be up and running in minutes.

The latest technology we have been developing over the last few years is IN THERE. New Features, lots of new patterns, design lines and even new fit levels.

Many of the more difficult adjustments that needed some pretty complex tools have been automated making your design print and draft selections easier.

The new tool menus found under Design Tools have new easier to work sub menus- such as the fit menu- select a fit level, adjust individual body point easily and on a single page.

The options tools should be familiar to all...with added graphics showing you clearly just what a basic 3 collar looks like or anyone of a dozen other design features.

Just download, activate, set your *preferences under settings, and your page set up to compliment your printer.

Ok now you are ready to design and print. *I would remind you to enable scroll bars, and if you are comfortable with it use inches and decimals rather than fractions.

Select your chart from size>complete chart or use a standard or measurement wizard chart if you are just starting out, then go to File>Load pattern and select exactly the pattern you want then use the option and design tools to make additional personal choices.

Then under the print heading see the sewing instructions box. It doesn’t matter if you have been sewing 40 years or 4 days- the instructions are clear and specific to the pattern and design elements you have selected.

Photos and graphics help so we really loaded the instructions with how to's from preparing your fabric to selecting a seam finish, inserting a zipper, adding one of the great new pockets and cutaways, interfacing, to hemming.

The program is all about custom fit for any body shape, or size. The latest technology allows better fit of the “fitted” and stretch fit styles that are so popular.

We hope you enjoy it and will share your new wardrobe opportunities with your fellow users.
Have FUN!!!
Kaaren

This might be a stupid question, but I have not used DressShop 7 since getting MPD2. Why would you require both?
Marge UK

No. I dont believe you would. MPDPro has all this capability.

Kaaren

quote:

No. I dont believe you would. MPDPro has all this capability.

I agree somewhat, but not completely. I know that Kaaren prefers MPD because she is a designer and MPD has more design tools and a bit more control over producing original patterns.

But, Dress Shop includes more pre-defined patterns and those are more convenient for others that do not share Kaaren's do-it-yourself approach.

The feature we added some time back to allow Dress Shop patterns to be exported to MPD and imported there mostly works. When you load a Dress Shop pattern in MPD, you usually get a good draft and you usually get options that are reasonable. But, you did NOT get all the options that pattern had in Dress Shop.

As we worked on Dress Shop 8 and tested every pattern in Dress Shop, we did find several hundred that were not drafting properly. The MPD options menus are just completely different from the Dress Shop ones. Many of the MPD options are buried in the MPD catalog menus, where they are used to select a pattern in the first place. Or, create a new pattern if you prefer that view of what MPD does.

With Dress Shop 8, we used most of the MPD drafting engine improvements, but also went through the Dress Shop pattern library and made sure that they ALL worked. There are 715 pre-defined Dress Shop patterns at this time and we made sure that they all both drafted properly, got appropriate options, and enabled the right tools. Imported patterns did not do that well and certainly did not include all of the Dress Shop options.

For example, the imported Fitted Shirt pattern, when loaded in MPD, has 5 neckline options. When you load that same pattern in Dress Shop 8 Pro, it has 57 neckline choices.

Is it worth having Dress Shop 8 when you own MPD? Only if you have some favorite patterns in Dress Shop that you like. If you prefer to create your own patterns with MPD, then perhaps not.

I was delightedo see an upgrade in DS. I really thought since MPD came on the scene, DS was an orphan concept. I just want to make sure I understand the basic difference between the two programs. DS is for those of us who just want to click, print and sew adding our own touches via fabric manipulations and choices, MPD is for those of us who want to design a garment almost from scratch? Is the fit the same? I was going to add the pants and upgrade to MPD, now I am leaning towards upgrading my DS where I have the majority of patterns. It is a quandry. Unfortunately, I can't do both. Input please --Denise--

quote:

I was delightedo see an upgrade in DS. I really thought since MPD came on the scene, DS was an orphan concept. I just want to make sure I understand the basic difference between the two programs. DS is for those of us who just want to click, print and sew adding our own touches via fabric manipulations and choices, MPD is for those of us who want to design a garment almost from scratch? Is the fit the same? I was going to add the pants and upgrade to MPD, now I am leaning towards upgrading my DS where I have the majority of patterns. It is a quandry. Unfortunately, I can't do both. Input please

I believe your description of the two products is pretty on-target, but there may be other reasons that some prefer one to the other. There are differences in what patterns are available in MPD versus Dress Shop. And, vice versa.

If your main interest is pants though, both products will now produce essentially the same pants patterns and those patterns are radically improved over what either product had before. I'll post separately on that topic.

