Open source Linux applications for clothing and fashion designers.

Category: Graphics

If you are into fashion design, sewing, quilting, embroidery, or tee-shirt logo design and are looking for Linux applications for fashion designers to assist in the creation of such things, something on this list may be of interest to you.

I do not use these programs so I cannot speak to how well they work, but I have seen them over time and thought a list to help others find them might be helpful, especially people moving to Linux.

Fashion

Valentina is the oldest that I’ve come across many times. Valentina is an open source pattern-making program designed for the development of parametric clothing patterns. The software also runs on Windows and Mac.

Seamly is in the same category as Valentina, or looks very similar in features, and is open source as well. It also runs on Windows and Mac.

Freesewing is an open online web based pattern designer where you can also share and find patterns. It’s similar to Valentina and Seemly. Should run everywhere. You do need to create an account, but they state they do not sell anything and do not track users.

Cross Stitch

KXStitch is assists in the creation of cross stitch patterns and charts. You can import images and set the size of the grid. This software only runs on Linux.

Embroidery

Ink/Stitch is an open-source machine embroidery design platform based on Inkscape.

Speaking of Inkscape, it alone can be used to design many things from tee-shirt (printed and screen printed) designs to quilt patterns.

Embroidermodder is a embroidery design software which is relatively new and in development. Assist the developers in making this a great piece of software by testing and reporting bugs.

Quilting

I am not aware of an open source software in this area, but I do know people use Adobe Illustrator to create such things. This brings us back to Inkscape. Yes, it is one of my favorite apps on Linux… If you search “Inkscape quilt design” you will likely find videos and tutorials to get you started.

Here is a webinar on using Inkscape for quilting. It looked rather professional and nicely put together so I thought I would include it.

Bonus

Knotter Create Celtic knots with ease, export to SVG for ue in Inkscape or whatever.

I hope this helps someone, and have fun!