It’s not an easy task to choose gifts for creative people around, is it? What makes the task even harder is if our friend is a fashion designer or illustrator who is not only creative but also has excellent taste.
I created this list to help you find the perfect gift for fashion designers around you. These gifts ideas are selected so that they are suitable for both advanced and beginner designers. All items are hand-picked to serve your friend on their fashion journey and daily life. Take time to scroll over the suggestions below and find out the best one for your close person.
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1. Sewing Kit
This is something that every fashion designer needs to own! All of the sewing basics are in the set – mini scissors, seam ripper, measuring tape, needles, thread, etc. It’s also easy to take it anywhere with you because it doesn’t take much space and it’s lightweight.
Fabric scissors are a very important tool in the designer’s job. They need to be well sharpened and with special long blades to allow easy cutting of both thin and thick textiles.
A fashion templates book is an excellent gift idea for fashion designers and illustrators, especially if they are beginners. These books offer pre-drawn body bases and the designer simply draws the clothing over them. They save a lot of time and are easy to use and reuse.
Textile chalk is a tool for drafting the pattern over the fabric. The textile chalk is selling in different colors so you can choose the one that fits best for your fashion designer friend’s personality.
Wrist pin cushions are a really handy gift for fashion designers because they will never lose the pins and needles while working again. Plus, they come in a variety of adorable fabrics and shapes. Order a pack of straight pins to go with this gift!
These ones are needed for pattern making and makes creator’s life much easier. If your fashion designer friend still doesn’t own one of these, make them happy and take this gift for them.
If you wonder what gift will be of great use for a fashion designer who is now starting his fashion journey, this is the answer. Such a book is the best recourse for fashion inspiration and tips for pattern making. Before you give this gift make sure you know in which branch of the fashion design your friend prefers: womenswear, menswear, kidswear ect.
Designers use these mannequins to test how the clothing fits before they put it on the client. Mannequins can be used for moulage techniques and drape making. As a bonus, they are great decor for the room!
A biography book of his / her favorite fashion designer is a great gift idea. It provides great inspiration to your fashion designer friend. Such a book will provoke creative ideas and give your friend valuable information about what it really means to be a successful fashion designer.
This book is a great resource for any fashion designer. Especially for those who have a lot of design ideas but are not interested in the pattern making/ sewing process. If this is the case, the designer needs to draw technical sketches for the tailor. The technical flat holds all the important information about the clothing and the tailor can sew it on their own.
Colored pencils are the most wonderful drawing supply! They are one of the things that are always welcome in every designer’s art tools collection. With them, drawing different textiles such as denim, fur, plaid, wool, chiffon and transparent fabric of any kind is easy. I recommend you to buy colored pencils and other drawing supplies in sets so that there is a nice selection of colors.
Like any other professional, designers take their job very seriously and responsibly. To help your friend keep their workspace nice and tidy, an organizer for art materials would be a great gift. It is best to choose one with more barriers to collect more art supplies from different types.
A great gift idea for fashion designers is a face charts book where they can play around and experiment with different makeup looks. There are makeup books with models of different ethnicities and face shapes to make it even more fun!
Fineliner ink pens are such a help to every fashion illustrator. It doesn’t matter if they use them to outline their illustrations, draw tiny details or to create graphic illustrations, these pens are always a good choice! Take a few pens in different sizes and pack them in a pretty organizer. Now you have the perfect gift for your fashion designer friend!
With this tool, the designer can easily transfer the pattern from the paper to the fabric. This is a great gift to fashion designers who love sewing clothes because it will save them precious time.
Art supplies are always in demand, especially brushes. There are different kinds of brushes to use: rounded and flat ones. When buying brushes get equal number rounded and flat ones with different sizes. Natural hair brushes are a little bit more expensive but the quality is greater and they will last longer. To protect the brushes from damage, get also a brush bag holder and this way your gift will be perfectly completed!
Where there are paintbrushes, there are watercolors! No matter if the watercolors are in tubes or in pans, always choose to invest in more expensive, professional brands. Their quality is greater and this shows in the coverage and color intensity while painting. Better buy a few quality paints than a large range of cheap colors.
A color palette is a must-have tool for every artist and fashion illustrator. This is where the magical blending of colors happens. There are a lot of different sizes and shapes of palettes but better choose larger ones that can hold more colors.
The sketchbook is where the artists are expressing and collecting their creative ideas. It is a great gift for artists! There are different types of sketchbooks as with other art tools. Some work well for pencils, others for watercolors. When buying a sketchbook, better be safe and pick one that is good for different painting tools
Color pastels are another great art supplies that are suitable either for beginner and advanced fashion designers and illustrators. There are two types of color pastels: soft pastels and oil pastels. The difference between them is that the soft ones create chalk-like texture and they blend nicely on smooth paper. Oil pastels, on the other hand, provide oily texture and are suitable to use on a paper with a rough texture.
This is where fashion artists and fashion designers keep their sketches, illustrations, and ideas. It is an easy way to carry around your artwork wherever you are going. So if your friend/relative/colleague still doesn’t own one of these, hurry up and get one for them!
Here is a convenient gift idea for designers. They simply love such kind of things! Fashion designers spend a lot of time working over their sketches and they can be very picky about what they put on their desks. Choose a cup with an inspirational quote to keep them motivated!
The same goes for pillows. If your fashion designer friend likes to feel comfortable in their daily life, one of the best gifts you can give them a cozy pillow with a nice inspirational quote. It’s something that will keep them motivated and will remind them of you.
In times where phones are the most used subject in our daily life, a beautiful phone case would be a great gift for the contemporary fashion designer, artist and illustrator.
