“Couture clothes keep the imprint of the love that created them. Those that have been preserved all have a kind of grace, due to the care and inspiration that went into their making, and the skill of those who stitched them.” -Celia Bertin, Paris a la Mode: A Voyage of Discovery (1956), 20

Lately, I’ve been on a bit of couture skirt sewing binge. In my previous post, I discussed why couture is so special. Now, I would like to explain what goes into making a couture garment and my experiences in making a custom skirt for myself. Some key elements that make a couture garment unique from a ready-to-wear garment are fit, fabric, construction, and finishing details.

FIT. A couture garment begins as a muslin or toile. This test garment is sewn together and then fit directly on a person’s body.

The appropriate placement of the seam lines are determined based on the fitting and then clearly marked on the muslin. Once it is determined the toile fits well, it is taken apart and used as the pattern for cutting the fashion fabric.

The clearly marked seam lines on the muslin are transferred to the fashion fabric and the seam lines are usually traced with thread so that the final garment can be accurately reconstructed to fit the wearer.

In ready-to-wear, a pattern based on industry standard measurements is used for cutting out the fabric. There is no muslin or garment made to test the pattern, nor is it ever fit to an actual person’s body. This is why off-the rack clothes rarely fit anyone perfectly. The cut line of the pattern becomes the driving force for constructing the garment, not the seam line.

I spent many hours fitting, sewing and re-fitting my muslin skirt.  I also spent time fitting the fashion fabric skirt. Couture ateliers will do dozens of fittings for just one garment for one person. Fitting is probably the most time consuming part of couture, and why there is no set price for a specific garment.

Another nice thing about the toile is that it can be reused. I used my perfectly fitted muslin for the skirt above to make another skirt in a different fabric. This skirt was definitely faster since I had already figured out all the required fit adjustments.

Fashion houses usually save the toile of their clients so that they can re-create garments for them in the future.

FABRIC. Couture requires more fabric than a ready-to-wear garment. Each pattern piece is cut with an extra two inches for the seam allowance, more than twice what is used in an off-the-rack skirt. The excess fabric may seem like a luxury but it is actually functional. It ensures that the garment in the fashion fabric, which may be a different weight than the muslin, can be fitted properly to the wearer. It also extends the useful life of the garment. A person can always have the seams let out or taken in if needed in the future.

Industry clothing seams are serged with sometimes less than 1/4 inch of allowance remaining, i.e. no wiggle room to spare. So if you outgrow it, you are probably tossing it. In fact, altering a ready-to-wear garment can be a real challenge and sometimes impossible since there is not any excess allowance. Seams are never serged in couture.

Couture also requires multiple layers of fabric. A “simple” skirt has at least three layers of fabric – the fashion fabric, the underlining, and the lining.

• Fashion Fabric. Only the highest quality of fabrics are used for the fashion fabric in couture. These fine fabrics are generally produced in reputable and socially-responsible mills, i.e. workers at these mills are paid a fair wage and toxic chemicals aren’t being released into waterways. Although there may be some synthetic fibers used in couture, most of the fabrics are pristine wovens of natural fibers like wool, cotton and silk. The fashion fabric I used for my skirt was a French bouclé.
• Underlining fabric. Thoughtful engineering and support are another distinct element of couture. An underlining fabric that is attached and sewn as one with the fashion fabric is almost always used in couture. Underlining supports the fashion fabric and provides better shaping for the garment. When I first to learned to sew, I knew nothing about underlining. My garments were flimsy and unflattering. It was like leaving the eggs out of a cake. Now I know it is probably one of the most important elements in creating a beautifully-made garment.

The most popular underlining in couture is silk organza, but other fabrics such as cotton batiste or even cotton flannel may be used depending on the level of support needed for the type of fashion fabric and the desired drape of the garment. You rarely see underlining in industry clothing, but couture is built to last.

Lining Fabric. “What is inside is sometimes more important than what appears.” – Christian Dior (Talking about Fashion, 1954).

The fabric used to line a couture garment and hidden from sight is sometimes as luxurious as the fashion fabric on the outside. The lining not only hides all the construction but also makes the garment more comfortable for the person wearing it.

I used an Italian silk charmeuse for my lining. At this point my material costs for all these layers of fabric (the bouclé, silk organza and silk charmeuse) is well over $300, which explains why couture isn’t cheap. But, couture is an investment and it will last for a long time.

I quilted my lining to my fashion fabric, although not all couture skirt linings are quilted. I used this feature as it is so effective with the bouclé and is a common characteristic in Chanel garments. It supports the loose weave of the bouclé and makes it loftier. It is also substantially more work. After hand basting each stitching line for the quilting, permanently stitching the lines by machine, removing the basting, and tying by hand 64 knots for each quilt line (did I mention there is no machine back stitching in couture), I truly understood and appreciated the workers in the Paris ateliers.

My son asked me if the skirt I made was reversible. I wish. We both loved the way the quilted silk lining looked and almost preferred it to the bouclé side.

CONSTRUCTION. Most of the construction of a couture skirt is done by hand. It is the only way you can have total control and precision.

The multiple layers of fabrics are a big investment and the fit must be perfect. There is no other way to ensure the integrity and precision of the seam lines without basting the garment together by hand first. Although the hand basted stitches are non-permanent, there are many other parts of a couture garment that are sewn permanently by hand. In fact, there are times in the world of couture that a garment might not ever touch a sewing machine.

It may seam tedious to do all this sewing by hand, but it is actually very enjoyable and it only adds to the heirloom quality of the garment. Some permanent construction stitches that I sewed by hand when making my skirt and that are common in couture are the catch stitch, pick stitch, fell stitch and the slip stitch.

The catch stitch. This stitching is covered by the lining, but it holds in place the wide seam allowances, which are useful if alterations are needed at a later time.

The pick stitch. Zippers in couture are sewn in the garment by hand using the pick stitch, a tiny elegant back-stitch. It is stronger than a flimsy machine-sewn invisible zipper, which is found in most ready-to-wear garments.

The fell stitch. I used tiny spaced stitches to attach the lining to the the zipper tape. The fell stitch is sturdy and invisibly binds two pieces together often eliminating the need for machine stitching.

I used the slip stitch to attach the lining hem to the hem of the fashion fabric.

FINISHING DETAILS. There are many other tiny details found inside couture garments. Some of these details are hanging straps, fabric covered snaps, hand-sewn thread-bars. All these features seem insignificant to the untrained eye, but it is each of these little hand-sewn details that elevate it from a ready-to-wear skirt.

This is very different from an off-the-rack skirt that was cut and sewn completely by machine with lesser quality materials.

As you can see, ready-to-wear clothing just doesn’t compare to the artistry and timelessness of couture clothing. Industry clothing construction is based on speed and keeping material and labor costs low, and it is clearly reflected in the craftsmanship. In couture, beauty and precision are the mantra and the human connection between the persons designing the garment, sewing the garment and wearing the garment only adds to its value.

Not all our clothes can be couture, but wearing a garment that is sewn with such care and deliberation gives a sense of pride and confidence that other off-the-rack garments can’t provide the wearer. Or, as Karl Lagerfeld humorously once stated, “Sweatpants are a sign of defeat. You lost control of your life so you bought some sweatpants.”

If you want something more beautiful than sweatpants in your life, please contact me at emily@magli.com or visit me in one of my classes at Textile Fabrics in Nashville.