What Career for Me ... if I Can'tSew/ Make Patterns/Draw, Etc.?

[Lady Panties]

Hey everyone!
I have been reading lots of info around here, and am so so lost.

I have been doing fashion design for a while now, and I love the drawing/styling/written aspect but god do I hate sewing!

I really do hate that part so much; it’s makes going to the institute a pain each day!

I was wondering, are their any great jobs to do with drawing in fashion?

I got told to be a designer you have to know how to sew and everything or else you won’t go anywhere. I feel like I am at a dead end because I thought that this would be what I would love to do all my life.

Please help!

 

[blitz]

my dear girl, there is fashion illustration that ppl do for a living.
apart from that u do realize u r not going to stitch for a living on studying fashion designing. its an imp aspect tho to understand garments and the way they are stitched to be able to not just visualize but later to be able to create as well... so just suck it up for a while, learn the nitty gritty of of sewing. once u start to work no one is gonna ask u to do that....

 

[BetteT]

In Fashion Illustration you'd be drawing someone else's work, after it's made ... probably not your own.

So if you really want to create fashion, not just draw it ... bite the bullet and sew ... because it is a very important part of designing. To understand how fabric works and to have first hand experience with construction is the basis of a sucessful design. It's a business as much as it is an art and manufacturing costs are impacted by how simple or how complicated a disign is and how much time it takes to construct it. Blitz is right ... you won't have to sew once you get established as a designer, but you must fully understand every detail of the process.

If you need to be creative but absolutely won't sew ... you might consider becoming a fashion/wardrobe stylist. We do very little sewing (I hate it too) ....maybe a few alterations on occasion and in styling for print, we just tape and clamp ...it's all temporary. We create by using other people's designs and put them together in a creative way. But you need to be aware that you usually are not hired for a stylist "job" ... it's not a real job, it is freelance, in most cases, which means you work for yourself and struggle to get every gig ... on day at a time. It takes several years to even get a few regular paying gigs ... like building any business, you have to put a lot of time and money into it before you see any rewards. It's very hard physical work too. But I find that it allows me creative expression without the sewing and I don't mind the hard work and the business end of it, so it works well for me.

 

[ALaFramboise]

fashion Careers (Other Than Design)

I know this has most likley been addressed before, but would anyone happen to know that various paychecks for careers in something other than designing?!

I mean, i personally want to do SOMETHING realted to fashion once i am done with high school, but i know for a fact that design is just not right for me... i'm a bit of a perfectionist, and lets just say my artistic skills are nill (I have great ideas thought!)

So, i was wondering, just to save me the horrors of getting a degree in merchandising and realising i will be living in nyc with a salary of only 20K a year, what would the payrolls be for things like...

Fashion-
styling
photography
merchandising
marketing

etc etc. Any help with this would be DISGUSTINGLY appreciated.

(PS-For bonus kudo's *heh* would someone think parsons or fit for these careers?!)

 

[BetteT]

I can address only photography and fashion styling ... which are similar in nature. Both of these are usually freelance ...meaning you work for yourself. So you make whatever money you can make by building your own business. You are paid for each job/gig by the cleint and what you get paid has to be negotiated. There are no set fees ... it varies from client to client. Then you must compete for every one of these gigs ... there are thousands of other photographers/stylists our there that want the same gigs.

The first few years in these careers you will make very little ... in fact the first year or two, you probably will be negative ... because you have to invest in equipment and build a stong portfolio ...which takes time, lots of energy and money. Very few who start out will actually be able to make a livng at it.

A tiny percentage (I'm guessing 1 in 5000) make it big and the money can be astonishing ... a few can make a decent living at it, doing repetitive work like working on catalogs and local ads. But the range of income for both photographers and stylists is so great ...anything from loosing money to millions. You need to understand there is no "norm" ... it depends on you, your talent, your business savy, your drive, your people skills and your financial situation to start.

Photographers usually are paid way more than stylists. Both can make really good money ... if they make it to the big times. Top fashion photographers like Mario Testino can make $50,000 for a shoot for a high end magazine. Same with stylists ... the top celebrity stylists can make around $5000 a day and if they are in demand that can add up.

