Drawing Fashion Flats: Designing Construction Details with Laura Volpintesta
SUPPLIES & RESOURCES
SUPPLIES
• Clear gridded ruler (shown:
Westcott C-Thru)
• Pencil: 2B mechanical or
wooden pencil
• White plastic eraser
• Paper: Printer/copy paper,
marker paper or other
sketching paper; you should
be able to trace through it
• Tape measure
• Optional: Waterproof felt pens
for inking (recommended:
Faber Castell Pitt Artist
Pens, Pigma Micron Pens)
or waterproof roller ball pen
(recommended: Uniball)
• Croquis figures (provided,
pages 3-5)
• Use these tools as
underlays as you practice
making flats
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RESOURCES
Instructor’s Website & Book
• Fashion Illustration Tribe:
fashionillustrationtribe.com
• The Language of Fashion
Design: 26 Principles Every
Fashion Designer Should
Know by Laura Volpintesta
(Rockport, 2014)
Additional Recommended Reading
• Fashion Design Course:
Principles, Practice, and
Techniques: A Practical Guide
for Aspiring Fashion Designers
by Steven Faerm (Barron's
Educational Series, 2010)
• Flats: Technical Drawing for
Fashion by Basia Szkutnickia
(Laurence King, 2010)
• Patternmaking for Fashion
Design by Helen Joseph
Armstrong (5th edition;
Prentice Hall, 2009)
• The Spec Manual by Michele
Wesen Bryant (2nd edition;
Fairchild, 2005)
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 Drawing Fashion Flats: Designing Construction Details with Laura Volpintesta
LINE WEIGHT GUIDELINES
• Very light sketching lines: First
work in pencil with very light
sketching lines that will either
stay or be erased later if you
ink your sketch. These light
lines are used to plot out the
silhouette or basic shape of
the garment, including length,
width, sleeves and collars, to
achieve the basic shape and
scale of the garment as a road
map to follow.
• Medium-weight or "regular"
lines: Continuing to work in
pencil or adding ink if desired,
the next lines you’ll want
to define, using a medium-
weight line, are any edges,
now that you are certain of
them. Next, add in seams,
armholes, darts and/or panels
with cut pieces that have been
stitched together or joined.
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• Heaviest line weight: The
heaviest line weight is used
wherever you are indicating
separate layers such as the
overlap of a jacket front or
wrap top, the opening on a
fly-front, slit openings, pleat
folds, collar edges, packet-
flaps, open hems, sleeve slits
and placket openings, buttons
or sequins, necklines and
open pocket edges, etc.
• Final lightest line weight for
details: The lightest, thinnest
pencil lines (or the .005
Micron, if you’re using Micron
pens) are used to indicate
overlock, ribbing, or topstitch
lines (double, single, or triple
needle, zigzag stitching,
trapunto, edgestitching, visible
hems and staystitching).
TIPS & GUIDELINES
STEPS FOR SKETCHING FLATS
TO SCALE
1. Measure the maximum length
of the garment. For tops, this
is usually a measurement
from the high point shoulder
(HPS) to the hem at center
front (CF).
2. Measure the maximum width
of the garment (usually the
hem, or sweep).
These two measurements
3.
create an axis for the CF of
the garment.
4. If desired, fold the paper in
half, and work out all of the
symmetrical details on one
half, then you can trace over if
you want.
5. Draw the silhouette first;
when you're satisfied with it,
add seams, then details, then
topstitching.
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 Drawing Fashion Flats: Designing Construction Details with Laura Volpintesta

JUNIOR CROQUIS FIGURE

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 Drawing Fashion Flats: Designing Construction Details with Laura Volpintesta

MISSES CROQUIS FIGURE

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 Drawing Fashion Flats: Designing Construction Details with Laura Volpintesta

PLUS CROQUIS FIGURE

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