Spent $400 on a digital pattern drafting course and it was a total waste

I bought this online course because the ads made it look like the fast track to making my own patterns from scratch. After six weeks, I realized it just taught me how to use their specific, clunky software that I'd have to pay a monthly fee for anyway. The instructor never answered questions in the forum, and the 'advanced' module was just the basics repeated. I could have learned the same core concepts from free YouTube videos in a weekend. Now I'm back to draping on my mannequin the old way. Has anyone found a good, no-BS resource for learning digital pattern making that doesn't lock you into one program?

3 comments

3 Comments

nina_hall2mo ago

Doesn't it feel like every "fast track" course is just a long sales pitch for a subscription? I've seen this exact thing happen with graphic design and video editing tutorials too. They sell you on the dream of a skill but the real product is locking you into their software ecosystem. It's frustrating because the actual knowledge is out there for free, but they gatekeep it behind a paywall and a bunch of hype. Sorry you got burned, that's a lot of money to learn that lesson.

ruby5612mo ago

Totally. The free tutorials are better anyway, just harder to find. They make it seem complicated so you'll pay.

the_thomas1mo ago

Yeah, but I've had the opposite happen. Paid for a coding course that actually saved me months of digging through messy, outdated free stuff. Sometimes the free tutorials are a maze of bad advice and missing steps. It's not always a scam, @ruby561. A good paid course can give you a clear path and real support when you're stuck. You just have to know what you're buying before you click.