How to Start Designing a Dress: My Golden Rule for Beginners

Designing a dress from scratch can feel intimidating, especially if it’s your first time. Where do you even start? There are countless factors to consider—the silhouette, the fabric, the construction, and more. Even as a professional designer, there are times when I find myself blocked, unsure of how to begin.

There's one golden rule that I come back to that helps me break through that initial design block. It’s a simple question that can focus you when you’re struggling in a sea of questions.

Start with what you're most sure of and build from there.

This might sound vague, especially when there’s advice out there saying you must start with fabric, or that you should know what statement your piece is trying to communicate before designing. But for me, the best starting point is always the element I feel clearest about. That one piece of the puzzle will help the other elements fall into place.

Here are some scenarios to show how this works in practice:

1. You Know Where You’ll Wear the Dress

One of the most common starting points is knowing what occasion the dress is for. Maybe you want to make a dress for prom, a special event, or just something classic to keep as a staple in your closet. Knowing the purpose of the dress is a great anchor.

From there, you can start asking yourself more specific questions. For example, if it's a closet staple, how important is comfort? Do you want the dress to work across multiple seasons? What kind of footwear do you see yourself wearing with it? As you answer these questions, decisions about design elements like length and fabric often start to reveal themselves.

2. You’re a Beginner Sewer Unsure of Construction

If you're sewing the dress yourself and feel unsure about how to construct it, that uncertainty can actually be a useful starting point. Ask yourself what sewing skills you're comfortable with and which ones you'd prefer to avoid. Do you want a simple design, or are you up for a challenge? Are you using a pattern, and if so, what level of modifications are you comfortable doing it? The answers to these questions will help guide your design choices—like how complicated the dress should be and how easy the fabric needs to be to work with.

3. You Know How You Want to Feel in the Dress

Sometimes, the clearest thing to you is how you want the dress to make you feel. Maybe all you know is that you don’t want to feel hot or constricted. This is absolutely a useful starting point!

Once you’ve pinpointed that feeling, you can ask follow-up questions like: What kind of fabric breathes really well? What sleeveless or flowy sleeve designs do I like? What skirt shape would give me lots of movement? What design is flattering but not too form-fitting? By exploring these questions, you’ll quickly discover the design elements that will make your dress feel breathable and comfortable.

Final Thoughts: Be a Problem Solver

At the heart of this approach is problem-solving. The “problem” is simply what matters most to you, whether it’s one of these examples or something else. Once you’ve identified that, dig deeper with follow up questions. Answers to those questions will act as the first building blocks of your design.

When you focus on what you're sure of, the unknown parts become less intimidating. You’ll be surprised how quickly you can go from feeling stuck to building a dress design that perfectly suits you!