There is a bit of a knack to it and I tend to only use it on a busy print which will disguise any botched bits (yes really! One garment that offered massive chances to use up multiple fabrics was the ubiquitous tiered and ruffled dress-a buffet dress in current parlance!

I also refashioned a very old and redundant heavyweight cotton curtain into a Dawson coatigan by Thrifty Stitcher. I think it’s worth mentioning that I like to use bias binding to neaten necklines (and armholes) too.THEN it was covered in another more open lace fabric and over-sprayed with gold so that it left a stencil-type design. Followers have certainly embraced this style and the account shared just a small selection of them on August 11 th. This is almost everything laid up on the floor, I cut a linen version at the same time which is what you can see on the top. I have two different sizes of foot, 2mm and 4mm and I can’t get on with either, I’ve since been told that 3mm is the optimum size for most fabrics but I’m not prepared to risk another mistake when I know I can achieve a good quality result this way instead. If you have the foot attachment and stitch capability for your sewing machine you can always try blind-hemming.

In America we don't have these classifications or for that matter the apprentice system that supports and protects it. The beautiful thing about being sewists is that we have the opportunity using all the techniques, both old and new, both hand and machine, to create custom, one of a kind garments specially for us! From blog reading and library books I have a general idea, but I am hesitant to use the term without knowing what the true definition is – and is there one? All of us can apply couture techniques in our garments but very few us will acquire the skill to be considered couture sewers or for that matter allowed to sew in a couture workroom.I calculated that I needed to remove approximately 3cms to lift them up to a slightly better position. It is interesting this couture sewing – I am a good sewer, able to construct anything, but I can be slapdash and lazy, and I love your blog Sherry as you admit to some of my failings as well. You’ll frequently see it used on chiffon or georgette but I’ve used it successfully here on fine cotton lawn, jersey and a stretch velour. I love the above photo showing personalised dress forms at the house of Christian Dior – that really is couture! If you read about my pattern hack of the Simple Sew Cocoon dress you will see how this variation of hemming came about.

I’ll hold my hands up and say that the community has been an absolute lifeline during the last awful 18 months that we’ve all been going through-the support, friendship, inspiration, encouragement and camaraderie that I’ve found through the account has been personally so important but my writing and blogging has really tailed off along with my mood in general. 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. There are many other ways you can honour or remember a friend or loved one in this way too by sewing articles like soft toys, cushions, patchwork quilts or rugs for example using garments that once belonged to them.Anyways, I'm guessing its use has gotten so popular in the last decade or so in sewing culture–and represents the same reason that sewing has gotten so popular–because of a desire to connect with an older tradition, something authentic and artisanal! After all the sections on general techniques, Schaeffer shows you how to apply these (and other) techniques to actual garments. I’m not sure this is correct, as a quick glance at several couture technique sewing books (like the ones above!

By sewing the crin onto the right side of the fabric when you flip it to the inside the raw edge of your fabric is enclosed underneath. The edge of the ruffles were finished with the plastic ‘wire’ stripped out of Rigilene boning and zigzagged onto the edge to make them stand out like this! I felt that the length of the dress would probably be too long for me so I took some of the length out of the skirt pieces before I cut them out in fabric.

In general, I think that these books use “couture” to suggest that the techniques are more in depth/time consuming and yield better results that what the Big 4 would generally instruct you to do in their pattern instructions.