You may have seen glamorous behind the scenes videos of the design processes for the big fashion houses, or even the anesthetic and well curated mood boards for mid sized brands. Their fabric selection swatches, how the process is handled by multiple teams who specialise in one thing or another and then pass off the project to the next team when their part is finished. As a small, independent brand that has its Founder as its head maker, things look a little different here. Today I’m going to share with you what my design process looks like as a mostly one-woman show in a slow made fashion label.
The majority of the design processes are handled by myself, from sourcing fabric and sketching designs, to pattern making, cutting and sewing, as well as all the website updates, most of the product photography (and modeling haha!) and all the advertising, social media, shipping and responding to customer enquiries.
Occasionally I might outsource something, like my pattern grading, specialty finishing like machine embroidery, sometimes campaign photography and in the past some of the manufacturing as well.
Since I’m the one stop shop for the design process I have fingers in all of the pies and the process takes a little longer which means I can start the design process from multiple angles. But it also means I get to oversee every element and make sure it aligns with my vision and with our brand values.
There are a few different ways I start the design process, sometimes I begin with the concept, a mood board, a feeling I want to recreate. Other times I find a fabric that inspires me. And different again, sometimes the design of the garment springs to my mind first and everything is built around that. I sketch out my ideas, and then select a few pieces from the sketches that I want to create. Not every idea makes it out of the design stage, but they become great references for future collections.
Sourcing fabrics is a key element of garment design and I prefer to use cottons, linens and silks. I have a wide variety of places I buy my fabrics from, including deadstock and vintage fabric sellers, Australia based print of demand services and independent fabric stores that have exclusive print runs. I source my interfacing from a circular company which means it can be composted at its end of life, with the natural fibre garment too. Sometimes it takes me a while to find the fabric I am after and other times the fabric presents itself to me before I have an idea. Choosing fabrics is one my favourite parts of design, which would be extremely obvious if you saw my fabric stash in my shed!
Once I have my design locked in, no matter where its inspiration came from, I make a test pattern up for it in my size and then cut and sew the sample. The pattern is the most crucial part of the whole process as it is the foundation for the structure, cut and fit of the garment, and if it isn’t done well, then the garment cannot be made well.
The test garment helps me to make sure the pattern fits together correctly, that seams are in the right place, pockets are big enough and interfacing is in the correct places. I wash and wear it a few times too, to check it’s comfortable, functional and that the fabric works well for the style. If necessary I make tweaks to the pattern and check it again until I am 100% happy with the garment that is created from the pattern.
The next step is to grade the patterns pieces. Usually my base size is a 10 or 12 and then I use that to incrementally, in millimetres decrease or increase areas of the pattern to create my size range. Grading is also an exceptionally important part of the process, to make sure each size is accurate, each piece of the pattern needs to be resized so that it fits back together this takes a bit of time. Most often I do this manually with pencil, paper and eraser and it is quite a time consuming process. Occasionally I post my tested pattern off to my Brisbane based pattern grader and he digitises the pattern, grades it on a computer and then prints it on card for me. Once I receive all the sizes of patterns back from him I cut them out in the card and then I can start cutting the patterns in the fabric.
Unlike in mass production where they layer fabrics on top of each other and cut out 50+ garments at a time, I cut each garment out individually. Yes it takes more time, but also it ensures every garment is cut on grain, doesn’t have a weird pattern placement and is cut well. I bundle up each size, pin a size tag to it and get ready to piece them together.
Now in the past I have sometimes sent these bundles off with my sample garment to a seamstress who is also based in Queensland, but more often than not, it is just me making the garments. I sit down at my industrial sewing machine and overlocker and get to work piecing together everything. I’m pretty particular about finish. I prefer to take a little extra time to understitch seams, add a lining, hide seams where possible and make sure underarm or crotch seams match correctly. I believe these things add not just life to the garment, but make them more comfortable and something you will reach for because they feel beautiful to wear, and when something feels beautiful to wear, you feel beautiful wearing it. During this process I add design labels, size labels and garment care labels. If the garment needs embroidery or special finishing this is where these details are added.
Then it’s time to photograph, and no, my husband is not my photographer; it’s usually just me and my phone camera. I set it up on a tripod, set the timer and get into position for the photo. Rinse and repeat until I have a selection of photos I am happy with for my website and social media. I have used photographers and models in the past and loved the process, and I do plan to use them again in the future, but for now this is the most efficient and cost effective way for me to get the shots I want in a time frame I want, and if we miss a shot, I can just set it up again. (Did I mention I love being across every part of the process).
Finally it’s time to edit the photos, load them onto the website, write product descriptions, and promote on social media and through my emails too. This is when you get a chance to see the final product. The process takes months and it’s almost magical when you see the final garment come together. And for a collection to come together it’s incredible to see the vision made real. When working in a collection this process is repeated side by side for each different design, making sure fabrics are speaking to each other, tones are similar in colours and design elements across each design speak to each other without feeling repetitive or monotonous.
At the end I always love to compare the original mood board, sketches or vision with the garments I’ve created. It feels like a full circle moment. And then it’s time to start again and work on the next collection, because by then my mind is already brimming with new ideas!