What Is A Flat Sketch? And Why You Need Them?
We often see the beautiful, expressive fashion illustrations drawn by high-end designers, while these are gorgeous and creative, often they illustrate a mood and feel quite abstract, rather than clear, detailed and realistic proportioned sketches. This is where the flat sketch comes in, it can also be known as a technical drawing or CAD (computer aided design). Flat drawings are still, to me, a work of art as every designer has their own style, and they play a crucial role in the process of clothing creation.
A flat sketch shows the person who makes your garments, such as the manufacturer or sample maker, exactly how you want your final garments to look. Meaning the pattern makers and machinist understand every design detail clearly. It’s a visual way of communicating your ideas in a structured and easy to understand format. That is why it has become the design industry standard.
You need a front and back view, plus everything in-between. The aim of a flat sketch is to take out any room for misinterpretation, turning an abstract idea into a clear actionable garment, marking stitch lines, internal details, and fastenings (a very important step that is often forgotten). Sorting all the details at the design stage, helps speed up the sampling process by getting the first samples looking as good as possible the first time. Trust me, to avoid as many headaches, this step should not be overlooked, discrepancies or misunderstandings can easily happen during sampling. Flat sketches along with a detailed tech pack are going to be your best friends!
Flat sketches are done by designers like me, who have honed the skill over years of practise. I normally hand sketch first but the final sketches will be done on Adobe Illustrator, resulting in a clean, professional finish, either in black and white or coloured in, like the above finished CADs.
Final line up sketches help communicate and solidify your ideas. When you think about it, design is a highly visual process and seeing your ideas sketched up properly can help you make informed design decisions and coordinate your range during the design process. This is where we can colour the sketches in, try one silhouette with different sleeves, see it in plain or filled with different prints, experiment with different hemlines, this is called design development. It gives you a great opportunity to really visualise how your pieces will look before heading to sampling.
My aim is to help existing and future clients understand the design process from start to finish. If you would like to learn about this further, if you have any questions, or wish to discuss it in more detail don’t hesitate to get in touch at hello@lottiewoodsdesign.com you can also check out my portfolio for more examples of flat sketches and get a feel for my style.
Love, Lottie xx
If you are ready to start working on your designs but don’t know where to start, I made these collection planners just for you. They will take you through a step by step guide to planning your next collection and take tangible steps forward.
Printable Resource & Editable Canva Template 🙌
Struggling to bring your ideas together? my collection planners are designed to bring everything together, in one place, with ease.
I often get asked, where is the best place to start the design process. That’s exactly why I created the planners, providing a clear starting point, so you feel confident moving forward.
Use The Collection Planners Your Way
✨ They are user friendly & versatile, presented in a notebook style format, they can be printed at home/a print shop & put in a folder to fill in by hand. You can print out as many pages as required & organise as you need.
✨ This purchase also comes with a downloadable Canva template, so you can edit them on your computer or devices. Canva allows you to fully edit the pages without having design software.
✨ Full details of how to use the planners are included in the download file.
Size: A4
What’s Included?
Total of 76 pages - 35 unique pages - Unlimited amount of printable pages & fully editable Canva template
1. Front cover
2. How to use instructions included & helpful prompts
3. Brand foundation planning pages
4. Multiple mood-board planning pages
5. Customer profile building
6. Competitor analysis questions
7. Sustainability focus prompts
8. Style development sheets
9. Style number template tracker
10. Line sheet template
11. Yearly plan of action sheets with helpful dates
12. Fabric Library organisers
13. Factory information organisation pages
14. Annual financial review organiser
15. Brand building tips
16. Promotional social media starting tips
17. Next steps sheets & goal planning sheets
18. Notes pages
How will they help you?
By completing these planning pages you will feel on top of your brand planning, be able to fully visualise your brand from concept to garments & feel organised for moving forward. The aim is to get you ready to take action with confidence.
How to get started?
Once you have checked out, you will immediately receive a zip file with the planners inside. Please download them immediately (within 24 hours). There’s a file with helpful instructions to get the most out of the planners, this PDF File also includes the link to the Canva template. From there you can log into Canva/create your own free account and start editing straight away. You can also print the pages at home or from a print shop & fill them in by hand. It’s that easy!
Details
This is a digital file only, no physical product will be shipped. Colours may vary slightly from screen to the printed copy. For personal usage only, redistribution or sharing this product is strictly prohibited. Please keep it for your use only. I am unable to accept returns, exchanges or cancellations due to the nature of this purchase. Please contact me if you have any problems with your order.
