Technical sketches, sometimes called technical drawings, flat sketches, fashion flats, or CADs, are black-and-white drawings of garments with high levels of detail. They’re drawn accurately as the garment would be in real life, with correct stitching, trims, and construction details.

Technical Sketches vs Fashion Illustrations

Fashion illustrations are usually drawn more artistically and are great for some scenarios like marketing and promotion. A technical sketch is a more structured drawing used to convey precise garment details. Here’s a visual comparison.

Typically drawn as though they are laying flat (why they’re often called fashion “flats”), the goal of a tech sketch is to act as the base visual set of instructions for a manufacturer to make the garment.

Here is an example of what tech sketches look like compared to real garments laying flat – you can see they pretty much trace the clothes.

Many fashion brands use technical sketches during the design process to develop a collection, and almost all brands use them in tech packs.  

In my 15+ year fashion career, I probably drew thousands of tech sketches and fashion flats. Over time, you build up a library of components – trims, findings, even things like collars and sleeves – that you can use over and over.

Once added to a tech pack, they’ll have callouts or specs added to them to show more detail about the garment and how it should be constructed, with what stitches, and even specific placement measurements.

Very detailed garments will have technical sketches for individual components like this interior goggle pocket. Factories are not mind readers; you have to spec every part of a garment to ensure it’s made right!

Technical designers are usually the ones in charge of creating tech sketches, but depending on the size and structure of a fashion brand, it’s not unusual to see creative fashion designers also doing them too.

Why is a Technical Sketch Important in the Apparel Industry?

Flat sketches are essential tools beyond helping designers, pattern makers, and manufacturers collaborate effectively.

• Save time and money: Detailed technical drawings save both time and money by reducing errors during production. Manufacturers can follow the sketch to ensure the garment or accessory matches the designer’s vision – cutting down on repetitive and costly revisions.
• Efficient communication: Technical sketches are a universal language in the fashion world. This means less back-and-forth – saving everyone time (and sanity!). 
• Process documentation: If you’ve ever worked in product development, you know how many iterations and revisions it takes to get the perfect sample. Technical drawings act as a record of these changes, making it easier to revisit any developments along the way.
• Legal protection: In some cases, technical sketches can provide legal protection for original designs and intellectual property rights. Behind every iconic fashion brand’s signature style lies a patent, and tucked within that patent, you’ll surely find detailed technical drawings depicting the design in detail.

Now, just having a technical sketch doesn’t guarantee you all the benefits above.

The truth is – in a lot of cases, a poorly drawn technical sketch can do you more harm than good. Factories can misinterpret details if they’re not drawn accurately or just missing altogether.

What I see from a lot of fashion grads and younger designers is tech sketches that “look” good but don’t portray sufficient details. Here’s an example of “don’t” versus “do” with flats.

You can see there is no stitching, seams and trims are missing (zipper teeth, back neck label, collar stand), and the “don’t” version is pretty lacking. On the “do” version, everything is much more detailed and accurate.

So, it’s really important to learn how to make professional and industry-standard technical sketches.

7 Key Elements of a Technical Sketch

These are the key elements that you should include in a technical sketch:

1. Stitching Details: Stitch lines, seams, and the types of stitches used. For example, illustrating flatlock stitches for stretchy activewear seams.
2. Construction Details: How the various garment pieces are assembled and put together. For instance, showing the sequence of attaching a collar to a blouse.
3. Silhouette: Desired fit, drape, or style of the garment. This can include details on how the fabric should flow or gather, for example, imagine how you would illustrate drapey silk palazzo pants vs tailored wool jeans. 
4. Different Views: Front, back, side view, etc. – include all views necessary to show the details of the design and help the manufacturers understand easily.
5. Fabric Information: Types of fabric or materials to be used for different parts of the garment. For example, illustrating silk for the main body and lace for the sleeves. 
6. Notions and Accessories: Illustrations of details like belt buttons, zippers, trims and how they are placed in the garment.
7. Color Details: Visual representations of colorways and color blocking, clearly showing the material colors or patterns. For example, showing contrasting colors for sleeves and body in a sports tracksuit.

Where are Technical Sketches Used in the Fashion Industry?

While technical sketches are usually made for tech packs, you’ll see them in other places too.

Here’s a list of how technical drawings can be used in the fashion industry:

Design Development 

Fashion designers create technical drawings to visualize and communicate their clothing designs to other team members, manufacturers, or clients.

For example, these can be put in line sheets for presentations, as a visual guide in tech packs for manufacturers, or in a presentation deck for potential clients.

Sample-making and Manufacturing

Technical sketches serve as a common visual language that helps designers, pattern makers, sample makers, and manufacturers understand and execute the design ideas accurately during apparel production. 

Fashion Books and Publications

Your sewing or pattern-making books use technical drawings to illustrate design ideas and provide insights into garment design and construction. Here’s a tech sketch example from a book I have on my shelf by Simplicity, Simply the Best Sewing Book.

Marketing and Collaterals

Beyond apparel production and educational use, flat sketches are also used to promote or explain the product itself, such as in collaterals like hang tags or clothing labels. The drawings act as a visual representation of the design, offering customers a clear idea of what they are purchasing. Look closer at any technical outerwear hang tags you see in stores and I almost guarantee you’ll start to see tech sketches on them!

How to Create Technical Flat Sketches in Adobe Illustrator

As a self-taught fashion designer with a graphic design background, I learned that many fashion designers – including technical designers, use a lot of time-consuming and inefficient methods when creating technical drawings.

But spending 2 hours on a single technical sketch isn’t practical, nor do brands tolerate this. 

I know there’s a learning curve, and even with my graphic design background, I had to learn the nuances of using Adobe Illustrator specifically for fashion (which IMHO is still the best technical drawing software).

If you’re in need of some inspiration, just try to guess how much time I spent on the flat drawing on the left vs the newer one on the right.

It took me a WHOLE HOUR to finish the one on the left, while the new one only took me 20 minutes (here’s a 4-part video tutorial of how I drew that tech sketch in 20 mins).

To be honest, it took a lot of polishing to get to where I am now. Doing technical drawing in Illustrator takes time and practice. If you want to dive deeper, check out my Ultimate Guide to Adobe Illustrator for Fashion Design, where I cover everything you should know to create fashion flats and tech sketches.