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
