Ruby’s Sewing Library
Ruby’s Sewing Library
I’ve heard and read excellent things about this book and looking forward to owning it. As described by the publisher, draping is the art of using cotton muslin to create a fashion design directly on a mannequin. It is an essential skill for fashion designers. In this book, Karolyn Kiisel presents a series of step-by-step projects, creating real garments in classic styles, designed to develop skills from the most basic to more advanced techniques.
Starting with the basics of choosing and preparing the dress form for draping, the book advances through pinning, trimming, and clipping, and creating shape using darts and tucks, to adding volume using pleats and gathers, and handling complex curves. Advanced skills include how to use support elements such as shoulder pads, under layers, and petticoats, and how to handle bias draping. The book culminates with a chapter on improvisational skills.
Each skill and technique throughout the book is explained through specially commissioned step-by-step photographs and line drawings that bring the art of creating womens-wear in three dimensions to life.
Couture Sewing: The Couture Cardigan Jacket, Sewing secrets from a Chanel Collector
If you want to make a jacket with the impeccable look of Chanel, this is the book to have. The Couture Cardigan Jacket presents sewing methods Claire Shaeffer developed based on her knowledge of haute couture construction and meticulous research studying original Chanel’s in museum archives and her own collection. Via the DVD, Shaeffer instructs readers in essential techniques such as cutting and shaping the jacket sections, princess seaming, quilting, making the 3-piece sleeve, adding the chain weight, creating the double buttonhole, and more. Where there is a trick or shortcut for an operation (without lowering the quality) Shaeffer demonstrates it, along with a host of sewing methods discovered via careful and meticulous study of Chanel originals.
Patternmaking for Fashion Design (3rd Edition)
Shirtmaking: Developing Skills For Fine Sewing
Couture: The Art of Fine Sewing
The Art of Manipulating Fabric
Bridal Couture: Fine Sewing Techniques for Wedding Gowns and Evening Wear
Fine Embellishment Techniques: Classic Details For Today’s Clothing
Celebrating all that is elegant and classic about vintage clothing, this book shows how to embellish new garments to make them look as though they were crafted in a more glamorous era. Readers will learn they don’t have to be experts to add embellishment techniques from the 1920s, 30s, and 40s to their wardrobes. They’ll discover the possibilities of adding thread work, beading, trims, piping, and more to garments. These projects are elegant and sophisticated and especially appealing to those who like glamour but not glitz.
— Features five categories of embellishment techniques.
— Includes detailed instructions and 70 color photographs.
— Offers design inspiration of all kinds — from casual to evening wear.
Sewing Lingerie (Singer Sewing Reference Library)
Blueprints of Fashion: Home Sewing Patterns of the 1940s
The first couple chapters gives a history of pattern companies, how the small ones started and eventually merged into Simplicity, McCalls and Butterick. The history on styles that were popular in the early ’40s and how WWII affected these styles and the home sewing industry. this book is a must have for anyone interested in vintage fashion, pattern making or just to drool over the wonderful images packed into this volume
The New Sewing with a Serger (Singer)
My intent is to add this book to my sewing library because it is a practical guide to the fine construction practices used in couture workrooms. the Art of Couture starts with a brief history of couture and goes on to give fully illustrated instructions on constructing a couture dress from start to finish. It covers tools and supplies, stitching of different kinds of closures, and draping techniques used in designing shirts, skirts, and dresses. It also includes discussions of corsetry and executing accurate stitches. After reading this book, students will understand the various haute couture methods, particularly how these methods affect design decisions and relate to the quality of these very special garments.
Interweave’s Compendium of Finishing Techniques
It appears every cook is now a chef, and every dabbler is an artist, and every general sewing technique book can be labelled couture. The reviewers insist this is a good sewing book, and it is, but I did not purchase a sewing book, nor did you, you purchased a COUTURE technique book! Had you purchased a box labeled Rice Krispies, and when you poured your breakfast bowl you got instant mashed potatoes how would you rate your purchase?
The potatoes may very well have been good… but its NOT what you bought. I take umbrage with the practice of a sloppy review.
I am truly frustrated with purchasing a book that in no way reflects the title. The line between high quality and average has been blurred and this book is a reflection of this new trend. This book covers mostly facing and hem techniques, lining and underlining, and gets quite repetitive with these. The techniques in this book can be found in many general sewing books, if you are interested in true couture sewing, seek out Roberta Carr and Claire Shaeffer’s books.
This book also includes what the author considers luxury fabrics, I purchased a book of technique, not fabric description. Haute couture consists of a lot of hand sewing, fitting with exemplary skill and attention and precision payed to the smallest detail, this book does not address hand sewing skills, or fitting, it does covers a few insights into some detail work, but precious few.
On the plus side, it is written on quality paper, with lovely photography of a few very nice runway designs.
Couture Sewing Techniques, Revised and Updated
Vogue Sewing, Revised and Updated
Tailoring: The Classic Guide to Sewing the Perfect Jacket
From the book review on Amazon, this is a fully illustrated guide to the three main methods of tailoring: custom tailoring done by hand, machine tailoring, and tailoring using fusible interfacing. The book is quite comprehensive, covering the entire process of making a tailored jacket from selecting the materials, including a detailed section on different types of interfacings, through fitting the pattern, cutting and marking, and all steps of construction for the three methods. There is an illustrated guide to the tools used in tailoring, detailed instructions for several kinds of pockets including patch pockets, lined patch pockets, welt pockets, single welt pockets and welt pockets with flaps, and a section on bound buttonholes. Linings are also covered, including hand installation of linings, machine installation of linings, partial linings, and how to make partial or full linings for an unlined jacket pattern. The book focuses on jackets with notched collars, explaining that these require the most tailoring, but shawl collars are also covered. Other types of collars are not specifically addressed.
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