Patternmaker Pro is very unique when it comes to the save and undo functionality. To understand how it works, you need to understand what exactly the program creates as you work.

SVG is Cool

Everything you create in the Fashioner is SVG (scalable vector graphics). If you are familiar with developer tools in the browser, you can right-click > View Source on the canvas and see all the objects in SVG.

When you open patterns in the Fashioner, that is a page of SVG. Then when you use a tool and save the work, the SVG is updated and redrawn with those changes becoming permanent.

When you starting working the Fashioner, you only need to save one time. When you use any tool off the menu, the last step is to Save or Cancel the tool action. If you choose Save, the SVG gets saved automatically. This allows you to use the Step Back tool to go back, even to the very beginning, at any time.

This isn't that different from what most other software does, however, the difference comes with the Save and Save State tools.

When you save in other programs you save one final project file. In Patternmaker Pro, you have all of your history, too.

You can open a file that you saved a month ago and step it back all the way to the original pattern opened in the Fashioner. This is incredibly powerful and can save you lots of time.

When you Save State you also get all the back history. Even though you have changed the name, you lose nothing in the process.

Important!

Even though Patternmaker Pro saves all your history as you are working, you must select Save off the main menu one time for the file to be created and written into your My Fashioner Sessions. Once you save, the file will be automatically updated for you as you continue working and you don't have to save again.

You should save at the begininning of your work, just in case there are problems with the browser.

Creating Your Own Starting Points

Here is an example of how you can take advantage of these features.

Let's say you have a sloper with the full dart at the waist. You may want to create a version with the dart split between the waist and the side, as many drafts begin with this configuration.

You can open the waist dart sloper in the Fashioner and move half of the waist dart to the side. Now you have a custom sloper for future work that has every bit of history associated with it.  

Now select Save State. You can continue with edits to the pattern, but you'll have a copy frozen in that state in My Fashioner Sessions for later work.

Modifying Prior Work

This extensive history also allows you to make further changes any time in the future. If you've modified a sloper to create a unique look, you can use that same pattern and step it back in time to modify it even more months later. You can see how powerful this feature truly is.

Stepping Back & Then Working Forward

Generally, you won't care much about the order within the system, but we've illustrated it here just in case you need to know. Let's look at an example. We'll say that you opened a pattern in the Fashioner, did a File > Save and then used different tools four times. 

  • Step 1
  • Step 2
  • Step 3
  • Step 4

Then you closed the browser. You come back a couple days later and open that Fashioner Session. Now you decided to use the File > Step Back until you are back to Step 2. Then you start working again:

  • Step 5
  • Step 6
  • Step 7

After step 7, you decide to step back. This is what will happen with each step back:

  • Step 6
  • Step 5
  • Step 4
  • Step 3, etc

Even though you stepped back to 2, to begin working, the Fashioner did not remove steps 3 and 4. They will still be there.