Having an outfit made from your own sketch

Start with a body outline

Fashion drawings stretch the body to look elegant, which is exactly what you do not want. Instead, draw over a realistic outline so the proportions are honest. Three easy ways:

• Trace a photo of yourself: stand straight against a plain wall, take a full-length photo, print it or open it in a drawing app, and draw the outfit over it. Lengths will sit where they really would.
• Use a printed body template: search for a plain, realistic figure template and draw on that.
• Draw on a photo of a garment you own: if your new design is close to a kameez or dress you already have, sketch the changes directly on a photo of it.

What to draw

Keep the drawing simple and make sure it shows:

• Front and back: the back neck, any fastenings and any back details are easy to forget and often decide the look.
• Seams and edges: where the yoke, waist seam, panels or tiers start and stop. Our guide to yokes and panels shows what these lines do.
• Fullness: draw a flared hem wider and add a few curved fold lines, so it is clear it is not a straight cut.
• A close-up of the key detail: if the neckline or cuff is the heart of the design, draw it again larger in a corner of the page.
• Every piece: the trousers and dupatta too, even if they are simple.

Label it, then add numbers

Arrows and short labels turn a drawing into a brief: “sweetheart neck, not too deep”, “pin tucks here”, “sleeve ends just below the elbow”, “slit to 20 cm below the waist”. If you know the name of a style, use it, and if not, describe what it does. The sweetheart neckline page and the glossary help with names.

Then add the numbers your drawing cannot show reliably: kameez or dress length, sleeve length, slit height and trouser length, in centimetres or inches. These are design lengths, which are not the same as your body measurements; our page on body versus garment measurements explains the difference, and kameez length for your height helps you pick a number.

Sending it well

Photograph the page flat, in daylight, from directly above, so the lines are not distorted. If you drew on a tablet, export it as an image. Number your pages if there is more than one. A sketch combined with one reference photo works especially well: the sketch shows your design, the photo shows the fabric feel or the drape you mean.

Upload everything on the custom quote form and add a few lines on the occasion, your fabric plans and what you love most about the design. If a detail will not sit well in your fabric or your size, we say so and suggest an alternative before you pay. Our Canada custom design page explains how the quote currency is agreed if you are ordering from there.

What happens to your sketch next

We read the sketch against your measurements and ask about anything unclear, such as how deep a neckline should go or whether a sleeve is gathered at the cuff. The agreed design is then written into your quote in words, so you can check that the drawing has been understood. Nothing is cut until you have approved it and paid in full, and the outfit is made in 5 to 7 working days after that, then shipped to you.