Costume Making Part 3 – The Design

Any normal person would have been done, but I had great patterns but no idea how to make this thing really pop from a design aspect … these performance costumes usually are very loud and sparkly

So I did some more searching to try and figure out a design to put on the basic leotard pattern and I came across these websites

First Pattern School.com this site was enlightening
This person goes into all the detail of stretch patterns and how to make them yourself… as well as why things are they way they are
… Now I love knowing why I’m doing something over just doing it because some one said so

Pattern imported into Illustrator

Now from this site I was able to make a Printable pattern in a CAD program in full size.

As well as import the pattern into Adobe Illustrator.

In Illustrator I was able to draw multiple designs and get a feel of how they would actually look on a completed leotard. The end result would be a pattern that I could print out and tape together that was the correct size for cutting.

So eventually I had a couple designs that I thought were good. I was then able to color them right on the computer and change color combinations around quickly until I was happy with the Final Look. Also this enabled me to print out my multiple Designs in a small proof sheet so to say for the girls to look at and see which they liked the best.

First Draft of Leotard in Illustrator

This was the Design they liked but they didn’t like the colors very much.

So like I said 30 seconds on the computer and I had multiple color combinations for them to choose from.

I don’t know if it’s just me but it’s so much easier to see the design in the color it’s going to be rather than try and visualize it.

Now I also had a chance to really look at my design and think about how easy/hard it would be to actually sew. This thought process prompted a couple more changes in the design. As the upper and lower sections didn’t meet well and didn’t look just right.

Final Design with rhinestone pattern

Also the thought came to me that it would be easier to sew larger pieces of overlay fabric to achieve the result i wanted due to my experience level.

Now we still needed “Bling” or sparkle so to say. This part was the toughest for me I think, because i didn’t have a clue where to start. But I designed the Rhinestone Pattern right on top of it in Illustrator as well which gave me the ability to change and scrap many designs along the way … and the ability to see the colors of the stones against the rest of the leotard was very helpful as well.

Now this might be a bit much for the non computer savvy but as I do computers for a living so it was a logical progression for me.

But for those of you that are more draw by hand artists, or just not so computer Savvy, there is this site Kissifrottsipk which is from a French Gymnast / Artist
the above link has her templates which you can download and print and sketch out your design on

She also has this section Leotard Drawings which is a gallery of her drawings that are free to use for non commercial use … so as long as your not going to sell it you can use her designs for free