The Dress Shop™ 5 Family                                                                            The Dress Shop family of products is the latest pattern drafting line of products from Livingsoft, the original pioneer in custom fit technology. Dress Shop 5 uses your measurements to generate patterns custom tailored to fit just you.  There are online demos and free downloadable demos for each.  There is also a family of add on's Pattern Sets  that provide even more patterns. Try the demos and find which Dress Shop product is right for you. You can upgrade from product to product at any time. The whole philosophy of the Dress Shop line is that you make the choices. Choose the price you are comfortable with. Choose the patterns you want. Choose the options for your garments.  All you have to do to get started is choose a button below to push!   Click Here to download any of the Dress Shop  Programs One download "installs all"       Your activation code will be sent within 48 hours. There may be a slight delay  due to a rush this first week since release           Dress Shop 5 Advanced The Full Basic Program with hundred of style options: Dress Shop 5 is the newest, latest version of LivingSoft’s classic custom pattern drafting software.  Patterns draft to either standard sizes or customized to 50+ measurements.  Dress Shop 4’s precise attention to fit can solve the fit problems of most hard to fit bodies, and give you the best fit you’ve had in your life!  Anyone can get a GOOD FIT  with Dress Shop 4. $249.00 Click Here to Download this  Program BUY NOW     Dress Shop Quick Fit Quick Casual Fit with an easy to use  revolutionary Fit Menu: Dress Shop 5 QuickFit offers LivingSoft’s newly developed “Quick Fit” measurement method.  Patterns draft to either standard sizes or customized to 26 measurements.  Dress Shop 4 Lite’s patterns (the same styles as in the classic Dress Shop 4) will fit individuals who are not significantly hard to fit, and the measurement method is easier and can be accomplished more quickly than the 50+ measurements in the classic Dress Shop 4.  Try our new fabric layout tool! Click HERE to download DSQuick Fit $149.00     BUY NOW   Dress Shop 5 Pro   Serious Pattern Making Tool for Serious   (Perfectionists!) Home and Professional Sewers : If you are a serious or professional sewer, Dress Shop Pro has some extras just for you. It includes the 50+ measurement option of Dress Shop, the 26 measurement Casual Easy Fit option . It also has measurement sets adjusted for men and children and a revolutionary  Quick Fit menu  for easy fit  garments . All the options help if you sew for several or many. Dress Shop Pro also includes extensive guidance for measuring, adjusting fit, and correcting pattern problems Our new layout tool is expanded in the Pro version to accommodate plaids, stripes and border prints. Click HERE to download  DS 5 PRO $349.00           BUY NOW     Hat Shop Featuring HATS, CAPS, Ivy's, Berets Patient caps, sun and rain hats and more.  PURSES from day to evening bags included!           Patterns are custom sized!  Just enter an easy to take around head measurement and fit the smallest baby to the largest "big guy" you know. Click Here to Download Hat Shop $99.00 Buy Now   The Doll Shop If you or someone you know has a 12 inch fashion doll, then The Doll Shop will give you all the patterns and options of The Dress Shop, properly scaled down to your doll's exact measurements. Patterns are not simply adult patterns scaled down, but doll sized patterns with proper seam allowances, hem sizes, casing, etc., all perfectly tailored for your doll. Order now and you'll get the upgrade which will include measurements for America's favorite 18" child doll, at no extra charge  Click HERE to Download DOLL SHOP $49.00   Doll Shop Deluxe The Doll Shop for serious doll collectors. The Doll Shop Deluxe includes measurements for dozens of popular dolls as well as the ability to enter new measurement sets. Create perfectly fitting doll clothes for any and every doll in your collection.. Limited time 2 for offer Doll Shop Deluxe AND Doll Artist Now Available and Includes DOLL ARTIST! Face Embroidery Doll Body Designs  Clothing that FITS Click Here to Download Doll Shop Deluxe   BOTH Doll SHOP PRO and DOLL ARTIST $99.00*   NOTE: If you get any download  the installation directions are the same. They are: 1.  Click the download button. In the dialog box which appears next, accept the default choice of "Save this program to disk". Click OK. 2.. After the download is complete, you will have the option to "Open" it. Select that. 4. The windows Install Wizard will walk you through the installation process. 