Couture Sewing Techniques, Revised & Updated

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I already think about it for most of my waking hours, and now I’m all enthusiastic to learn new skills and techniques and to make some more involved projects, rather than just churning out loads and loads of fairly basic garments, though there are some gaps in my wardrobe still so I will still be doing some of that! trying on’ one of the dresses back in the day…that was fabulous gold-printed panne velvet but it shed everywhere and bits of gold fibre stuck to you! But does that make all these techniques couture, when a ready-to-wear gown could be made in much the same way? hehe, those French words you mention are ingrained into English now, just shows how language does change! One of my favourite sewing reads is Dressmaker's Handbook of Couture Sewing Techniques, by Lynda Maynard.

It’s not quite the same quality of finish you will see on RTW clothes though which uses a specific machine to blind stitch the hem. I wasn’t taught this method as such, I discovered it for myself whilst doing alterations taking up sleeves for people. I continued to keep busy by doing a few refashioning projects because the desire to make new things that weren’t going to be worn outside the house was just too depressing. Whilst the showroom was in the King’s Road, Chelsea at that time the evening wear workroom was set up across town in Farringdon around the corner from now-trendy Exmouth Market, it was definitely not glamorous and the Woolworth’s pick-n-mix counter was the only interesting eatery back then!Whilst a single layer is often a very economic way of cutting fabric it’s usually more time-consuming to cut out so I did the two at the same time which was slightly risky but it worked out. Next, when cutting slippery or fluid fabrics (unless you have a lovely big cutting table) you’ll need to handle them as little as possible (by which I mean pulling them about to get them into position) which might be easier said than done. Before lockdown started I had been commissioned to make a dress for a work colleague of my daughter Katie. I’m genuinely pleased with the dress though and in spite of everything I’ll wear it on Christmas Day because there’s plenty of room for expansion!

These are all thoughts I’ve had as I try to come to a definition, and I’m really interested to hear your opinions! To be honest it doesn’t matter what that activity is, or whether you’re really any good at it, the fact that it can take your mind away to other less stressful places for a time is what matters. Or do we take the view that the money we pay for it is a donation to a charity in need of the cash, especially if it’s going to end up in landfill otherwise? I haven’t ever encountered it in pattern making instructions but I think it’s an excellent way of stabilising the cuffs of coats and jackets.If you have more cloth than will fit on the table in one go you could try having the excess rolled on a cardboard tube if you have one to keep it under control rather than sliding off the table all the time. In reallity it is a French term for sewing and to me this means sewing a garment going the extra miles to get the best finish possible WITHOUT bulk .

Only straight seams were ever sewn by machine, everything else from buttonholes to setting sleeves to hemming, was done by hand. so i would guess what most home sewists do on a regular basis (well i'm a beginner but I'm working on it! Some of them worked in their own homes and didn’t make a massive quantity of garments, and a couple had set up their own workrooms where they then employed a few extra machinists so they could make larger quantities, we are still only talking about several dozen garments per week though, not hundreds or thousands. Jen is a multi-talented woman who not only sews but knits, embroiders, makes jewellery, works leather…. I then did the same on the other side – but the 2 pattern pieces are not yet sewn together, they are only attached with the strip of leather.In all honesty I hated how I looked in this dress because I had piled on weight and felt very self-conscious in a fitted dress. One of the things I like about this book is how thorough it is – I would probably never think of all the things it covers, like interfacing. This is slippy slidey fabric so an extra pair of hands could help you lay it up nice and straight, again, rolling the fabric onto a long cardboard tube would also help keep the fabric taut and straight as you lay it out on the floor.