All too often, we can design garments that we wouldn't actually wear.
For example, I love sketching floaty tops and dress designs but prefer wearing more column-style silhouettes. It's the same when it comes to prints. I love doodling bold stand-out prints on the back of an envelope while chatting away with a friend on the phone, but they aren't always the prints I would choose to wear.
This is how the idea for this blog came about.
This blog is going to help you DESIGN garments that you truly love and want to wear. These garments will embody your individual style, work with your lifestyle and will be easy to put together for everyday looks.
❌ No more ransacking your wardrobe each morning to find something to wear.
❌ No more settling for scratchy fabrics, colours and prints that you just don't LOVE.
BUT FIRST - The PRE-WORK
So that you create looks that suit your style, lifestyle, andsewing preferences
PRE-WORK - STEP 1 - Set the scene with a WARDROBE AUDIT and by creating your own unique dream wardrobe BLUEPRINT.
So that you are designing those Pinterest-worthy makes that are unique to your lifestyle, style and sewing preferences to create your dream wardrobe you will need your Dream Wardrobe Blueprint and Wardrobe Audit to refer to and set the scene.
If you haven't already created these, head to part 1 and grab your free Canva templates here to create your own unqiue:
DREAM WARDROBE AUDIT - To identify those GAPS in your wardrobe, understand what you LOVE and see what you truly NEED and DESIRE to build a dream collection to suit your lifestyle.
DREAM WARDROBE BLUEPRINT - Discover which colours, silhouettes and prints you love to wear and that suit your sewing preferences!
Remember...
FASHION comes and goes and is dictated by trends in society.
STYLE is a feeling and an individual reflection of who you are <<< this is what we're all about over here
Now you have your Dream Wardrobe Audit (which shows a list of the clothes you're missing and desiring in your wardrobe) and a Dream Wardrobe Blueprint (which shows the VIBE of your style), we're ready to get started.
These are really going to help you create the pieces you NEED and LOVE:
PRE-WORK - STEP 2 - Choose 1 garment to design
Choose 1 garment you'd like to bring to life from your wardrobe audit.
You can then follow the exact same process we'll be going through again and again for all the other dreamy garments you'd love to create.
Okay, let's start designing!
3 Steps to Designing Your Dream Clothes
Step 1: Gather inspiration to get clear on your dream design
Now you might be wondering, can I skip this step? You may already have an image of what you want to recreate but here's the thing... we don't want to just copy the garment we see. We want to make sure it really suits us, our lifestyle and our sewing preferences and this is where gathering multiple ideas comes into play.
Often just one image will miss a lot of key information we need and that information is what's going to get you designing not just ok clothes but DREAM clothes!
I love to gather my ideas from lots of different sources such as:
Magazines - Vogue, Tatler, Elle etc. (and I love an older Vogue magazine)
Pinterest - check out my board here that I've been growing for years!
Instagram
Movies you watch
Photos you take of garments you love
Or even quick sketches from ideas you have in your head etc.
As you're gathering all of your inspiration make sure to consider these 4 things:
Front AND BACK views - we can often forget the back but it's just as important!
How you're going to get into the garment - this should suit your sewing preferences and lifestyle needs (whilst I was breastfeeding I found poppers were my jam over my normal go-to invisible zip).
Any extra details to make the garment suit your style/lifestyle even more - do you find a pocket super useful? Or maybe you get cold easily and love a turtle neck? Or maybe you'd like to start adding a little design detail that's signature to your creations?
Fabric choices, textures and colours - refer back to your DREAM WARDROBE BLUEPRINT to help you with this
TOP TIP: When I'm doing this step I often find ideas for other garments. Bank those ideas for later so they're ready and waiting for that next design but try not to get distracted designing multiple garments at once because this is where you end up with 5 half ideas and no finished ones.
Step 2: Create a moodboard so that all of your thoughts and inspiration informing your dream design are in one place
Creating a moodboard for your chosen garment will bring all your design ideas together in one place making it easy to reference as you create the look.
This is especially helpful when you're drafting or hacking your own sewing patterns but also when you're shopping for all the fabric, trimmings and notions.
New to moodboards...What is a moodboard?
