If you can sew, you can sew couture. This series teaches you how to apply skills you already have to create couture garments.
Throughout these classes, Claire Shaeffer showcases couture garments from her collection and teaches principles used in their construction including methods used by designers like Balenciaga, Chanel, Dior, Givenchy, and Yves Saint Laurent. She teaches techniques with the goal of helping you sew professional-looking, tailored pieces.
Learn how to mark your garment for the accurate sizing and placement of buttonholes. This class helps you master the handsewn buttonhole stitch to ensure a beautiful finish on a blazer, tailored jacket, or other couture garment.
Add more creativity to garments by incorporating the design-versatile bound buttonhole. In this class, you can learn an easy-to-master, two-step method often used by Balenciaga.
Learn how ease gracefully shapes garments to better fit the body and to offer more flexibility of design. This frequently used couture technique can be employed as a fitting tool to remove gaps or to replace darts anywhere in a garment.
An interfaced hem on a couture garment can be as much as 12 inches above the hemline and can be incorporated to offer a pleasing and slightly rounded edge to the hem or to add support to a garment’s silhouette. Claire shows how to interface a garment hem while considering fabric weight, garment length, and design silhouette, for the most desired finished look.
In this class, learn to create a couture-quality sleeve, with a smooth sleeve cap that conforms to the shoulder's shape and falls to a perfect cylindrical column without diagonal wrinkles.
Learn the couture method for applying a patch pocket. This way of attaching the pocket by hand allows for easier pocket access and softens the garment's shape.
Claire teaches a method of installing a fly zipper used by Yves Saint Laurent. The method's easy-to-follow steps allow for greater control, which will ensure a professional finish.
Learn this commonly used technique to create trouser hems that are balanced and at an equal distance from the floor.
Running time: approximately 90 minutes