Why Flat Drawings are Often the Best Drawings

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Last time I talked about why observational drawing is such an important fundamental skill for clothing designers. Whether you do it professionally or design and make your own clothes, the visual communication element is vital. Drawing what you see with your physical eye (or your mind’s eye) is how you connect with your ideas and share them with others.

Sometimes the easiest or more accessible way to begin is by stripping away all the details and laying the garment flat. The flourishes, flair, and storytelling can be intimidating and distract you from what the item actually looks like. Photography and cover art or illustration are there to inspire, but they have to take their cue from something. For sewing patterns, we go to the line drawing on the back of the pattern envelope. For knitting patterns, we consult the schematic. That way, we can see more clearly.

And this is where flat drawings come in.

It’s the same when you learn to draw. You begin by focusing on the overall or general shapes, establishing relationships and proportions, and then add in the detail. This applies whether you draw by hand or use some form of CAD. You’ll be developing your fine motor skills and powers of observation no matter how you choose to draw.

This post introduces two upcoming book reviews that focuses on flats, specification drawings, or schematics as a way into drawing for design. The first book will be Technical Drawing For Fashion, second edition, by Basia Szkutnicka. I’m focusing on this title first because it’s more closely related to pattern cutting, and earlier this year I talked about why observational skills are important for creative pattern cutting. It’s still very relevant for knitwear design though, so don’t check out if you’re not a pattern cutter!

A note on vocabulary

Please also note that I’ll be using the terms above – flats, spec drawings, schematics – interchangeably for clarity and the sake of argument. They all do much the same job.

What are flats, or flat drawings?

Flats are also known as specification drawings in the wider fashion industry. They are part of what’s called a tech pack, which is sent to the manufacturer and contains Every. Single. Detail about how to make a garment to an exact and particular standard. Samples of trims and finishings are included too. This helps to ensure quality control, clear communication, and that every item made to the specification in the tech pack is as consistent as possible.

For commercial patterns sold to the general public, the information is presented differently because we are going to make the garment, and we’re not a factory. For example, we need more detail about the finished measurements. We’re going to choose our own fabric or yarn and finishings. We might also add our own personal touches to the basic design. And this could also include moving away from the instructions or changing the order of work, because we are working to our standards and don’t have clients to answer to.

The bomber jacket above is more distracting because I’ve put a pattern on it, unlike the blank copy that I added first. It’s the same illustration, but the plain black and white lines make it more accessible.

It’s much easier for the manufacturer to work, and for us to put our own stamp on things, when we see a very plain drawing. If the garment is laid flat – hence the name – we’re not distracted by the curves, angles and contours of the human body. We’re not tempted to compare ourselves to the body shape and size of the person or character modelling the item. And we’re compelled to establish meaning and context by relating the dimensions of the finished garment to the dimensions of our bodies.

How can flats or flat drawings help you to draw, design, and make clothes?

From there, we can start having conversations about fit, pattern alterations, and design intentions.

From the designer’s point of view, flat illustrations help with clarity of thought. You can really focus on what you want to say with the design, how it connects with people. This is especially important for representation. Sometimes people can switch off, or think a design wouldn’t suit them, if there’s a heavy emphasis on figure drawing. There’s a place for figure drawing…but on a variety of figures.

Illustrating the Kim poncho – a quick case study

The illustration above is of my Kim poncho design. There’s plenty of detail, yes, but I’ve restricted this to the stitch detail only. Instead, I’ve shown how I see the garment working and related it to the human body in a very basic way. I’ve shown where there are holes for arms in the side seams. I’ve made sure to include annotation about the swing shape, because I know that bellies, boobs and bums can be bigger than shoulders, and I want to be clear about the silhouette. Axes of shaping are included within the pattern for an even more customised fit.

This is all subjective, but I feel that this comes across more effectively because I haven’t opted for figure drawing. For me, information about the stitch pattern is more valuable to the knitter or comissioning editor (this was the illustration I submitted back in 2016). I had no idea who’d model my design if it was selected, but I wanted to show that I’d thought about how the design would work. This, I hoped, would take pressure off as far as casting a model was concerned – no need to specify a body type or shape.

And I also knew that this would be a relief as far as knitters were concerned. All they’d have to do is consider whether they’d look good in a swing or flared silhouette, and not compare themselves to someone in a photograph.

Back to the main point…

On the other hand, everyone can relate to a garment laid flat on a surface. It levels the playing field. To show this, let’s switch sides and view the flat from the maker’s perspective.

Let’s say that the flat shows or annotates a full length sleeve, and the finished measurement of that sleeve inseam is 56cm. You know that you need a 62cm sleeve inseam for a full length sleeve on your body. This doesn’t make the drawing inaccurate – but it does tell you something about proportion and relationships. And if you’d only seen a figure drawing, you might well have missed this. You might have thought, “That won’t look good on me,” or “I can’t see how to make that design work”.

Flat drawings have a beautifully incisive way of cutting through the rubbish and cumulative impact of impossible ideals. They’re created so that we don’t have an emotional reaction to the design in front of us. Instead, we’re compelled to think rationally and bring ourselves into the picture to assign meaning and context.

This is powerful, because we put ourselves front and centre – designer and maker. Designers can say what they need to say. Makers can see what they need to see.

The beautiful simplicity of a plain flat drawing

And – it’s also MUCH easier to learn how to draw if we begin by creating very plain drawings. Even the more complex and impactful compositions start with simple elements. Like putting outfits together, you build up slowly, adding and removing items, stepping back to assess your work. Eventually, you find something you like, and the cumulative effect is your own style of drawing, just as you have your own style of dressing.

My last word before the book reviews is that there’s no one way to produce a flat drawing. When some of you see the first book review, you’ll be reminded of many different designers, especially in the sewing pattern world! Know that they have all chosen this style. It’s not an industry standard. It’s connected to branding and visual identity – that visual communication thing again.

There’s nothing wrong with you if you choose not to draw this way, if you’re a designer. And if you’re a maker, your prerogative is clarity of information. You want to see the designer being true to themselves, so that you can trust them. Both these points relate to having confidence in your ability to communicate and relate to other people. And when you keep the drawings simple – when you keep them flat – that’s what’s left.

If you’d like to get started with drawings (flat drawings, observational drawings), I created this short course to help you get started:

Last, but not least…

Finally, thank you for reading, and a big thank you to Katie and Connie for their ongoing support via Ko-Fi! If you’d like to support my blog regularly or contribute to the tip jar, click the pink button on the bottom left. And if you found this post about flat drawings helpful or inspiring, please share it with others.

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