DesignTime data not showing in Blend when bound against CollectionViewSource

Question

I have a datatemplate for a viewmodel where an itemscontrol is bound against a CollectionViewSource (to enable sorting in xaml).

Answer 1

1. I am not sure x:Static is supposed to work in d:DataContext, I think only d:DesignInstance or d:DesignData could.
2. Did you test the design time data and sure that indeed filled with data?
3. Try specifying the d:IsDesignTimeCreatable=True property in the d:DesignInstance.
4. Although this is Silverlight specific I am sure it might give you some hint.

It should generally look like this:

d:DataContext="{d:DesignInstance Type=vm:EquipmentViewModel, IsDesignTimeCreatable=True}"

You could use the same ViewModel for both runtime and designtime, make a IsInDesignTime property in you ViewModelBase and return data appropriately.
Example:

private static bool? _isInDesignMode;
public static bool IsInDesignModeStatic
{
    get
    {
        if (!_isInDesignMode.HasValue)
        {
            var prop = DesignerProperties.IsInDesignModeProperty;
            _isInDesignMode
                = (bool)DependencyPropertyDescriptor
                .FromProperty(prop, typeof(FrameworkElement))
                .Metadata.DefaultValue;
        }

        return _isInDesignMode.Value;
    }
}

Note: I would encourage you to use StaticResources (rather than DynamicResources) for templates or styles that are not meant to change at runtime. Read this for more info.