Every fashion designer has a fantasy to start a successful fashion career. They also try to show off their creativity and strong working power against aggressive competition. To face this competition, at first you make sure using the best and most effective design tools.

Are you ready to start your fashion profession like fashion designer, fashion label (easily make a significant garment), expert pattern maker, fashion trainer, then you should have some essential design tool kits. Because, design tools can help you to minimize mistakes, cut down on creation time; capture your every idea to create a new design, and developing your new design perfectly.
Types of Design Tools and Equipments:
These fashion design tools are not only important for the fashion design related students or designers but also essential for all the creative peoples they can relate to this.

Before making a new design and developing it, you have to keep in mind. Fashion design tools and equipments are categorized by some section, these are following below:
- Draping tools
- Dress forms
- Fabric pressing tools
- Fashion art tools
- Computer Assisted Design Tools (CAD)
- Sewing tools (Sewing machines, needles, threads)
- Fabrics (Patterns, solids, specialty fabrics)
- Pattern making tools
- Cutting mats
- Product development tools
Other related factors these are directly help to developed a new design:
- Season
- Target group
- Occasion
- Theme
- Color
- Fashion Dummies or mannequins
1. Draping tools:
Draping is the important techniques to positioning and pinning fabric around a dress form to make a structure of a garment design. To do this process some essential tools are needed. These are mentioned in below:
- Muslin
- Dressmaker pins
- Measurement tape
- French curve tool
- Hip curve tool
- Styling curve
- Plastic ruler 18”
- Fabric scissors (Card Scissors, Shear Scissors, Lightweight Scissors)
- Adhesive ¼” style tape
- Non-adhesive style tape
- Blue and red pencil
- Sketch and tracing paper roll
- Tracing wheel
- L square
- Yardstick
- Pencil sharpener
2. Dress forms:
Dress form is mainly used for fitting and draping clothes of the garment that is being designed or sewed. It also help to beginners for many types of projects like draping, garment pattern making, garment fitness, creating new design etc.
- Basic dress form
- Dress form fit/ adjustment kit
- Adjustable dress form (Size S-M, M-L)
- Full female body dress form (Size 2, 4, 6, 8,10, 12, 16)
- Half female body dress form (Size 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 18)
- Male dress form (Size S, M, L)
3. Fabric pressing tools:
Before start the draping and cutting process, fabric pressing must be needed to get a perfect dress making. Some fabric pressing tools are as follows:
- Iron
- Steam iron
- Table top ironing board
- Normal iron board
- Fabric steamer
- Portable fabric steamer
- Steam press
4. Fashion sketching or art tools:
Every fashion design related people should know, these tools are the most important equipments for art or sketching a new design. They are..
- Normal drawing pencil (Hb, 2b, 4b, 6b etc)
- Color pencil
- Sketch book
- Clear plastic ruler (Size 18”, 1”x 6”, 1” x 12”)
- Black liquid marker
- Eraser
- Graph paper
- Carbon paper
- Sketch and tracing paper roll
- Different sizes of drafting table
- Water, poster color, brush etc
- Sketchpad
***Sketchpad:
Sketchpad is considered to be the progenitor of modern computer-aided design (CAD) programs as well as a major breakthrough in the development of computer graphics in general.
A sketchpad is easily a best friend for the young designer’s. Many creative or fashion designers will keep a smaller sketchpad in their handbag. When they see something special and think about an idea, then they can draw it out and take to implement it.
5. Computer Assisted Design Tools (CAD):
Today in the fashion world, updated fashion designers are choose different computer assisted design tools for developing their ideas and design.
- Adobe photoshop
- Adobe illustrator
- Ps, Ai and more
- TUKAcad
6. Sewing tools (Sewing machines, needles, threads):
A sewing tool is great kit for beginner designers. It can help to make a full outfit. Sewing tool kits also help during photo shoots when an outfit accidentally snags or repair. Another great use for a sewing toolkit is to add last minute touches on your outfit right before hitting the fashion show runway.
Sewing tool kits like:
- Different sewing machines,
- Different sizes of sewing and hand needle,
- Various types of threads are needed to create dress design.
- Small scissors
- Thread cutter
- Glue
- Different decorative trimmings etc
7. Fabrics (Patterns, solids, specialty fabrics):
Every fashion designers or beginners should know about different types of fabrics, fabric patterns, solid fabrics, and special fabrics for designing a new dress. They also selects their fabric for dress making according to cost, fiber, fabric construction, durability, comfort etc.
8. Pattern making tools:
Pattern making help beginner designer to understand about measurement techniques, inseams, waistlines and special sizing and dimensions without having too much fabric pieces. Here I will mention some pattern making tools for beginner fashion designer.
- White or brown pattern paper
- Dress maker tracing paper
- Tracing wheel
- Needle point tracing wheel
- French curve
- Hip curve
- Styling curve
- Awl
- Pencil, red and blue pencil
- Pencil sharpener
- Rub eraser
- Plastic ruler 18”
- Paper scissors
- Measurement tape
- Yardstick
- Scotch tape
- Weights
- Notcher
9. Cutting mats:
For getting accurate paper and fabric cutting in dress designing, perfect size cutting mats are required. Different sizes cutting mats are available in market for the design students and professional works.
10. Product development tools:
After creating new design, designers want to start product development. To do this segment some essential product development tools and equipments are must be needed. These are
- White bond paper
- Tracing paper (9 x12)
- Pencil (2HB, 6B)
- Pencil sharpener
- Rub eraser
- Black liquid marker
- Clear plastic ruler (1” x 12”, 1” x 16”)
- Measurement tape
- Tailor chalk
- Push pin
- Yardstick
Related factors:
Some factors that are directly depend on dress designing. When fashion designer think about a new idea for dress making, that time they will must remember all these following factors to get a perfect garment.
Related factors that are shortly described in below:
Season:
Fashion designers are design there dress on the basis of season. They are follow summer, fall, spring and winter season.
Target group:
Every designer has some special target customer. They are mainly design for their target customer groups like Socio-economic, culture, occupation, individual (men, women, and children).
Occasion:
Formal, informal, semi-formal, casual, smart casual, official, business dress, business casual, cocktail party, active wear, swim wear, sports wear. Before designing garments, designers are following these kinds of dress codes and different occasions.
Theme:
Designers are considered a specific theme as frame of reference.
Color:
Garments color depends on according to the theme, season, and occasion.
Fashion Dummies or mannequins:
Fashion dummies or mannequins are a great way to help new designers understand fitting and shaping in dresses and tops. Different size are available, dummy provides the shape as like as human’s core. Mainly it is used to final clothing display.
A mannequin is like a human doll that is used by artists, tailors, dressmakers, fashion design students, visual merchandisers for window dressers and especially to display or fit garment in clothing shop and fashion house. It is also called a manikin, dummy, lay figure or dress form.

Founder & Editor of Textile Learner. He is a Textile Consultant, Blogger & Entrepreneur. Mr. Kiron is working as a textile consultant in several local and international companies. He is also a contributor of Wikipedia.
Hie,I need a quotation for a number of fashion & designer’s kit/tools Where do i get that which store?
Hi vishvas
company the design cart
Big fan of your blog — particularly enjoyed the recent blog you wrote on the topic of Important Fashion Design Tools for Beginners