But in all reality a photgrapher might make $2000 to $3000 for a local catalog shoot ... and the client will use him twice a year. He'll make a lot more if it's a national ad campaign but those are really hard to get. And a stylist might make around $500-$800 to a day but the work is sporadic. Not enough gigs and that still leaves them at poverty level.

So if you wish to do either of these, you must have a passion for them, have a good business head, great people skills, and lots of discipline and the financial means to survive as you work (you will work extremely hard) towards building a regular clientelle and a reputation where people will actually call you.

 

[ALaFramboise]

Awesome advice, thanks very much! Now, i just can't wait to see the pay-scale for that of the "buisness" side of fashion!

 

[ALaFramboise]

What In The World Can I Do?!?!

I'll Be quite honest.

i KNOW i want to be in fashion, and at the moment, i do not want to design, and nethier do i want to do something math oriented! It seem that everything fashion releated is ethier way complicated or much to hard to get into, and althought i'm willing to strive to gain my career, i do not want the odds against me, and leave college only to be a poor street vendor, peddling my fake louis vuttons and swopping them up when the sirens are heard! (Heh, please excuse my chinatown reference!!)

Would anyone here have any sort of advice for me?

I wouldn't mind ANYTHING to do with fashion (I've been obsessed ever since i was born!!)... just something where i don't have to draw or do math!!

(I mean, i get awsome grades in school thus far, and have ap classes coming from places i never knew existed!! HEH)

Something's i've been intrested in so far have been Marketing, Visual Manager, Buyer, Etc. Anything!


Also, Parsons/FIT, LIDM, UK schools?!


I feel so helpless, anything to help would be GREATLY Appreciated!

-Michael

 

[Glamoreux]

Wow this is actually a question I think would stretch across a great many people. I would like to see what some of our knowledgeable members will say to this.

 

[SamanthaBNYC]

technical designer salary ideas

I don't know if you're familiar with technical design, but I'm a technical designer. Here is a rundown of my job: a designer will hand me a sketch (or sometimes a purchased sample from a competitor) and I will prepare a spec sheet (that's a list of measurements for the dimensions of the garment), that gets sent to vendors/factories for them to make a fit sample. When the samples arrive, I measure them and then fit them on a fit model (with the designer) and determine what needs to be corrected. I then send out a fit report to the vendor/factory on how to make those corrections and then they will submit another fit sample until we establish the fit that we want. I work in womenswear sweaters, so I don't work with patterns (unlike wovens or knit technical designers do).
Starting off as an Assistant Technical Designer, you can expect to make about $25K. Next, you move up to an Associate Technical Designer, average salary of about $40K. Then, you move up to full Technical Designer (which is where I'm at in my career), I make $55K (but recruiters tell me I'm underpaid). The next step for me is Senior Technical Designer (it's a while off for me). The highest step is the Technical Director. They can make about $200K (not all of them, but the ones at the big companies can make that).
HTH.

 

[ALaFramboise]

Sounds cool, i'll have to look into that, otheerwise, i want to do something with more of the visual/creative side of the industry?!

 

[ALaFramboise]

Thanks!

thanks! This is ALOT Of help, the styling buisness eems pretty darn tempting! I hope others can use this topic as well!

 

[Bershka]

Yes, I've got the same problem. I just started studying my 1st year fashion and textile design for 3 months and loove creating and drawing, but pattern making-uhhhhhhhhhh !! I don't get it! I hate it!! So now I'm thinking of switching maybe and being a stylist...can I even do that in school without loosing a year?! Or should i just bite my tongue and learn the basis...is it really true that once I start working I won't do much sewing?
Please advice me guys, this is very important, i really need to hear what you have to say before i dissapoint my parents and spill the beans...

 

[SamanthaBNYC]

Have you considered being a sweater designer? You have to learn knitting technology, but you wouldn't have to sew. Plus, you'd never have to deal with patterns, as sweater construction deals with specs (measurement specifications). You would have to learn stitch names.
However, don't shy away from design if you can't sew. I'm a technical designer (sweaters), and it's the technical designers job to know all about construction. I don't expect my designers to know as much about construction as I do (if they did, I wouldn't have a job). We work as a team, they provide the creative and I provide the technical.
You'll have to learn construction in school, but in the working world you won't be constructing garments. So you're definitely not doomed if you're not a sewing expert (or knitting expert). hth.

