Comments on: Rohr’s Pattern Drafting Books

By: kathleen

kathleen — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 12:06:11 +0000

I think the M Rohr books would be excellent as PDFs, and if you put them on Etsy, you’d probably sell heaps.

I hope nobody does that. The book isn’t in the public domain, somebody owns the rights to it. There already is one very slimey “lady” (used loosely) who has taken his book, put her name on it, taken all of the pictures and put new heads/faces on them in each sketch but it’s all Rohr’s work. She’s in Jamaica but I imagine the bulk of her sales are from the states.

I’ll talk to Jonathon (Rohr’s grandson) maybe he will be interested in selling it electronically or maybe doing POD since technology gives him a lot more options now. The deal killer for me was that he wanted a royalty payment upfront based on a 5,000 copy print run. Upfront royalty is a little untoward but not insurmountable, the issue was there is no way I could sell 5,000 copies of his book (much less want to store it).

By: Sandra B

Sandra B — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 11:51:28 +0000

I just found a copy of this in a secondhand book shop. It’s the 1952 revised edition and has lots of loose leaf supplements inside. It is very clear, and well worth it for the beginner. I think there must be more supplements around, because I have some excellent twisted drape drafts that look like they are done by M. Rohr that I photocopied from a library book many years ago (before I learnt to keep records of sources)

As far as a deeper understanding of the principles goes, I like Natalie Bray’s books better, but the instructions are nowhere near as clear, with too much writing and not enough visual information.

I think the M Rohr books would be excellent as PDFs, and if you put them on Etsy, you’d probably sell heaps.

As an aside, the other book I found was a tailor’s manual on fitting and altering, probably from the 1930’s. In a Twilight Zone moment, it had my maiden name and former phone number pencilled inside the cover. Boy, did that give me a surprise, especially seeing as I bought it before noticing! I never owned the book, all I can think of is that I had ordered it by phone back when I was a serious patternmaking book collector, (20 years ago!) and forgot to collect it. I guess his turn over is quite slow:-D. He even charged me the original price. 20 years ago he wasn’t my favourite source, although he had the best stuff, because he was so expensive. Now he’s on the cheaper side of collectible books!

By: Cynthia

Cynthia — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 03:41:24 +0000

Please reprint, pattern drafting is something I desire to learn, and a series such as this could help to facilitate this. Keep me posted…..

By: Jewels

Jewels — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 21:04:50 +0000

I have been trying to get one for ever, it is a awesome book that needs to be shared with the sewing world. Keeping my fingers crossed

By: Ellinnet

Ellinnet — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 07:14:46 +0000

Please reprint these books. I’ve looked on many websites for old or used copies and they are very hard to find (at a reasonable price). Should you get these books reprinted when do you expect them to be available?

By: SEVRAJ SYED

SEVRAJ SYED — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 06:25:22 +0000

Hope it is reprinted really need a copy, if any one has one and is willing to photocopy and send to me I will pay a reasonable price………. working in china ladies 3 D grading huge problem and need support for training individual parties and internal teams

By: carla

carla — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 03:37:05 +0000

I had this book when I was in college. When I transferred to a university it “Suddenly” came up missing. I would love to get a new copy of the book.

By: Tricia Roush

Tricia Roush — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 21:28:31 +0000

If they ever are reprinted, I would love to buy a copy.

By: kathleen

kathleen — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 17:02:16 +0000

The hold up on this was that the copyright owner Jonathon (Rohr’s grandson) wanted to negotiate a license for 5,000 copies. Try as I may, I don’t think I could ever sell that many. They’ve been out of print too long. Maybe I could sell 100. However, I’m going to write Jonathon and see if he might make them available for download as an ebook or as a POD (print on demand) title and thus capture much more of the value.

I note one enterprising individual is now selling these as an ebook. Unfortunately, she claims to have written it. All she’s done is change the heads and faces on all of Rohr’s sketches. Worse, she’s not in the US so there’s little to be done about it other than exposing her for the fraud she is. I’m sure you understand why I don’t link to her.

By: Ramona

Ramona — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 16:52:51 +0000

I am a member of the American Sewing Guild and leader of a group. My degree is in Fashion Design. I have been asked by the membership to do a series of pattern drafting classes and have been looking for these books. PLEASE REPRINT THEM! I would appreciate it if you keep me posted. I used these books in the classes I took in college. I have been trying to locate them for our group classes. Your price point sounds perfect! A lot of the ladies in the group taking the class are either retired on a fixed income or newly weds just starting to sew. They have limited means but your price sounds good for them.