The starting point for every collection
The Technical Foundation
A Couture Tech Pack and a Couture Pattern, developed together by one Italian patternmaker — the engineered base your garment is built on.
This page explains exactly what you are buying, what you receive, and how a collection moves from a purchase on our store to finished production. It is written so you can decide what you need without a call — read it, and if it is right for your brand, begin whenever you are ready.
What you receive
Two assets, one technical language
The Couture Tech Pack and the Couture Pattern are not separate stages handed between departments, but two views of the same design. The tech pack sets out your construction — seams, silhouette, proportion — so the patternmaker begins from your intent, not a guess from a sketch alone. The same Couture Patternmaker develops both in tandem, style by style, so that fit, measurements and finishing are engineered as one coherent whole.
Two components, priced from €499 — order separately, or together below
Couture Tech Pack
€499 per style · flat
The technical blueprint your patternmaker works from. Developed directly by our Couture Patternmaker — not drawn up separately by a graphics desk — so it reflects the real engineering of the garment.
- Front and back technical flats, with close-up views where needed
- Construction callouts and internal structure
- Measurement charts and points of measure
- Bill of materials — fabric, lining, trims
- Sewing, finishing and development notes
- One to two revisions included in the price
Delivered as a PDF together with the editable source file, for your records and your production team.
Buy the Tech Pack →Couture Pattern
€1,500 per style · flat
The blueprint your garment is cut and sewn from. Hand-developed on the mannequin using the traditional Italian Alta Moda draped moulage method — the heritage technique still used inside Rome's couture houses.
- Pattern paper sculpted on the mannequin in three dimensions, then translated into the final flat pattern
- Silhouette, balance, proportion and drape resolved on the body
- Engineered to your style and your fabric direction
- Drafted once, precisely, resolved on the mannequin before it reaches you
- Yours entirely — usable with any manufacturer, for the life of the brand
Delivered as a digital pattern file in a single base size. Your original paper draft can be prepared and shipped to you at checkout for €150 — the labor to finish it for travel, plus shipping.
Buy the Pattern →Recommended · order as one
Technical Foundation
€1,999 per styleThe Couture Tech Pack and the Couture Pattern for a style, ordered together — the same total as the two on their own, in one step instead of two. This is how we recommend beginning.
Buy the Technical Foundation →Every Couture Pattern is developed from a tech pack. Order the Technical Foundation, or a Couture Tech Pack alongside your pattern — or, if you already have a tech pack, choose Pattern only and upload yours at checkout. Our Couture Patternmaker reviews it before development begins. A usable tech pack includes technical flats, construction and sewing callouts, points of measure and a bill of materials; if yours needs further work to reach that standard, we will tell you exactly what is required before any pattern work starts. Send us your NDA before you share it and we will sign it.
One style is enough to begin. You can also start with a tech pack and add the pattern later.
Why it matters
A sketch is not a garment
Most brands we work with are at the beginning — often a founder with a clear vision and a set of designs. The step that decides whether that vision becomes a refined, production-ready product is not the first sample. It is the technical work underneath it.
A beautiful drawing cannot simply be handed to a sample room and expected to translate on its own. Pattern, proportion, balance, seam placement, internal structure, materials and finishing all have to be engineered to work together — and the more fitted, structured or draped a design is, the more that engineering decides the outcome.
The Technical Foundation is where that happens. It is also the part you keep: once developed, your tech packs and patterns are assets you carry into production and forward into every future collection — and together they become your brand's technical archive — the same organized record every real fashion house keeps, and the one you build on and refer back to as your collections grow.
How it is made
From the drawing to the pattern, on the form
A technical drawing is one page of the tech pack, not the whole of it. Here the technical drawing is translated into a moulage, draped and pinned on the mannequin in our heritage method. The three-dimensional draped paper is then trued into the final flat hand pattern we cut and sew from, so fit, movement and detail are resolved on the body first.
The original fashion illustration. This is not part of the Technical Foundation — it is what the client arrives with, and what kicks the Foundation off. From this drawing the atelier builds the couture tech pack and, from it, the couture pattern.
Come as you are. A polished illustration is not required — rough sketches, non-professional drawings or reference photos are all welcome. We meet you where you are, at every level.
The couture tech pack is one half of the Technical Foundation, the couture pattern the other. The pack is a five to twelve page document, the literal blueprint of the garment — measurements, construction and finishing specifications, materials, and the technical drawings. Shown here is a single page from it — the full pack is not published on this page. It is included for visual reasons only, so you can follow how a drawn specification progresses into a pattern draped on the form in our heritage method. Proportion, tier depth, collar height, closure and placement are fixed as measured line work, in front, back, side and open views.
Draped on the mannequin
Our heritage moulage method is draped entirely in pattern paper, pinned directly on the mannequin.
Bodice seams and the draped flounces of the skirt are trued in the round, pinned and recut until the line reads correctly in profile. The drape is led by the eye rather than by preset measurements: proportion, flow, fall and volume are judged directly on the form, and the line is set where it looks right on the body.
The first tiers are cut in pattern paper and pinned straight onto the form, establishing where each layer breaks on the body. Each flounced panel is placed by hand, its length decided not from a preset measure but by which length gives the truest symmetry, volume and flow — meeting the body at the point most pleasing to the eye, so the original design is translated exactly as it was drawn.
Tier depth and overlap are set front and back. The paper now holds the full volume the drawing specifies.
