Juan de Alcega's Libro de geometría, práctica y traça (first printed tailoring pattern book)
Libro de geometría, práctica y traza de Juan de Alcega (primer tratado impreso de patronaje)
- Date
- 1580 · confidence high
- Place
- Madrid, Spain
- Credited to
- Juan de Alcega, Spanish tailor
- Field
- Tools
What it is
A book by the tailor Juan de Alcega with cutting layouts for doublets, capes and hose that optimise the use of cloth, printed in Madrid in 1580. It is the first printed pattern-making manual in Europe and sets the basis of geometric pattern drafting.
Priority is reliable: earlier guild manuscripts exist, but Alcega is the first known printed work. The book was reissued in 1589.
What it led to
- professional transmission of tailoring outside the guilds
- studies of historical dress based on its patterns
- later tradition of pattern books in France and Spain