5. When your activation code arrives enter the name and code exactly as it is in the email  I suggest you copy and past the case sensitive code in. Dress Shop Family System Requirements System Requirements For Dress Shop 5 Family Products Including Dress Shop 5 QuickFit, DS5 Advanced, DS5 Pro, and the DS5 Suites Basic Pants, Essential Pants, Ultimate Pants, Home Dec Sampler, Essential Lingerie, Essential Activewear, and all "Sew By Design" products System requirements for the Dress Shop 5 family of products are an IBM PC or PC compatible computer (Mac running Virtual PC works), with approximately 80 Meg of free space on the hard drive (the installation takes less, but you need free hard disk space for print spooling, too), Win98 / ME / NT / 2000 / XP, Internet Explorer version 5.5 or later and Adobe Acrobat. If you do not have Internet Explorer or Acrobat they are each available FREE online, by immediate download. So, you will not be hindered or delayed getting into Dress Shop. But, we did not wish to include these in the Dress Shop Family downloads as they may already be present on your system. NOTE: Former owners of Dress Shop products, please be aware that the products referred to on this page may no longer work properly on Internet Explorer 5.0, nor on systems running Windows 95. And, Java is no longer required in any form. 1. What else is needed to run Dress Shop and why?  To run Dress Shop 5, you will need:   IE Browser: First, Dress Shop uses a browser as a "front end" or framework that it runs under. A browser front end was chosen for a variety of reasons that we'll go into below. But, suffice it to say here that you will need a copy of Internet Explorer 5.5 or later to run Dress Shop. There are currently three versions of IE that will work with Dress Shop. They are: 1. IE 5.5 Most current Dress Shop users use this browser. It has been out for awhile. Get IE 5.5 by www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/downloads/recommended/ie55sp2/default.asp. 2. IE 6.0 was released by Microsoft in August of 2001, the latest version of the IE browser line. You can get IE 6.0 by http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/downloads/ie6/default.asp. Any later version should work fine as well. Adobe Acrobat The Dress Shop user manual is provided in an online / on-screen format, available from within Dress Shop, whenever you need the help. With its search capability, hot links to jump from Table of Contents or Index directly to the desired subject matter, access to the documentation has never been more convenient. The Dress Shop user manual uses Adobe Acrobat for display. If you do not already have a copy of Adobe Acrobat, version 4 or later, you can get one by "http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html". 2. Do you need to be online to run Dress Shop?  No. There are several elements of Dress Shop that can only be accessed when you are online (updates, discussion board, and online fabrics, for instance), but selecting and drafting patterns can be done offline. Most of your Dress Shop pattern drafting work will not require that you be online. 3. Why was Dress Shop written to run within a browser?  There were many reasons for the decision to piggy-back on browser technology. Here are some of the major ones: 1. 20 years ago, software was written for desktop computers that used casette tape drives. 10 years ago, all software was on floppy disks, mostly written in PC DOS. 5 years ago, software was all on CD disks and was mostly written for the Windows operating system. In recent years, operating systems have progressed from Windows 3.1 to Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, and now Windows XP. XP and all subsequent operating systems are being developed as network and internet aware systems. The future of computing is connectivity, via networks and the Internet. We decided to write the latest version of Dress Shop to take advantage of this trend and to gear it towards the future of computing, utilizing the Internet for a variety of enhancements to productivity and services for Dress Shop users. 2. With the decision to leverage off the power of the Internet, we had a product that both needed to print and needed to be Internet enabled. We had a choice then of writing our own drivers, interfaces, and network connectivity software, or using what Microsoft and others were doing instead. Since every printer manufacturer in the world is working with Microsoft to make their printers operate properly with Windows and with Internet Explorer, we decided to use that knowledge, experience, and support, rather than trying to duplicate all of it on our own. Whatever success HP and Epson and Panasonic have working with the folks at Microsoft, we get to share, rather than having to write our own code to do the same thing. 