Shoulder, armhole and neckline are marked by hand, the paper pinned close to the form to hold the line. Strap width is set to sit in concert with the proportion of the design, the armhole shaped by eye until its curve is right, and every correction marked directly on the paper. This is the mark of the heritage moulage: a depth of line that flat or digital patternmaking cannot reach. Luxury is decided in exactly this nuance — where each curve falls, how each line is placed, and how both respond to the body.
Seam lines carried through from the pattern are pinned and checked against the technical drawing.
Once the drape is complete and in perfect balance, mirroring the technical drawing and the original design, the pattern is taken off the mannequin, laid flat and cleaned to become the final pattern draft the first sample is cut and sewn from.
Beyond the Foundation · Sampling
What the pattern can become
Sampling is not part of the Technical Foundation. This dress was sewn from the tech pack and pattern shown above by our couture sample maker, a highly skilled seamstress, and is included so you can see what this method makes possible.
The finished result is unique to whoever sews the garment. It is an illustration of what is possible, not a guarantee of this exact quality, and Giardina Atelier is not liable for the make-up of the final piece.
A Technical Foundation is the tech pack and the pattern, both made by our couture patternmaker. They mirror each other and evolve together into one strong technical blueprint to carry into sampling and beyond — the blueprint of your style for the life of your brand, held in your archive to return to, revive or build from.
The development journey
From purchase to production
Everything begins with the Technical Foundation, bought per style on our store. What follows is developed in stages, each one opened only when the stage before it is complete.
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Buy your Technical Foundation
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Stage One
Technical Foundation
Couture Tech Pack and Couture Pattern, developed in tandem by one Couture Patternmaker.
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The next stage
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Stage Two
Sample Development
First prototype (round one) → fitting and review → corrections → next sample (round two) — each round is its own paid booking.
We can source your Italian fabrics; you approve and purchase them. A first sample almost always reveals refinements — that is its purpose.
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Stage Three
Production
Made in Italy, from small batches of around twenty units per style through to several hundred a month.
The questions we're asked most
- Should I order all my styles together, or one at a time?
- Either works — one style is enough to begin, and you are never obligated to order more. But if you are developing a collection, it is genuinely best to submit all your styles together, or at least three at a time. Working on them side by side lets the same Couture Patternmaker build one coherent technical language for your brand — fit, proportion and finishing carried consistently across every piece — rather than pieced together style by style. This matters most for newer brands who do not yet have an established fit identity: submitting together is what actually defines it, in one pass. Go style by style instead and you will still get a fully professional result — you will simply be building that language gradually rather than all at once.
- Is a pattern the same as a prototype?
- No. The pattern is the paper blueprint the garment is cut from — made by hand; it is not digital until we digitize it for you. The prototype is the first physical garment sewn from that pattern, in your chosen fabric. The pattern comes first; the prototype is Stage Two.
- Will my pattern or tech pack change after sampling?
- What you receive at purchase is a complete, professional Couture Pattern and Couture Tech Pack — genuinely usable, and the foundation your style is built on, not a draft. Translating any design from a flat pattern into a physical garment for the first time is normal to refine, at any atelier, anywhere in the world — a fit correction here, a measurement eased there, once you can see and feel the real garment rather than its blueprint. That is not a flaw in what you bought; it is what sampling is for. Once your sample is approved, we update your pattern and tech pack to match it, so the final documents reflect the finished garment exactly — the same foundation, perfected. This applies when you sample with us — if you take your pattern and tech pack elsewhere, by choice or otherwise, updating them to reflect your fitting becomes your own team's responsibility. We deliver both in an editable digital format for exactly this reason: any patternmaker can pick up from where we leave off.
- Do I need my fabric chosen before I order?
- No. Your pattern is engineered to your style and your fabric direction — a target composition and behaviour is enough to begin. The exact fabric is confirmed and dialled in later, during sampling.
- Is the pattern graded to my full size range?
- No. It is delivered in one base size. Grading across your size range is a separate pre-production service, priced on its own according to your design and pattern pieces, and not part of the Technical Foundation — done last, right before production begins, once your sample has confirmed the pattern and you are completely happy with it. That order is deliberate: you grade a pattern into every size only after it is perfected, never before, so a correction is made once instead of multiplied across every size in the range.
- How long does it all take?
- The Technical Foundation runs to the estimates on the journey above. Sampling and production work to estimated timeframes, not fixed dates — they depend on the garment, the fabric, artisan schedules, fittings and your feedback. We always give our closest realistic estimate and keep you updated.
- Will my feedback change the timeline?
- Yes. Turnaround is measured from the moment we have everything we need. Any revisions you request after reviewing a deliverable are added to the schedule.
- Do we speak before I buy?
- The Technical Foundation is designed to be understood and purchased directly. No call is required before or after purchase. Once your order and completed intake are received, your project enters technical review. If our Couture Patternmaker requires specific clarification before beginning, the atelier will contact you directly.
How to begin
Three steps, no call required
Choose your styles. For each style, order the Technical Foundation at €1,999, or a Couture Tech Pack (€499) or Couture Pattern (€1,500) on its own. One style is enough. If you are ordering a pattern and already hold a tech pack, choose Pattern only and upload it — we review it before we begin.
Complete the intake form. A short form at checkout gathers your designs, references, measurements and details in one place, so nothing has to be chased later.
We begin. Your Technical Development slot opens on purchase. Your Couture Patternmaker starts, and we come back to you with the completed work within the estimated window.
Begin your Technical Foundation
Choose your styles, complete the short intake form, and pay securely online. Everything you need to decide is on this page.
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