Pattern Assembly and Imports

Most of what a designer does on a Pattern lives in the measurements and the history. But two adjacent topics are worth understanding once: how a Pattern describes its physical pieces and assembly, and how you import pattern data in bulk from external tools.

Pieces

A garment is cut from a set of Pattern Pieces — front body, back body, sleeve, collar, cuff, pocket, and so on. The Pieces tab on the Pattern record lets you list these pieces along with how many are cut per garment, which fabric they come from, and any per-piece notes.

In a lot of factories, the Pieces tab is filled in lightly — the sample room knows the pieces from the design image, and the marker is generated in CAD. Where the Pieces tab earns its keep is when you want a single document that captures the complete spec including piece breakdown, or when you're using the data downstream for fabric consumption calculation or marker generation.

Pattern Assembly Templates

A Pattern Assembly Template describes how the pieces go together — the sequence of operations to assemble the garment. It lives as a child table on the Pattern (and as its own master so templates can be reused across patterns).

Most factories build a handful of templates — "basic tee assembly," "polo assembly," "denim jacket assembly" — and reuse them across patterns of the same type. The first time you build a pattern of a new garment type, you create the template; from then on, you just attach the existing template to new patterns.

The assembly template feeds the Operations tab on the Pattern, which in turn feeds the labor cost rollup on the Tech Pack's Costs tab.

Piece Import Profile

The Piece Import Profile is how you bring pattern data into GarmentFlow in bulk — typically from a CAD system that already knows about the pieces, their dimensions, and the consumption. Rather than entering every piece by hand, you configure an import profile once (mapping the CAD output columns to GarmentFlow's Pattern fields) and then use it whenever you import a new pattern.

This is one of those features you set up once with help from whoever runs your CAD, and then never think about again. Pattern data flows in cleanly, designers don't have to retype anything, and the pattern library stays in sync with the CAD source of truth.

When to bother with all this

Honestly, for most factories starting out: not on day one. Patterns work fine with just the Measurements table populated. Pieces, Assembly Templates, and Piece Import Profiles are upgrades you bring in as your library grows and as your CAD integration matures.

The order most factories go in:

1. Get Measurements right for every pattern in the library.
2. Add Pieces for patterns where consumption tracking matters.
3. Build Assembly Templates when you find yourself repeating the same operation list across patterns.
4. Configure Piece Import Profiles when bulk pattern entry becomes a real bottleneck.

Skip steps you don't need yet.

What to do next

That closes out the Patterns section. Head back to the Pattern hub or jump to the Design masters to set up the reference data your patterns and Tech Packs depend on.