3. Browser based applications are intended and expected to work on multiple hardware platforms with the same code. That is what browsers try to accomplish and we hope to be able to benefit from that as well one day when our code runs on the Mac. Having an identical version of Dress Shop for Mac users will insure that both Mac and PC owners have the same features, the same power, and the same support. In the past, Mac owners have not had that option. At this time, there are security restrictions in the Mac browsers that prevent applet printing, which Dress Shop depends upon. We expect that Apple or Microsoft will correct that restriction, at which time Dress Shop will run equally well on the Mac as on the PC. 4. Prior versions of Dress Shop have been developed over a 10 year period by a staff of programmers. Dozens of man-years of programming effort went into Dress Shop 2.5. Dress Shop 4, on the other hand, was developed by one programmer in 6 months. This was possible because he did not have to program or support the graphic libraries, printer libraries, or the other infrastructure code that the browser provided. Instead, most of our programming efforts were spent developing patterns. This is where we feel our efforts can be most productively spent. We will let Microsoft service the browser, printer manufacturers will take care of the printer drivers, and, Livingsoft will focus on pattern generation. In the 3 months since Dress Shop first shipped, we have released dozens of new patterns, new features, and new garment options. Leveraging off the browser will allow us to continue this pace of development and bring you hundreds of new patterns each year. 5. With the connection to the Internet built into Dress Shop, through its browser front end, Dress Shop can provide instant access to a variety of enhancements, services, and support opportunities, all accessible from within the program. You can visit the Dress Shop discussion boards, check the Dress Shop Home Page for updates, or visit the online FAQ database (Frequently Asked Questions) from within Dress Shop itself. All of these are updated daily and Dress Shop users have instant access to this information all the time with a simple mouse click. Updates are delivered instantly via downloads. Online demos of all Dress Shop products are available for you to try out any time you wish, a convenience only possible because the product itself is written in web page format. You can download demo versions of new products, try them out at home, then purchase an activation code online to turn your demo into a fully operational product. All of these conveniences are possible because of the Internet capability provided by a browser front end. 6. Fabric is sold online. If you want to see how fabric that you are considering purchasing is going to look with the patterns you create with Dress Shop, you can. Dress Shop's Internet connection lets you view online fabric samples in Dress Shop, displayed on the garments you choose. This collaborative cooperation between fabric sellers and pattern makers is only possible with the browser and the connection it provides between these separate companies. 7. There are more features planned in Dress Shop's development future that will utilize the Internet connection even more. Enabling people and companies to work together, to talk together, to create together, and to help each other with their pattern making projects is fun, its exciting, and it is only going to get better as Dress Shop and others take their products out of the box and onto the Internet. 4. Why Internet Explorer, rather than other browsers?  Unfortunately, there are differences between browsers, particularly with regard to dynamic web pages, those that change in response to user requests. Dress Shop relies heavily upon dynamic interaction with the user. As you make selections, your choices are illustrated on the screen. The patterns are generated interactively, altered to your direction, rescaled and reshaped to your command. These dynamic features require the use of web page coding that is not handled the same by different browser manufacturers. Since browsers are free and since we chose to focus our resources on pattern making, rather than supporting all the many browser variants, we do require the use of a particular browser. Why Internet Explorer, rather than another? Simply because more users already have this browser than any other. Somewhere between 75% and 85% of Internet traffic is by Internet Explorer compatible browsers. This includes AOL, which uses IE internally. It's free. It works. And, if you prefer to use another browser for web surfing, you are free to do so. IE can be used for Dress Shop while another browser serves your web needs. So, if you do not prefer IE for web browsing, then please just consider it to be a part of Dress Shop, used for nothing else. And, if you do already use IE, then you will find Dress Shop conveniently integrated into your web surfing routines.