I was lucky enough to win a premium package from My Body Model in my recent #BHMPatternDesigners Challenge win. I've been intrigued by My Body Model for a while now, and this finally gave me the impetus to measure myself and get my personalized croquis downloaded and printed. It was so easy, and promises to be addictive.
I watched the three videos that Erica has posted about the basics of garment sketching for total beginners (that's me) and tried out some of her tips and tricks. It's easier than I thought it would be. The croquis with the right proportions makes a big difference in getting the feel of a garment right for me. Some of the tips included using the line drawings and model images from your chosen pattern to note the shapes, starting with dots to mark the edges and shapes of things, then drawing in the curved lines to connect it all. That made it work so well!
I started by sketching out some of the items on my 2021 #MakeNine list, starting with the ones I'm planning on making next. I started just with pencil sketches to get the feel of how this works. It's really neat -- so fun that I can see doing this a lot! I'm not a plan oriented sewist in general; I tend to have a mental overview of the patterns I'm interested in and then make things according to mood and whatever fabric is currently speaking to me. So this should be an interesting addition to my sewing process, maybe I'll get my sewing queue a little more organized this way.
I found that using the tiny adjustments to the way lines curved that Erica talked about in her videos made the sketches immediately more realistic. I haven't really tried using colour or representing fabrics more realistically yet, but I'm already hooked. Have I mentioned how fun it is? It feels like the grownup version of FashionPlates ;)
I'll have to practice more to really get the hang of it, as I've seen so many people sharing their garment plans using this technique on Instagram which have inspired me. I really love Nateida's paper doll process that she shared at the beginning of the challenge, and want to give that a go once I get the garment drawing bit down. So much potential! The next time Erica offers her drawing class, I'm in 😍
