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How-to

Shortcuts to Fashion Sketching

Threads #105, Feb/March 2003

This article by Jennifer Sauer was originally featured in Threads #105.

Sketching is an important tool for any sewer-it serves as a road map for all phases of garment creation, from fabric and color selection to actual construction. If you can sketch, you can record fashions seen on the street, work out design details, and communicate your ideas to others. To learn to make accurate, professional-looking, stylish drawings, read on.

Fashion figures with attitude and lots of movement are easy to draw when you trace an existing photograph. The drawings will help you visualize how a garment will look when worn. Add color, texture, and pattern, and your design idea really comes to life. fashion sketching 1

Flat schematics and fashion illustrations

Take a look at an ordinary pattern envelope, and you’ll see two different, but equally important types of sketches at work. On the back of the envelope, schematic drawings show the flat outline of the garment, with style lines and construction details. In contrast, the more dynamic fashion illustrations on the envelope front depict the garment or ensemble on a body (typically an elongated, slender one), and give the illusion of three-dimensional form and movement.

Flat schematics-For perfect symmetry, draw half, fold, and trace. Place tracing paper over your croquis and mark the center front line. Draw the left side of your garment only, then fold the tracing paper along the center front line, and trace your markings onto the right side; unfold and add asymmetrical details, such as zippers.

fashion sketching 2

Curve the back edge of the collar stand and the neckline seam, where the stand meets the facing or lining.

Draw seamlines as solid lines and topstitching as fine, dotted lines.

Indicate a zipper with a dotted line of topstitching. For an invisible zipper, draw only a zipper pull.

Suggest fullness or gathers within a garment or along the hem by using curved, uneven lines.

For conventional buttons and plackets, use the center front line as a guide; a placket overlaps the center front slightly.

Designate the inside of a garment or wrong side of a fabric by shading the area lightly.

Recess the inside of a pleat or fold at the hem by drawing it shorter than the main body of the garment.

Include at least a portion of the back view with your sketch.

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