Claire Shaeffer’s Couture Sewing Techniques arrived in the mail today, so I started to skim through it, picking some areas to read thoroughly.
After spending about an hour with it, I can say that I feel completely overwhelmed and unworthy. It made my head hurt! There are serious couture techniques in this book. And I don’t mean what passes for “couture” in this country. I mean the French-certified, hours-of-hand-sewing “Couture” as practiced by the very few designers who have earned the right to that label.
I’m just a humble suburban home sewer!
OK, time to regroup. I think I’ll put this book down for a while and go back to my little 1940s skirt project that’s still in the muslin stage so I can feel good about myself again. When I’m ready to pick this book back up, I’ll look for small bits of couture technique that I can incorporate into my own projects.
But I don’t think hand overcasting seam allowances is going to be one of them.
Sigh.
Jeanne Marie’s Sewing Studio 