How to Design Clothes

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Fashion design is an exciting, constantly evolving field. It requires hard work and can be very competitive. If you want to be a successful fashion designer, a long journey awaits you, but there are also a few easy steps you can take now to start the process of designing clothes, whether you have decide whether to choose this industry to make a living or not.

Table of Contents

Prepare for knowledge

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Learn to draw. You don’t need to draw to a master level, many designers use a very distinctive modern style for their drawings. With that said, you just need to be able to communicate ideas visually. ^{[1] X Resources} Take a drawing class, read more books, or just practice, practice, practice. ^{[2] X Research Source}

The important thing when learning a new skill is to practice a lot. Take 30 minutes a day to practice drawing.
A good reference title is You Can Draw in 30 Days by Mark Kistler.

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Learn sewing. Even if you don’t want to be the one to sew your own designs, you still need to understand sewing. Understanding what the apparel medium can do is also crucial for bursting with bold, exciting innovations. ^{[3] X Research Sources}

Many vocational training centers have affordable sewing classes.
Pattern making is something to learn if you’re going to make your own clothes. ^{[4] X Research Source} You need to know how a suit is put together. Knowing how to break a design on paper into pieces is key in apparel.
You can buy a simple pattern at the store to practice first.

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Learn about design. If you want to have cutting-edge designs, you need to learn about design theory. ^{[5] X Research Resources} Mply Bang’s book Picture This: How Pictures Work is a good starting point. This book helps you learn to think like a designer.

Don’t limit yourself to learning only fashion design. Design principles can be applied to any discipline. You’ll be surprised how much print presentation can teach you about fashion design.

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Learn about fashion. If you want to design clothes, you’ll need to learn about the world of fashion. You may think of yourself as extremely stylish, but knowing how to dress is just the tip of the iceberg. ^{[6] X Source of Research} If you’re designing to follow trends, your design will be out of date sooner or later. Professional designers are always at the forefront of trends, predicting what will become trendy in the future. ^{[7] X Research Sources}

Go online to view videos or photos of a high-profile designer show, or come see for yourself if it’s held near you. Professional designers have been working on their seasonal collections months in advance, so these shows can give you an idea of what trends are coming to the commercial fashion industry in the future. future.

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Learn more technology and resources. There are more tools available to designers now than in the past. In addition to knowing how to sketch and sew, you also need to learn software like Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.

Sites like Lynda.com or Tuts+ are helpful resources.
If you want to sketch on a computer instead of a notebook, you’ll need a good digital drawing board, such as Wacom.

Thinking ideas

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Find inspiration. What are you passionate about? What makes you anxious to get started? It could be a piece of fabric, a piece of visual art you see, something you want but can’t find in a store, an item you see on the street, a pattern, a vintage fashion trend you want. resurrection, or so many other things. There’s no right way to get inspired. The key is to find out for yourself what interests you.

Consider customer preferences. What type of customer do you imagine buying your design? What do those guests need from a suit? Be realistic when designing your own clothes, designing things you also love and want to own.
Combining existing styles and trends can be a great way to create new looks. What if you mixed military elements with softer, more flowing things? What will the style of the 90s mix with the 30s? How do you combine the menswear element with the womenswear element?

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Consider fabric. Do you want the material to be stretchy, or less stretchy? Is your design sleek or sturdy and blocky? Should the fabric be smooth or rough? If your inspiration comes from a favorite fabric pattern, you don’t need to worry about this anymore. If not, you should think about what kind of material the design requires.

Consider embellishments like buttons, strings, beads, or embroidery. These details also influence the choice of fabric.

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Consider colors and textures. The impact of the design also depends on the color and pattern. Think about the intended use of the garment and how do you imagine people would wear it. Consider customer tastes and what they might want to wear. Above all, do what you think is beautiful. There are no strict or strict rules here. You’re a designer, and you should be honest with yourself above everything else.

Look at the color wheel. Remember, opposite colors (colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel) accentuate each other. This can have a dramatic effect on your design, but if not handled well, it can be blinding and annoying. ^{[8] X Research Sources}
It’s a good idea to buy a few palettes from a paint store to experiment with different color combinations before buying fabric.

Sketch the work on the sketchbook

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Sketch the human figure. When designing clothes, it is important to imagine what the clothes will look like when worn on the body. That’s why designers draw clothes on human figures. But it’s also time-consuming to have to redraw a figure from scratch when you’re making a new design, so many new designers use croquis sketches. ^{[9] X Research Source} It’s a template you can use whenever you need to sketch out a new outfit. You just need to sketch the figure with a pencil. This step can be intimidating, but it’s not too difficult.

Do not be discouraged, but freely launch the pen. The key here is that you don’t need to draw anatomically accurate. Most of the designers’ sketches are expressed in a characteristically personal style. Your design will be even more unique on a figure you draw yourself. Don’t worry about details, treat your sketch as a mannequin in 2D.
If you don’t feel the need to draw the figure yourself, you can use other people’s sketches. Overdraw a picture from a book or magazine, or download it from the internet, there are hundreds of croquis sketches for you. ^{[10] X Research Sources}^{[11] X Research Sources}
Many designers use a method called 9 heads to ensure the drawing has a balanced proportions. The theory here is to use the head as the unit of measure, and you will draw the body with a high scale of 9 heads from the neck to the feet. ^{[12] X Research Source}
- Draw a vertical line and divide it into 10 equal parts. This will be the guide line for you to draw.
- Part 1 starts from below the head, then measures the body from the neck down to the center of the chest; part 2 is measured from mid-chest to waist; part 3 from waist to lower hip; part 4 is from the lower hip to the middle of the thigh; section 5 from mid-thigh to knee; section 6 from the knee to the upper leg; section 7 from the upper shin to the middle shin; section 8 from mid-leg to ankle; and part 9 is from ankle to toe. ^{[13] X Research Source}

