freesewing/markdown/dev/design/en.md

---
title: Design
---

If you are looking to use FreeSewing to design parametric sewing patterns,
below are the most relevant materials on this site for you: 

## Before you start

Outlines the minimal prerequisites you should understand before you dive in, including:

- <DocsLink slug="guides/prerequisites" />
<ReadMore root="guides/prerequisites" />

## Pattern design best practices

In design as in code, there's often many different ways to accomplish the same
result.  We have a list of best practices that we recommend you follow. Even if
in the end you make your own choices, we recommend you at least ready through
them once. They include:

- <DocsLink slug="guides/best-practices" />
<ReadMore root="guides/best-practices" />

## Design guide

We've so far been talking about *patterns* but what you're really be creating is a *design*.
What the difference is, and what goes into a design to generate a pattern is explained in our design guide:

- <DocsLink slug="guides/designs" />
<ReadMore root="guides/designs" />

## Pattern design tutorial

This is our pattern design tutorial. If you're new to designing patterns with
FreeSewing, following the tutorial is the fastest way to get started:

- <DocsLink slug="tutorials/pattern-design" />
<ReadMore root="tutorials/pattern-design" recurse />

## Plugin guide

FreeSewing can be extended with plugins. We provide a range of plugins that you can use.
However, if you'd like to write your own plugins, you should also read the guide on how they work:

- <DocsLink slug="guides/plugins" />
<ReadMore root="guides/plugins" />

## Common design challenges

This is a list of common challenges in designing parametric sewing patterns, and tips on how to tackle them:

- <DocsLink slug="howtos/design" />
<ReadMore root="howtos/design" />

## Common code challenges

While designing patterns in code has a lot of benefits, there might be times
where things that are intuitive on paper don't come naturally to you.  This is
a list of common code challenges and how to tackle them:

- <DocsLink slug="howtos/code" />
<ReadMore root="howtos/code" />

## Core API

This is the reference documentation for FreeSewing's core library. 
This is where you can look up every possible API call with examples:

- <DocsLink slug="reference/api" />
<ReadMore root="reference/api" />

## Macros

This is the reference documentation for macros provided by FreeSewing's own plugins:

- <DocsLink slug="reference/macros" />
<ReadMore root="reference/macros" />

## Snippets

This is the reference documentation for snippets provided by FreeSewing's own plugins:

- <DocsLink slug="reference/snippets" />
<ReadMore root="reference/snippets" />

## Plugins

This is the list of all plugins we provide:

- <DocsLink slug="reference/plugins" />
<ReadMore root="reference/plugins" />

<Note>

##### Missing something?

If you are missing something or have questions not covered here, the `#pattern-design` channel 
on [discord.freesewing.org](https://discord.freesewing.org/) is the best place to ask questions.

</Note>