Totally Jazzed but Totally Confused

I desperately want to learn how to make clothing, and I have been working my way thru all the tutes, but I have SO MANY questions that I don't know where to begin. Well, actually , I do.
How does one start a design? A drawing that is scanned in, a photo, or just create it in the graphics program? Do you let the work hang out over the "bleed" area?
I have been sewing my whole life, making all kinds of clothes and quilts, and I have some drawing skill, but I am just lost as to how to get started. T shirts can only take a girl so far. H E L P!

you can draw it directly in the graphics program your using once you have your idea. Some stuff people use heavy photosourcing and other stuff people just pull it outa their heads and other stuff still is a mixture of the two. This part is up to you hehe.

maybe start with a dress or skirt of *cough* pants to match the t shirt lol

you can sketch your design on paper and then reproduce it in the graphics program this is what most do.

Yes go over the edges of the templates
match your seams or try to
oh and there are some "trouble spots" you will discover when puting something detailed together where it stretches all wrong..

apart form that
download the templates
decide what you want to make
and then just start drawing it in your graphics program

do something plain first to figure it all out

heh not sure what else to say if your like me you will pick the most complicated thing you can think of and then wonder why in heck you picked such an item for a first endeavour ...

Hi December!

Welcome to the forums

I can only speak for myself, but I usually sketch a design first before I even sit down at the computer.

I find that planning ahead helps me with the steps that I need to go through to create the final product.

The first thing that I recommend (if you haven't done so already) is that you *wear* the templates in-world and take photos of them from all angles so you can see how the seams match up and how the av actually wears the clothing. Robin Sojourner has some in-world that you can for free, which is so very generous of her.

Upload these photos onto your computer so you can reference them while designing.

And T-shirts are a great place to start!

But most of all have fun And this forum is full of wonderful people who will answer questions as you go along....

Enjoy,
~Ari

Everyone has their own way of doing it. For me, photosourcing has been the most satisfying. I am now branching out and making clothes without using photos of clothes, though I have been using photos of odd textures I find around the house like bubble wrap and a leather bracelet and such.

It might be interesting for you to take some photos of some real life item that you have sewn and try to reproduce it in SL.

Have fun! And remember when you get overwhelmed to take a break, take a walk, take a nap and then get back to it. There is so much to learn.

Thanks, everyone! So I guess I wasn't too far off in my thoughts. Just need some practice with Paint Shop Pro, to figure that dam* alpha channel out once and for all.