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Draw the outline of the body with ink pen. You will need to overdraw the figure on another sheet of paper. To ease the next step, use a dark colored ink pen to trace these lines. ^{[14] X Research Source}

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Trace this figure with another sheet of paper. This step you need to draw with a pencil instead of a pen. Place a blank sheet of paper over the sketch you just drew. You will see quite clearly the line to redraw because it was previously drawn with dark ink and the paper is not too thick. ^{[15] X Research Source}

If you have a bright desk, this is the time to use it. Just put the sketch on the lighted table, put more white paper on it and turn on the light, and you will be able to overwrite it.
If you don’t have a bright desk or can’t see through the paper, try attaching two sheets of paper to a window on a sunny day. You will have to focus at an unfavorable angle, but at least it works like a light table.

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Start sketching the design. Still using the pencil to erase the inevitable mistakes, gently draw the outfit you have imagined. Let’s start from the rough things like the overall shape of the suit and then gradually go into the details. Once you’re satisfied, trace the entire outline with ink. ^{[16] X Research Source}

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Design coloring. You can use any material you like for this step. Markers and crayons are usually a good choice, because they can overlap. Start with the lightest colors you plan to use for the design, and color in large areas with long, regular strokes that capture the direction of the fabric. Gradually add darker colors, along with textures and shading. ^{[17] X Research Source}^{[18] X Research Source}

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Repeat the process. Now that you have a sketch, new designs can be made faster. Just draw over the drawn shape, and repeat the steps above.

Make clothes

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Make a dummy. You’ll need a tailor-made dummy to try on the designer, making sure it fits your body. If you don’t have one, you can make a temporary dummy for yourself, with your own measurements. ^{[19] X Research Source}

Wear a t-shirt that is no longer in use, then tape the shirt while still wearing it. This step will shape the dummy based on your body with strong duct tape.
Remove the shirt by cutting a side line from the hip to the armpit, along the sleeve.
Re-glue the cut line to return it to its original shape. Stuff the dummy with newspaper, sealing the bottom, neck, and sleeves with duct tape. You can keep the arm part or cut it off.

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Stamped on brown butcher paper. Draw in pencil in case of mistakes, and label each section to avoid confusion. Remember the carpentry adage: measure twice, cut once. You will lose a lot of time with just one mistake. Once you’re done drawing, cut them out.

Ideally, you should have some knowledge of pattern making before doing this, but you don’t need to be an expert. You just need to be able to visualize how your outfits will be put together, and need to be skilled at implementing them. ^{[20] X Research Source}

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Redraw the pattern on the muslin fabric. Stitch the paper onto the muslin and draw again, then cut the fabric, attaching them to the basic shape of the outfit. ^{[21] X Research Source}

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Sew the cut parts. Start bringing the fabric cuts from the pattern to the sewing machine. Remove the pins, and dress up the mannequin or yourself if you’re designing your own.

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Evaluate the outfit. See how it fits. Think about shape. Which place is fine? Any place yet? Annotate, sketch, draw or trim fabric, or whatever helps you to make the most of your edits. ^{[22] X Research Source}

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Decide on the next step. How close is the prototype to your vision? Are you ready to continue with this design? Do you need to sew a test pattern before using a better fabric. Depending on how the pattern looks, you may want to redraw the whole thing, or you may be ready to move on to sewing the finished product. ^{[23] X Research Sources}

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Sewing finished products. It’s time to bring the design to life. Continue the process as you did with the muslin pattern. ^{[24] X Research Source}^{[25] X Research Source} Remember, mistakes will happen, especially the first few times in the design. Make sure you buy more fabric than you need, give yourself extra time, and always double-check your measurements. Many things will happen unexpectedly, so prepare a solution, or modify the design. Sometimes the greatest improvement begins with a mistake.

Sell your product

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Build portfpio. Take a photo of your product and store it. This is how you will sell your talents as a designer throughout your career. Notice that you want to show flexibility on your resume, but still have your own unique style and opinions. Portfpio should have a variety of products but make your audience see your uniqueness. ^{[26] X Research Source}^{[27] X Research Source}

Take quality photos. Don’t just spread out your clothes on the bed and take poor quality pictures with your phone. Hire a model to dress up, make sure the lighting is correct (if you can’t shoot indoors, go out on a not too sunny day – you can get well-balanced natural light), use a camera with decent quality, and attention to details like hair, makeup, and accessories. The way you display your products plays a big part in making an impact on your audience. ^{[28] X Research Sources}

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Study. Are there any independent clothing stores near you that have a similar aesthetic to yours? Is there a clothing website that reminds you of your product? Look for designers who make products that remind you of your stuff, or what you want in the designs. Then observe their strategy. ^{[29] X Research Sources}

If you’re more into graphic design but think your work would look great on clothes, look for sites like RedBubble, which can print your work on a wide range of products.

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Website construction. If you want to sell clothes, the world needs to know your talent. Most people make their own beautiful website these days, use platforms like Squarespace to create your porfpio. Keep them simple and elegant. You’ll want people to focus on your clothing design, not your web design capabilities.

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Brand yourself. Appear on social networking platforms. Use Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, whatever platform works. You need to keep an eye on your work above all else. Worrying about sales can be left for later. Right now, you need to promote your personal brand. ^{[30] X Research Source}

Steps

Prepare for knowledge

Thinking ideas

Sketch the work on the sketchbook

Make clothes

Sell your product

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