By Susan Khalje
DIY--Do It Yourself Network
I'm often asked my definition of couture sewing, and my answer ranges from "sewing without shortcuts" to "sewing the way your grandmother sewed" to "sewing's version of gourmet cooking."
I taught a session of the Couture Sewing School recently at Apparel Arts in San Francisco, and I thought I'd share some of the ins and outs of the couture projects that my students worked on in the hopes that they might help you in a future sewing project.
Students are asked to prepare a fitted muslin before the class, so we always spend the first day perfecting the fit and design of the muslins they bring and discuss in depth the technical aspects of each garment. Even if it changes along the way, I like to have a roadmap of a sewing project in my head before I begin.
We all sit in a semi-circle, and work our way through the garments — it's sort of like Christmas morning for me, full of delightful surprises.
M. was working on a three-layered dress. She'd designed a princess-seamed, sleeveless dress with a deep V-neck out of polka-dot silk charmeuse. She wanted a soft and flowing dress — the silhouette was slim, princess-seamed, with built-in godets at the bottom of each panel. The multiple layers showed at the bottom edge.
We decided on the following layers: the polka dot layer on top (small white polka dots on black); the middle layer was white silk charmeuse, underlined with silk organza to give just a little bit of stability, and the bottom layer, which doubled as the lining, was black silk charmeuse. The skirt lengths were staggered so that all the layers were visible. It was knee-length in the front and ankle-length in the back, and the lining itself became one of the layers. It was charming, and I think it will be a fun dress to wear.
G. designed a bustier out of beautiful lavender silk doupioni — and decided that she wanted the boning channels to be visible from the outside. We had plenty of fabric, so we doubled the silk doupioni to strengthen it, added a layer of muslin as an underlining and, once the bustier was together, created boning channels by stitching parallel to the seam lines through the three layers of fabric.
This formed the boning channels. We simply slid the spiral steel boning between the muslin and the silk doupioni. It worked beautifully. G. found the time to make a skirt as well. It was the same fabric, long slim princess design, with flowered silk chiffon godets in each seam. The chiffon was the perfect complement to the silk doupioni.
P. copied a dress from my Bridal Couture book — a blue sequined mini-dress. We chose a gorgeous pink and gold metallic chantilly lace, which we layered over heavyweight amethyst silk charmeuse. Although we liked the shiny side of the charmeuse, the matte side actually provided more of a contrast against the lace. It was beautiful not to mention lots of fun watching him discover the secrets of shaping and molding lace over a structured base.
J. made a beautiful strapless garment — again, silk doupioni. The silk was woven with two colors, ruby red and black. Parts of the garment were on the bias, which is really one of the most effective ways to use this fabric's wonderfully textured surface. She made an inner corselette first. The strapless, built-in foundation garment, heavily boned, fastens independently and goes only as far as the wearer's waist. She also underlined the doupioni with silk organza. The dress featured pleats along the left side seam, and the organza supported them beautifully.
I'll share the rest of the garments next week; I hope I've already started you thinking.
You can find out more about the classes offered at Apparel Arts in San Francisco by visiting www.apparel-arts.com.
(Susan Khalje is an author and host of DIY-Do It Yourself Network Sew Much More. Contact her at skhalje@aol.com or Box 51 Long Green, MD 21092. For more information, visit www.SusanKhalje.com or www.DIYnet.com.)
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