Every designer needs to have a sewing machine no matter if he/she is a beginner or has more advanced skills. If you decide to give this gift to your friend my advice is to choose one with more functions that will allow them to experiment and do more creative seams. Find on Amazon→
PRICE RANGE: $150 – $200
25. Online Courses
Knowledge is the most valuable gift! Purchasing an online course for your fashion designer friend will give them invaluable skills and improvement. It will help your friends immensely because more skills mean more job opportunities in the future! Find on Academy→
PRICE RANGE: $99 – $149
26. Copic Markers
Markers are a great gift idea for the professional designers. There are plenty of markers brands, but the best one is the Japanese brand called Copic. When buying Copic markers get them in a set, this way you will save money.
This is an appropriate gift for those fashion designers and illustrators, who are interested in digital drawing. Don’t forget the apple pencil and keep in mind that iPad works for drawing only in combination with a special drawing program, for which you are going to read about in a few rows below.
A graphic tablet is an alternative tool for the iPad. The difference between the two is that the Graphic Tablet needs to be plugged in a computer device so you can draw with it, while the iPad can be used independently. As well as the iPad, the Graphic Tablet can be used only with art programs software. Wacom is the most popular manufacturer of graphic tablets. There are three kinds of Wacom graphic tablets – pen tablets, pen displays tablets, and pen computers tablets.
Other gift for fashion designers who love to s tablet brands like Xp-pen offer a more budget-friendly alternative. Xp-pen offers the same quality as Wacom, but at much more affordable price range. This particular model – Artist 13.3 Pro is beginners friendly and is loved by professionals too. It can be the first and last tablet your designer friend will ever need. It supports all sorts of drawing apps like Photoshop, Painter, Krita, Gimp etc.
This program is most commonly used by professional creators all over the world. It works on iPads only! The app is rich in features and has a clean interface that’s easy for beginners to understand. Features include brush customization and a perspective ruler. It is really comfortable to work with this program because you can wear it on your iPad wherever you want, this way you won’t lose a moment of inspiration whenever it comes. Find on AppStore→
PRICE RANGE: $9,99
31. Clip Studio Paint
This is a Japanese app created for digital artists. It can be used both on a computer and on an iPad. The desktop version is a one-time payment while the iPad is a monthly subscription plan. The app offers creative tools that you can’t find in other programs: 3D body figures that you can easily manipulate in different poses, different textiles and multiple brushes for fashion designers.
Get the creative app for concept artists & illustrators.
There is no Artist in the world who wouldn’t love to go to an exhibition! There are so many annually fashion exhibitions around the world, so go find the perfect one for your fashion addict friends and buy them a ticket.
Attending a Fashion Week Show is what every fashion designer and person interested in fashion design dreams of! Before you buy the ticket research who is your friend’s favorite fashion designer and in which show they take part in. Then find out the dates and venues and get the ticket!
I hope these gift ideas were helpful to you and that you’ve found the most suitable gift for your fashion designer friend. If you have any other suggestions, please leave a comment below.
Wow! This article is a goldmine for anyone looking to find the perfect gift for a fashion designer. From practical tools to inspirational resources, it covers everything one could need to spark creativity and elevate their craft. Thank you for this invaluable list!
I found your blog really useful and informative. I love designer clothes and I buy them from an authentic online store to make sure I get genuine things. Thanks for sharing these ideas.
Dear Patricia, I agree with you that talent doesn’t age and I also think that it’s never too late to grow your skills and do what you love. My recommendation would be to finds fashion deisgners and artists that you like and copy their work. I know it sounds strange, but this is probably the quickest way to discover your style and develop skills fast. The proper way to do it is to copy the artwork of several designers/illustrators. This way in the end you will have your unique mix of styles that you like.
I wish you happy drawing and lots of great creative moments :)
Patricia A. Simmons
I found your email quite informative. I am a painter and love to draw. I am very good at drawing fashion both poses and faces but taught art instead for 20 years and now am an accomplished painter. My high school dream was to leave and go to NYC after attending the Cleveland Institute of Art but life got in the way. I am now 71 so it is a tad late to start obviously, but I do not think my talent is diminished by my age. If I were to pursue this venture how would I even start Teva? very sincerely yours, Patricia Simmons
Ravi Singh
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X22Skync
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chiaraandcoaustralia
Wow! This article is a goldmine for anyone looking to find the perfect gift for a fashion designer. From practical tools to inspirational resources, it covers everything one could need to spark creativity and elevate their craft. Thank you for this invaluable list!
David Roger
I found your blog really useful and informative. I love designer clothes and I buy them from an authentic online store to make sure I get genuine things. Thanks for sharing these ideas.
Gurukul Institution
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Vipul
Nice blog about 33 gift ideas for fashion designers. Thanks for sharing the information.
I Draw Fashion
Dear Patricia,
I agree with you that talent doesn’t age and I also think that it’s never too late to grow your skills and do what you love. My recommendation would be to finds fashion deisgners and artists that you like and copy their work. I know it sounds strange, but this is probably the quickest way to discover your style and develop skills fast. The proper way to do it is to copy the artwork of several designers/illustrators. This way in the end you will have your unique mix of styles that you like.
I wish you happy drawing and lots of great creative moments :)
Patricia A. Simmons
I found your email quite informative. I am a painter and love to draw. I am very good at drawing fashion both poses and faces but taught art instead for 20 years and now am an accomplished painter.
My high school dream was to leave and go to NYC after attending the Cleveland Institute of Art but life got in the way.
I am now 71 so it is a tad late to start obviously, but I do not think my talent is diminished by my age.
If I were to pursue this venture how would I even start Teva?
very sincerely yours,
Patricia Simmons