How many people use pre made clothing

to create their sl clothing? I just found some clothing vector files and after looking at some extremely good work I wonder if thats what they use. The detail on some is so perfect and looked real. After I found these vector files I started wondering if a lot of people do this and maybe Ive been doing it the hard way. I was using photoshop to "hand" draw my designs on, now I wonder if I would get better results by using ready made things as a pattern or other things. Im just curious.

Do you mean patterns (plaid, stripes, etc.) or the actual wrinkles and folds? I prefer to hand draw the base garment and depending on what kind of pattern I'm looking for, sometimes I'll paint it in PhotoShop and sometimes I'll use a pattern I drew in Illustrator. Either way, both tools are great for making nice patterns.

Pre-made clothing? Where's the fun in that? I will occasionally buy a nice texture if I see a print that I like somewhere, but I usually create my own. And I would always design the basic dress/blouse/skirt/whatever and do any shading of folds and wrinkles myelf. Otherwise, it would feel like paint by numbers.

I make my own, both hand drawing and using filters in GIMP. I will, on occassion, use some premade clothing texture as a "template" or guide for a specific pattern I might be having a difficult time creating......but that's as close I get to using any premade clothing texture. It's just makes me feel better about anything I make..........mistakes and imperfections and all. I feel the same way about the Loop Rez skirt maker......it's not yours if you use someone elses design. It's more like "ours".

What do mean by clothing vector files?

What exactly did you find?

Maybe I used the wrong word and Im sorry if I was misleading. This is what I meant
http://b-squaredstock.deviantart.com/gallery/#PSD-Clothing
I went ahead and tried one and it came out pretty good. It does seem like cheating though.
I also use fabric samples that I find shown on the fabric sites.

well they say you can reuse them (with credit) but if you are going to 'sell' something you make from them, you might want to double check with them.

Of course I would give them credit for their creation. I just wanted to see how it looked.

About the only "templates" of that sort that I have ever used were ones that give you a pre-made alpha-mask for the edges of a set of bikini panties or a t-shirt. But virtually never for any of the visible attributes, like folds, creases or fabric texture/color.

And of course the basic alignment grid templates, like Robin Sojourner's, or Chip Midnight's, both of which are free. Those are invaluable as a guide for where to position your work.

Most clothing designers that I am aware of prefer to make their own base templates, from scratch, for folds, cloth texture, and the like.

I do too. It makes me feel like Im cheating if I use a premade thing.

Also just be aware that those images are most likely photosourced (I found one of the dresses in an online catalog).

LOL, ain't that always the case these days. I've noticed that hand drawn clothing is slowly becoming a dying art across the grid. Not that photo-sourcing is a bad thing, but it's quite limited in what you can do with it... like easily changing the color, texture or even altering the fold structure to create a whole new garment. In fact, I go as far to say that designers are actually restricting their potential by photo-sourcing... but that just may only be my opinion. :/

"I'm not a designer in real life, but I play one on SL"

My stuff is such a mishmash, 25% free and clear 'Oh that is MY original!' (yay, I got an idea, and when I did it, it turned out like I wanted it!), 25% 'oh! I saw this dress online/on tv/in a magazine, let me make a version of that!, 15% 'ok well I am gonna just source this or that dress or part of a dress/top/pant yada yada yada, 15% luck, 10% attention to detail and 5% skill.

Maybe the skill number should be higher I dunno. Probably the attention to detail one and the skill one are the same

I'm being silly but I'm also being honest. If you photosource, you can claim your designs as your own till the cows come home, but you WILL be outed by the fashion dramistas eventually. There are some true artists among us, but I am not one of them.

If I do photosource, I have the good sense to filter and blend. (And colors can be changed on anything by adjusting the original color to greyscale).