fashion designing videos for beginners

Tutorials Archive - Courses & Free Tutorials on Adobe Illustrator, Tech Packs & Freelancing for Fashion Designers : Courses & Free Tutorials on Adobe Illustrator, Tech Packs & Freelancing for Fashion Designers

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Adobe Illustrator Shortcuts for Color and Repeating Patterns (with animated GIFs!)

When you're working with color and repeating patterns in Adobe Illustrator, it's frustrating to feel like everything takes FOREVER! Chances are, you just don't know the right Illustrator shortcuts for fashion. Learning these simple tricks will help cut your design time in HALF. Which is why I put together my best and top 23 shortcuts […]

Adobe Illustrator Shortcuts for Fashion Drawing (with animated GIFs!)

Drawing fashion flats and illustrations in Adobe Illustrator is an essential skill for working in the industry. But sometimes you want to scream at your computer because it feels like everything takes FOREVER! My guess? Is that you just don't know the right AI shortcuts for fashion. Cut your design time in HALF with these […]

Adobe Illustrator Shortcuts for your Workspace (with animated GIFs!)

If you work in fashion, you spend a lot of time in Adobe Illustrator. And the worst feeling is to feel like everything takes FOREVER! My best is that you're doing things the roundabout way and don't know the right AI shortcuts for fashion. Learning these simple tricks will save you HOURS each week (and […]

Fashion Illustration Tutorial: Knit Repeating Pattern Textures

Creating realistic knit repeating pattern textures in Illustrator is a PAIN! This tutorial will show you how to make it easy in just a FEW steps! Here's what you'll learn: How to create a realistic chunky knit texture for your fashion illustrations using a photo How to apply the knit texture to your fashion flats […]

How to Draw A Metallic Zipper in Illustrator (with the pull and stop in ONE brush!)

Illustrator Fashion Design Tutorial: How to Draw a Fashion Flat in 20 Mins

Illustrator for fashion is hard and it can feel like drawing your fashion flats takes FOREVER! Chances are, you just haven't found the right Illustrator fashion design tutorials. (I know because there's not a lot of good stuff out there!) In this 4-part Illustrator Fashion Design Tutorial series (which you'll love), I'll show you how […]

Illustrator Shading Tutorial: Make Your Fashion Drawings 3D with Folds and Shadows

How to Spec Measurements for Fashion Designers in Illustrator with Astute Graphics

Zoe Hong Sketches Sew Heidi's Fashion Flat at YouTube Space LA

Zoe Hong Illustrates Sew Heidi's Illustrator Fashion Flat

What happens when two fashion nerds geek out at #youtubespaceLA? You get an awesome collab like this one. Sketching by hand is something I'm terrible at, which is why I brought you expert designer and illustrator Zoe Hong. Watch her (mesmerizingly) convert my "flat" sketch into a beautifully rendered illustration and learn some super cool […]

How to Calculate and Bid Project Based Freelance Work: Successful Fashion Designer by Sew Heidi

How to Charge for Project Based Freelance Fashion Design Work

Being a freelancer is tough. You don't want to charge a crazy high hourly rate, but you want to make sure you get what you're worth. If you work fast and are good at what you do, project based rates may be a good option for you. Let's take a look at why you may […]

How to Spec and Add Measurements for Cut & Sew Panels or Seam Lines on your Fashion Flat & Garment: Successful Fashion Designer Tutorial by Sew Heidi

How to Spec Cut & Sew Panels on Your Garment

It's critical to provide your factory with actual life size scale measurements for artwork, cut and sew panels, or seam lines on your fashion designs. Using both Illustrator and real life garments, learn how to mock this up and create specs to make sure your samples come in correctly – the first time. YOU WILL […]

What Size Should My Textile Design Repeating Pattern Be for Printing and Manufacturing? Free Illustrator Tutorial: Successful Fashion Designer by Sew Heidi

What Size Should A Repeating Pattern Be for Printing?

Whether you're a fashion designer, textile design, or surface pattern designer, you'll need to spec your repeating patterns for manufacturing. This video will show you how to determine what size your repeat tile should be for printing based on print type (rotary screen, flat-bed screen, etc). You can also use this technique if you're prepping artwork for Spoonflower.

How to Create a Mesh Repeating Pattern Mock Up in Adobe Illustrator: Successful Fashion Designer Free Tutorial by Sew Heidi

How to Create a Mesh Repeating Pattern in Illustrator

It's easy to create a mesh repeating pattern and add it to your fashion flat sketches – and I'll show you exactly how in this video tutorial. You will learn: 00:33 Understanding the repeat of a mesh pattern 00:55 Building the repeat tile for your mesh 01:22 How to cut a hole out of your […]

How to Create a Lace Trim Pattern Brush in Illustrator: The Successful Fashion Designer by {Sew Heidi}

How to Create Lace Trim in Illustrator

With a few simple tricks, you can mock up realistic lace trim in Illustrator (and a bit of Photoshop). Bonus trick? You can even change the color of your lace (even though it's a photo) directly in Illustrator. Not what you wanted? Here's how to create a lace repeating pattern swatch. In this tutorial, you […]

How to Draw A Shoe Fashion Flat in Illustrator: Successful Fashion Designer tutorial by {Sew Heidi}

How to Draw A Shoe Fashion Flat in Illustrator

Since it's asymmetrical, it can be hard to wrap your head around sketching a shoe in AI. In this video tutorial, I'll show you the exact steps to draw a shoe using lesser known tools and features in Adobe Illustrator. You will learn: 02:25 How to create round corners using the Live Corners feature (Corner […]

Pantone Color Guide for Fashion Designers tutorial by Sew Heidi + The Successful Fashion Designer

How do I know What Pantone book to use?

If you work in fashion, you have to use Pantone colors. But how do you know what colors to use? And what's the difference between TCX & TPX codes? This video will tell you what you need to know. You will learn: 00:13 What are Pantone colors and how do they work? What industries use […]

How to Calculate Your Hourly Freelance Rate for Fashion Designers (get the free calculator)

How to calculate your graded spec rules for fashion design tech packs & spec sheets in Excel: The Successful Fashion Designer tutorial by Sew Heidi

How to auto calculate grade rules in your tech pack using formulas in Excel

I see many designers doing tech packs in Illustrator and – gasp – MANUALLY calculating grade rules! Please, don't do this! Use Excel and the simple formulas to make sure your spec sheet is accurate and that everything AUTOMATICALLY updates if you make any changes! You will learn: 00:38 Defining your sample size in your […]

How to Spec a Garment for your Fashion Design Tech Pack: The Successful Fashion Designer by {Sew Heidi} - a review of The Spec Manual Book

How to Spec a Garment for Your Fashion Tech Pack

How do you know what POMs (points of measure) to include in your spec sheet? How do you figure out where to put them? Luckily, someone made a book for us! The Spec Manual by Michele Wesen Bryant and Diane DeMers is the best (and only one that I know of) reference book you can […]

How to Make a Lace Pattern Swatch in Illustrator + Photoshop Tutorial by {Sew Heidi}

How to Make a Lace Pattern in Illustrator (& Photoshop)

Using photoshop & Illustrator, we'll create a see through / transparent lace repeating pattern swatch and apply it to our bra fashion flat sketch. You will learn: 00:37 How to crop one repeat of your lace pattern in Photoshop 01:20 How to make sure the edges of your repeat tile will seam up smoothly 02:11 […]