A chat with my aunt about her 70s sewing patterns made me rethink modern drafting

My aunt came by the shop yesterday to drop off her old sewing box. She was a home ec teacher back in the 70s and she started pulling out these pattern envelopes, Simplicity and Butterick ones with the crazy wide collars. She said something like "we never measured twice, we just cut and prayed." But then she showed me how she would slash and spread the bodice pieces to fit real bodies instead of the sample size. I always thought old patterns were rigid and boxy, but she was doing full bust adjustments and swayback fixes decades before I ever heard those terms. It hit me that I've been relying on computer software to do the thinking for me. I spent last night tracing one of her 1974 shirtwaist patterns and adapting it to a modern fit block. It came out better than anything I've drafted in the last 6 months. Anyone else ever revisit old techniques and find they work better than the new tools? What vintage method surprised you?

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