Trained over 35 years ago in the Art of Auto Body Drafting on the "Board" strictly 2D, in Detroit just before CAD came into wide spread use. Auto Body Drafting was the last holdout for CAD because of the difficulty of Curve and Surface development compared to Machine drafting.
Because Curves can be expensive I thought I would share my recommendations for those getting started and wishing to keep their investment to a minimum.
I was so happy to start Pattern Drafting because it felt like home. Jessie taught me the process and I have been hard at it since then, refining and trying to understand what is important and what isn't.
I have about 75 or more Curves and Sweeps from my years in Drafting. Over the last three years of Pattern Making I have boiled them down to 3 different curves that get me thru the process. Of course having 5 - 10 curves won't hurt however they will represent your personal touch.
For shoes I can get by with the 4" x 8" Brunning 74 206 16 French Curve
For boots you will want a longer Sweep; about 4.5" x 14" and/or 5" x 17"
My recommendation for buying is to look closely at the curves to convince yourself that there are no unusual "flats" "dents" or "bumps."
The best curves were / are machined and not injection molded, hand made curves are not often "sweet"enough for my tastes.
"If we all used the same French Curve our shoes will all look the same" not so; we are all going to come up with different results by the proper use of the curve while following your freehand curve.
I can make a video but YouTube is probably already there.
So for shoes the three places I am most concerned about are the Top Line, Heel Curve, and Derby Curve.
Just to be clear; if you overlay all three of these curves over each other they WILL NOT necessarily match exactly... that's OK.
Have fun Drafting, I do!
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