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Fashion designers use a variety of artistic media and techniques to produce their fashion illustrations which communicate their design ideas in visual form.

Croquis

A croquis is a quick drawing of the human form used as a skeleton on which a designer can draw their garment. They replicate the body shape of the wearer.

A variety of pre-drawn fashion croquis are available online or in books for you to trace over your fashion designs.

Making a movable croquis

Create a croquis that you can move into different positions.

1. Produce a figure drawing using basic shapes: circles, ovals and sausages
2. Cut out these shapes
3. Using butterfly clips, join the shapes together to recreate a figure with limbs that can be moved into different positions

Using a croquis

• Draw your design directly on top of the croquis. If the croquis is drawn in pencil, you can rub out the sections of it you don’t need.
• Lay a piece of semi-opaque paper such as tracing paper on top of your croquis. Use artistic media of your choice to draw onto the semi-opaque paper. A light box or window will help you with this if you can’t see the croquis clearly.
• Use a digital drawing of a croquis as a template on which to produce a digital drawing of your design using art and design software.

Technical elements of a garment design

For each product or garment there will be a technical illustration showing all sides of the product.

When designing their collection fashion designers need to consider the product’s size and fit.

Darts are used to manipulate flat pieces of fabric so that they curve around the 3D shape of the body. They are usually placed around the bust, front torso and back.

Moulage - Draping on the stand

Moulage is the process of designing a garment directly on the mannequin. Designers pin and tack pieces of fabric onto the mannequin, playing around with shapes, drapes and folds, cutting away sections and adding fabrics, until they are happy with the design. This is then carefully removed from the mannequin and used to make a paper pattern which is used to create the final garment.

Create a moulage using different materials pinned directly on the mannequin. Have a go at using different papers, fabrics and recycled materials to produce a fashion design.