A moodboard is like a collage filled with images, textures, colours and all sorts of elements that capture a vibe or a theme. Whether it's digital or physical, a moodboard is your go-to tool for crafting and communicating ideas, turning inspiration into something real and exciting!
FIRST - Choose what style moodboard you'd like to create (digital or physical)
Option 1: A DIGITAL BOARD
You could use Canva, Pinterest with a board for a specific design, or maybe something like Microsoft Power Point or Google slides is more your jam...
Digital moodboards are great because they're super easy to access and edit BUT beware... they're also highly addictive! Before you know it you'll have a digital moodboard for EVERY project whether it's for your next wedding guest look or your downstairs toilet decor...
To help you make those design decisions and establish your dream clothing designs as fast as possible, we've created a FREE CANVA TEMPLATE for you! Scroll down to grab your freebie...
Option 2: PEN TO PAPER
Physical moodboards are a beautiful process where you can really get creative and put those older magazines, fabric scraps and samples to good use!
FYI you don't have to have this pinned up you could create your moodborad in a sketchbook. I love using a concertina sketchbook so it can expand when I stick fabrics and pictures in it.
OR you can do both which is what I tend to do, to be honest! I have the rawness in a concertina sketchbook and inspiration digitalised and saved in a folder on my phone. The main thing is it's easy to find so you're not downloading the same inspo image 10 times (Yep! that was me before).
SECOND - Create your moodboard for your chosen garment.
Make sure to include:
The overall look both front AND BACK
Any details you'd like to add or change
How you'll get into the garment
Fabric choice/s
Trimmings and notions - this could just be written
Want to speed up the process? Download my FREE Canva Template!
WAIT... Do you already have the Audit and Blueprint CANVA template? Just flick to page 11 in the template and you'll find the Garment Design Moodboard
Here is your FREE Canva template to create a GARMENT DESIGN MOODBOARD for your chosen garment
Step 3: Finalise your dream design to work for your lifestyle, sewing preferences and style
Alright, so we have a whole moadboard full of all the elements that are going to make up your dream design it's time to bring them all together to see what your unique dream design is going to actually look like.
It's time to draw your dream design - WITHOUT needing to be the next fashion illustrator (I am 100% not so don't worry).
By drawing up your ideas, you'll be able to think about the construction, design details and trimmings/notions you'd like, rather than just going from an image to pattern cutting straight away and going around in circles.
I want to reiterate that you really don't have to be amazing at fashion sketching and illustrations. Just get creative and let the ideas loose!
FIRST - Choose how you'd like to design and sketch your garments
Here are a few ways to sketch your designs:
Procreate - I recommend this if you have an iPad because it's easy to use and great for layering design ideas (there are lots of free tutorials if you need to know anything).
Use a croquis template off Pinterest - I just type in 'fashion croquis template' into Pinterest and it brings up lots of options. You could then pop it into Procreate and draw over the top or print it off, grab your pencil and sketch away.
MyBodyModel - This is "an app that makes custom fashion croquis templates (body outline sketches) with your real body measurements". You can use these templates digitally or print them off! I keep meaning to try this... I'll let you know when I do but I have many students who swear by it.
Fashionary Sketchbook - they provide a faint dotted outline of the figure so that you can quickly draw up your design ideas without having to think about the proportions - You can find out about the different ones available in my blog post here.
A scrap piece of paper - whether it's a piece of pattern paper or the back of an envelope, find what works for you.
TOP TIP: If you're going for the physical approach paper vibe then use a pencil rather than a pen, at least until you've finalised the design, so you can easily change your mind and rub things out.
Cheat idea!
If you'd like to add the print of the fabric you're using to your drawing, here's a little cheat method:
THEN - Start sketching!
I like to start with the elements. I know I'll probably know the silhouette at this point but maybe I haven't decided on the neckline.
Remember to use your Garment Design Moodboard as a reference to help bring your dream garment to life. And don't forget, no one is going to see or grade your sketch, so enjoy the process!
Here is my Garment Design Moodboard:
And quick sketches of 2 different versions ready to get drafting...
Now that you've designed a garment of your choice, it's time to turn it into a sewing pattern! Check out my FREE masterclass below to get started...
Happy designing,
P.S. We can't wait to see your designs! Feel free to tag us on Instagram or send them over in an email hello@thesewingretreat.co.uk
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