Couture Sewing Techniques

The Dressmaker’s Handbook of Couture Sewing Techniques

Lynda Maynard  (Interweave: 2010)

“A thing of beauty is a joy forever…”

That saying goes for the clothes we are all striving to make, and also for this book.

I love the cover and the colors used on the cover.  I love the wire spiral binding so I can flip back the pages in the workroom to use each technique.  I love the large amount of actual runway pictures used as examples and photos of fabrics and how-tos.  

At first glance, I thought the content was a little heavy on hem/banding techniques, but on second run-through, I found that it’s divided between creating supporting structure, finishing techniques and decorative techniques.  Especially helpful was seeing how backing a luxury fabric with a differently weighted fabric can change the hand of the fashion fabric and make it behave in a different way, but there is much more here. 

In the near-future I will be using several new techniques and referring to this book especially for the discussion of lining fashion fabrics.