If you’ve ever dreamed of quitting your day job, becoming a Fashion or Costume Designer or if have an idea or invention for a specialty sewn good like a medical, tactical or industrial item, here are 10 steps to get you closer to bringing it to life.
- Design from what’s missing in the market, what you can’t find and / or what’s needed. Necessity is not only the “mother of invention”, you are probably not the only one looking for a solution to this problem.
- Sketch out your design concept or idea as best you can, find photo images you can add together and / or actual examples of existing designs that are close to what you want to make or alter to communicate your idea to someone who can sew, to help you bring it to life.
- Meanwhile, as you are working on your design idea, you should also be thinking about what you want to name your brand, your item and / or collection if you plan to add more pieces. The sales and marketing side of this takes an equal amount of effort. Do market research. Look into what domain names are available, etc. Is there anything already on the market, like it?
- Figure out what kind of fabric you want to use, get swatches and sample yardage and work on sourcing it wholesale, by the roll. Swatch.com is a great place to start or visit aboutsources.com or go to a physical fabric show at thefabricshows.com Order enough sample yardage to make at least one prototype of your design.
- Find a person who can sew, but ideally someone who knows how to make a physical paper sewing pattern of your design, so you can take it to the next level.
- Test your design by taking that first prototype and use it, wear it, test it out yourself.
- Does it meet or exceed your expectations?
- Do people notice your design and/or ask you wear you got it?
- Are there any changes you want or need to make?
- Is it perfect and ready to go to the next level?
- Etc
- After your own preliminary evaluation, have 5-10 pieces made and give them away to people who agree to try or wear your design and give you some honest feedback on a survey within a week.
- Go to JotForm.com and create a simple 10 question survey they can use to anonymously evaluate your design and give you feedback on what they loved and didn’t like so much BEFORE moving forward.
- What did you like the most?
- What did you like the least?
- What would you change?
- How was the fit?
- What colors would you like?
- Etc.
- Once you have some preliminary feedback, go back to your sewist and pay them to make any further changes to your pattern and alter your design or sew another prototype if needed.
- Once you have refined your design, have a final sample of it and have a basic paper sewing pattern you’re ready to move to the next step of finding someone to produce your design.
If you can’t find anyone near you to help you through this process, I have a full service Design and Production House that can help you not only develop your designs, but also create the sales, marketing and funding strategies to go along with it.
Stay tuned for more tips on going from concept to creation!
Looking for an Orlando, Fl area creative space? Ask about my co-op sewing maker space and loft studio rentals by the day, week, month or year!
Gina Vincenza Van Epps
Emmy Winning Celebrity Seamstress gina@ginavincenza.com
Gina Vincenza 
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