When I started thinking of a career in fashion designing, I got confused a lot of times. Because I didn’t know what I needed to do to become one. And in a country like Nigeria where I come from, a place where everyone that knows how to use a scissors and a sewing machine calls himself or herself a fashion designer. It can be hard not to make mistakes.
And I admit I made lots of them. Because if I knew then what I know now, my journey towards being a fashion designer would have been relatively shorter. Which is why it’s important for you to know the difference between who a tailor is and who a fashion designer is.
So that you can make informed decisions towards developing the skills that are relevant to the career you eventually choose.
Who is a fashion designer ?
A fashion designer is someone who is responsible for creating the specific look of individual garments-including a garment’s shape, color, fabric, trimmings, and other aspects of the whole.
Who is a tailor ?
A tailor is someone whose occupation is making or altering garments (such as suits, jackets, and dresses) typically to fit a particular person.
Now to the skills you need to become a fashion designer
Although you’ll need to have a basic knowledge of sewing to be a fashion designer, you do not necessarily need to be a professional at it.
Because your job as a fashion designer is more about being creative, being able to forecast trends. Being able to understand fabrics and ultimately an ability to come up with marketable clothing designs for your brand. And to be able to do all of these, you need to have one or more of these technical skills;
Sketching / drawing skills
As a designer, it is important for you to be able to sketch or draw design inspirations you have in your head in a way that other people can understand. An ability to communicate the design you’re trying to make in a way that others can visualize.
Draping skills
After making 2d or 3d sketches of your designs, it helps if you’re able to drape those designs on a mannequin to see if they are realistically possible or not.
Pattern making skills
It’s either you are able to drape or you are able to draft patterns. Having either or both of these skills is an important one on your journey to being a seasoned designer. To develop your pattern making skills, you can either get a degree on it or you take online pattern drafting courses that will arm you with the right knowledge you need.
You can also decide to apprentice under a professional designer. The only problem with apprenticeship especially in Nigeria is that they could pass off freehand cutting as pattern drafting for you. Which for most people restricts their imagination and harms their creativity.
Fabric analysis
An understanding of fabrics and how they move and feel is also an important skill to have as a fashion designer.
Developing this skill will help you make informed decisions about what designs fits what fabrics. And how these fabrics generally hang on the body of the wearer after being cut up and sewn.
Skills you need to be a tailor
To be a tailor, you do not exactly need to worry about understanding trends or how to come up with creating brand new designs for your clients.
The most important skill you need is to be able to assemble clothing pieces, alter them and sew them in a neat, professional way. And to be able to do that, you are going to need more than a basic knowledge of sewing. You’ll be needing an in depth, specialized training on how to sew. And how to work a sewing machine into making the kind of professional looking outfits you want to make.
A tailor’s job generally involves getting designs from clients or getting sewing patterns from professional designers or pattern makers which they then have to cut out and sew up into professional looking outfits.
So therefore, being a tailor and being a fashion designer is not the same at all. Because they both undergo different trainings and have different skills.
Although they sometimes work together in a team. That is, a tailor helping a fashion designer bring multiple versions of his or her project to life. A tailor can also transition into being a fashion designer.
All you’ll need to do that is to undergo further trainings that will help equip you with the right skills you’ll need.
And that’s why in my introduction to pattern drafting course, I teach tailors how to transition from free hand cutting. Which can restrict your creativity into pattern drafting which will help build up your creativity. And assist you on your journey towards being a professional fashion designer.
