What Tools Do Fashion Designers Need

Fashion design is the art of making clothing designs.

It involves cutting patterns on fabrics, sewing, manufacturing garments, and processes of crafting. You need the right fashion design tools to impressively make clothes fast.

An experienced fashion designer has all the tools needed to make beautiful clothing items. With the right tools and equipment, you reduce the time it takes to create new cloth designs.

The tools also minimize mistakes and help make perfect clothes designs.

Whether you have great artistic and design skills or drape your clothes on dummies to make perfect cuts, you're in the right place.

Here're a few fashion design tools you need to get started with your hobby or career:

1. A tape measure

You need a tape measure around your fashion desk at all times. When working, it's easy to lose track of time and get your space a bit messy.

Therefore, it's important to have at least three tape measures. Keep one tape measure in the toolbox, another around your neck, and the third in the fabric you intend to sew.

With a tape measure, you create picture-perfect clothes that fit your clients. Instead of this tool, some designers use a grading ruler and a set square to achieve the same outcomes. You'll find the two handy if you aren't good at using a tape measure.

2. Scissors

Fashion designers use different kinds of scissors for varied jobs. The three major scissors you need to create perfect fabric designs include:

Shear scissors – heavier than card scissors, shear scissors are used to cut all kinds of fabrics.

Card scissors – help fashion designers cut cardboard designs or patterns to ease the sewing phase.

Lightweight scissors – the scissors support cutting of light cloth materials such as lining, silk, etc.

3. A tailor's chalk

You can't work on your fashion designs without a tailor's chalk. You may easily misplace them and get frustrated, hence the need to have a number of them within reach.

So…

When you begin working, spread out at least five tailor's chalks around your work area. Make sure they're in different bold colors for easy identification.

Your tape measure and tailor's chalk go hand in hand; you can't use one without the other. After taking measurements, use the chalk to mark lines on the fabric to begin snipping right away.

Make sure you've got enough supply of a tailor's chalk in your fashion house.

4. Pearl headpins

Pre-sewing before the actual sewing gives you an idea of how the dress will look when done. It's important to ensure that your seams will look perfect on the final dress. This is where the pearl head pins come in.

The pins allow you to sink them into the dummy when trying to fit the cloth into a perfect size. What's more, the pins are easy to grab and use.

5. A dressmaker dummy

When looking for dressmaker dummies for your fashion business, opt for adjustable ones to enable you to work on different dress sizes. This will also help reduce the number of dummies taking up space in your shop.

The dummies give you an idea of how the dress you're making will look at the real person upon wearing it. With the dressmaker dummy, you take less time working on body parts that don't fit, thereby saving you time.

6. A sewing machine

The sewing machine is the most important equipment in your fashion business. Without it, no sewing can take place. It completes your list of fashion design tools.

The machines vary to meet unique design needs out there.

A zigzag machine is designed to create beautiful patterns on your fabric instead of over-lock sewing machines. Opt for one with a metal base for sturdiness and durable use.

It's important to invest in some handy power tools to repair or fix your sewing machine and other equipment that may fail or stop running for unknown reasons.

A router table will help you mount your router atop providing the extra working surface you may need. The table also determines the length and width of your fabrics.

7. Hand and machine sewing needles

Whereas some people sew entirely by hand, others use sewing machines. However, if you run a busy fashion house or business, you may not meet client needs and demands if you sew entirely with your hands.

Designers who're patient enough to sew by hand don't just have all the time but also use easy hand stitches to create perfect clothes. Even so, sewing machine projects also involve hand sewing at one point or another.

Therefore, you need hand sewing needles.

When working on intricate beading work, you'll need short beading needles and pins to get the job done. You may also use hand sewing needles. Use the beading pins to hold the beads you're fixing in place.

However, you'll need milliner needles to sew tacking stitches.

If working from your new sewing machine, you'll need sewing needles. Use a sharp needle to sew or stitch to prevent your fabric from getting frayed.

Depending on the fabric you're working on, you'll need different types of needles. This means you need to know how to choose the best sewing needle for your fashion design project at hand.

When storing your needles, separate the hand and machine sewing needles from each other. Keep them in separate boxes wrapped in paper and labeled for protection from corrosion and bluntness.