Now locate the Reflect Tool and, holding Opt/Alt, click on the centre front axis – which will be simple to locate if you have Smart Guides on – and the Reflect dialogue box will open. Once you’re happy with the design of the half, and have added any extra elements like stitching of pockets, select the entire half of the flat using the Selection tool. When creating the flat for a symmetrical garment, it of course makes best sense to draw only one half and then copy, reflect and join it to the other half to ensure symmetry is achieved. Then, simply enough, the separate objects are arranged using the Layers panel, or Object > Arrange. With the original flat on-screen, with Smart Guides turned on (View > Smart Guides) the collar was drawn on top. This element was added after the sketching of the original flat, and was done so using stacking to order objects and hide them underneath one another. Look again at the polo shirt above and notice the collar. Overlapping ShapesĪbutting paths aren’t always the best way to achieve your desired effect for every element of the garment. This will now leave you with two separate shapes – one the sleeve, and one the ‘cuff’.įrom here you will now need to manually delete the ends of the path, and you can do so simply by holding down the Alt key with the Shape Builder tool and clicking on those stray ends. Using Shift + m, locate the Shape Builder tool and click once on the ‘cuff’, once on the path, and once of the sleeve. Now, select both the upper part of the sleeve and the path. Ensuring that your path has a stroke but no fill, create an overlapping path on the sleeve where the ‘cuff’ will be.

On the polo shirt, you will notice that there is some contrast at the ends of the sleeves, and the Shape Builder Tool can be utilised to fashion this. The Shape Builder ToolĪn alternative method of creating perfectly abutting paths is to make use of Adobe Illustrator’s Shape Building tool. You will notice that the overlapping portion of the path vanishes, which indicates that the bodice and sleeve have been divided into separate objects. Using the Pathfinder panel, select the path and then click Divide.

at the underarm and at the shoulder – and that your path has a stroke but no fill. Make sure when you create this path that it overlaps both edges of the garment – i.e. To do this, you must first create a path that will in effect represent the armhole seam. So, we must create a path that divides each sleeve from the bodice essentially creating three separate objects from the original flat.

This of course will be essential when it comes to manufacturing the shirt.

You can see here that, once the whole bodice and sleeve has been drawn as one object, the sleeves have been sectioned off very neatly.

Fashion design flats template photoshop