 

[Bershka]

Have you considered being a sweater designer? You have to learn knitting technology, but you wouldn't have to sew. Plus, you'd never have to deal with patterns, as sweater construction deals with specs (measurement specifications). You would have to learn stitch names.
However, don't shy away from design if you can't sew. I'm a technical designer (sweaters), and it's the technical designers job to know all about construction. I don't expect my designers to know as much about construction as I do (if they did, I wouldn't have a job). We work as a team, they provide the creative and I provide the technical.
You'll have to learn construction in school, but in the working world you won't be constructing garments. So you're definitely not doomed if you're not a sewing expert (or knitting expert). hth.

thank you for the idea, it is actually something I might think about!!

 

[kimberwyn]

I just started a thread about product development and if anyone answers it should be helpful to you. Im exactly like you which is why I didn't go into fashion design. People in product development research trends, forcast sales and a big part of their job is designing. Right now one of my favorite classes in Classification & Line Planning. We research trends, come up with themes and then design a collection (we also have to plan a production callender, do tech packs which I hate, etc). You do flat sketches too using Illustrator (your own designs).

BUT, keep in mind what Im telling you is just from a school perspective, which is why I started a thread about it. Ive heard what you do for your job can different from company to company.

 

[jeffrey0806]

I think you just need to sweat it out, because there are many kids who are in fashion schools in your situation but vise versa, hating illustration/drawing, but loving the sewing and pattern part of it. When you attend fashion design school, or major in it at least, you will see that in school, you're either a stronger illustrator or a stronger sewer.
The only reason they say you need to know how to sew and create patterns is because it's easy for someone who doesn't understand garment construction to come up with fantastic ideas, but the problem comes when you try to translate whats on paper to a three dimensional format. Understanding garment construction will only help you out in your illustrations and designs(that's why it's essential).

 

[SamanthaBNYC]

I think you just need to sweat it out, because there are many kids who are in fashion schools in your situation but vise versa, hating illustration/drawing, but loving the sewing and pattern part of it. When you attend fashion design school, or major in it at least, you will see that in school, you're either a stronger illustrator or a stronger sewer.
The only reason they say you need to know how to sew and create patterns is because it's easy for someone who doesn't understand garment construction to come up with fantastic ideas, but the problem comes when you try to translate whats on paper to a three dimensional format. Understanding garment construction will only help you out in your illustrations and designs(that's why it's essential).

Excellent point.

 

[Couture_Tribe]

you will see that in school, you're either a stronger illustrator or a stronger sewer.

For real? Wow.... people are not well rounded to that extent? So how rare is it to find someone who knows both? And is there a brighter future for people who knows both? Does top designers hate sewing? Do they all know how to sew? Anyone knows?

 

[SamanthaBNYC]

For real? Wow.... people are not well rounded to that extent? So how rare is it to find someone who knows both? And is there a brighter future for people who knows both? Does top designers hate sewing? Do they all know how to sew? Anyone knows?

As a technical designer, I love to sew and knit, but I don't like to draw (I'm okay at Illustrator and Micrografx, but detest freehand drawing). I've known designers who hate sewing/knitting.
On the other hand, I know technical designers who love sketching and are really talented at it and designers who are very proficient at sewing/knitting.
I wouldn't say it's rare, I could sketch something in an emergency and most designers could sew/knit something in an emergency.
Cristobal Balenciaga, Claude Montana, and Richard Tyler are examples of top designers who are/were also master tailors and can do patternmaking. hth.

 

[MoDeLwAnaBe]

help anyone please-
i used to be so in love with fashion design and everything about fashion, and im lost now, i completely working in a diffrent field so unhappy and just dont see any sun through anything,,, i dont have money for college at all i live in OHIO -boring town-nothing ever happening- i sew but that died too and i just dont know what to do anymore-- i lost all my energy and my dreams went bye bye and so confused..... my prob is this- no money for education car nothing... and theres this dream inside of me but dont know how to get with it---
i used to like to sew-my brains were always glued to fashion magazines, i love watching E and fashion shows but i hate drawing -and i just dont know what i can do with this????---HELP!!!