Both MPD and Dress Shop do now have the same adjustments available for pants and both will have the new pants designer tool. With MPD, that tool is available today. For Dress Shop, the full tool will not be released for a few more weeks, while we insure that all of the new pants features (slenderizer pocket, contoured waistbands, new yoke adjustments, the new pockets, etc.) will all work on all of the older Dress Shop pants patterns.

But, that tool will be out soon and if you can only get one product, both of them now produce superior pants patterns and have equivalent capability in that area. So, the choice is, as you put it, design-your-own versus load-and-sew. That distinction is just my opinion, though....

Ahhh, you have provided excellent information. My interest is not only pants, but the whole gauntlet of patterns from outerwear to lingerie. The improvement in the pants drafting in DS addresses issues that I have had. Since I have a larger bust/cup size, has there been an improvement in the drafting of that as well? ----Denise

yes- it is now much easier in DS and has been in MPD to get a closer fit and in particular midriff fit on dresses and blouses.

Kaaren

Well thank you both for that informative answer. I am going to sit on the fence for a bit. I am very happy with MPD and it works well for what I want to do.
Marge UK

On the download page for DS8 it says it will not work unless the upgrade is purchased? Does this mean that you can't even look at it to evaluate the program before purchasing?

Joan in Concord, CA

quote:

On the download page for DS8 it says it will not work unless the upgrade is purchased? Does this mean that you can't even look at it to evaluate the program before purchasing?

No. It's difficult to word a description about what is going on in a short notice on the upgrade page.

First, you can download Dress Shop 8 and install it and see it as a demo.

But, the reason it has been 3 years since the last major Dress Shop upgrade is two-fold:

1. The menu system over-flowed. Dress Shop has too many patterns for the in-product menu system. It got slow. It got hard to support. It just got too messy to keep adding more and more patterns. So, with DS8, we went to patterns on disk and we are using Windows to handle the volume. You now use Load Pattern to view the pattern list on disk and there can be any number of new patterns now. with this change, Dress Shop can now get new patterns in the future.

2. Supporting all the prior versions just broke down. When you ran the Dress Shop 7 code, it would become Dress Shop 5 or Dress Shop 6 if that was what you actually own. Making one piece of software accurately display the appropriate patterns, tools, and options for all three versions (six versions if you count standard versus pro) just got too messy and complicated to continue with.

So, Dress Shop 8 does not do that. You can look at the demo, but if you want to run that software (it really is much, much better), it just will not work if you only own some earlier version of Dress Shop. If you own Dress Shop 7 and install the Dress Shop 8 code, you get a demo, nothing more. If you want those improvements, you need to purchase the upgrade.

There will be no further updates, pattern releases, collections, new tools, addons, or anything else released for Dress Shop 5, Dress Shop 6, or Dress Shop 7. Those products are now "stable" and will be unchanged hereafter.

Doll Shop Deluxe is not certain at this time. I have a Doll Shop Deluxe 8 that is 98% working, but am uncertain whether we can get that last 2% or not. Still working on that one.....

I have good measurements in MPD, with the exception of a few tweeks in my pants. Will
these MPD measurements work in the new DS8 with
out additional tweeks.
MG

That depends... which version of MPD are you using. If you have already adjusted your pants fit to 2.5 and pant designer Yes...if not pants may need some adjustment.

Kaaren

quote:

That depends... which version of MPD are you using. If you have already adjusted your pants fit to 2.5 and pant designer Yes...if not pants may need some adjustment.

The pants draft for Dress Shop 8 and MPD 2.5 are the same. Both vary from the immediately prior version of each program. Typical adjustments are to crotch extension, center back waist dart, and possibly crotch length. If you enter zero for crotch extension and center back waist dart, both programs will come up with pretty good defaults that may be all you need for those. Or, you can tweak a bit from there.

IF you have a J-hook to the crotch curve, then you should reduce that crotch length measurement (probably) or increase crotch extension or decrease Inseam. The Dress Shop 8 web pages about pants show all this more clearly, with pattern pix and arrows and such. These notes apply to Dress Shop 8 as well as to MPD 2.5 (the most recent MPD upgrade).

http://www.livingsoftnw.com/DS...PantsAdjustments.htm

I downloaded DS8 and installed it. I got the strangest looking pants draft; didn't look anything like pants. Also there was no way to choose a pattern, ie. blouse, jacket, etc. I think that would be called the "Catalog". Got a Microsoft error message before I could send a "Problem Report" so it shut the program down.

No more crotch tool! Sorry I really liked it's capabilities.

Did a system restore to before installing DS8 so I'm back in business with DS7. Think I'll wait awhile before I decide to upgrade.

Joan in Concord, CA