Customer Reviews

Couture: The Art of Fine Sewing

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

First, I'll state that I'm a new sewer but a technical person and can tell when a topic is over my head or is simply poorly explained. In my experience a well-written technical book makes the complex easy to understand. That said, I've been reading several haute couture titles to understand the process so that I can apply it to the garments I intend to create. I own and have read Claire B. Shaeffer's Couture Sewing Techniques, High Fashion Sewing Secrets and Carr's Couture: The Art of Fine Sewing and believe it is worth owning all three as each has a technique the not covered by the other two. If I had to narrow it down to two of these three selections I'd purchase this and Couture Sewing Techniques by Shaeffer. If I had to buy only one I'd probably go with Carr's. Here's why.

First you have to discount the reviews which knock the finished examples (i.e. pictures of couture dresses). In most couture instructional books the dresses are dated and show little if any construction detail. One has to consider that any book will be limited in haute couture examples as even a hundred dresses would only a drop of water in a sea of creative fabric work that dates back over a hundred years. Also, fashion is subjective so no book can please every customer. What one reviewer finds heinous another may find appealing. These books are not meant to be art galleries, they are to instruct. If you consider them from a purely technical standpoint you'll get the most from them.

Second, Haute Couture is an expressive and sometimes experimental art. I'm guessing that some reviewers feel these books should tell you how to perfectly mimic current couture dresses but that would be like a painting book telling you how to copy a Monet. I don't expect a book like this to tell me what to make. What I do expect is for it to introduce and explain as many techniques as possible, suggest problems they can be used to solve, and put it all together so that I can make a finished product that helps me express my idea closely to the original concept.

Shaeffer's "High Fashion Sewing Secrets" comes off a little hodge-podgy (i.e. it lacks cohesiveness) and the page formats are hard on the eyes. You have to sort through a lot of miscellaneous, unrelated information on each page to get to the one technique she's trying to explain. Still, there are techniques not covered in the other books so it's a worthwhile third book to get after her other title and Carr's book.

Shaeffer's Couture Sewing Techniques has a better format than her other title, has much more content (techniques) but is still not quite as clear, cohesive, or comprehensive as Carr's book. If you're an experienced sewer you may get more from this book than Carr's but, again, the cohesiveness is its weak point. I didn't walk away from it with that mental 'click' that gave me the confidence to put together that lingering vision of a garment. However, it does have many useful techniques not covered in her other title or by Carr.

Carr's strength is how she seams topics together that make the whole concept easier to understand. The editing and presentation is much clearer than any of the other books. True, the dress pictorials are dated and probably could have been omitted but the same could be said of Shaeffer's. I believe Carr's book is a good first step toward making your own haute couture creations and understanding how to tackle the problems of fine garment construction and fit.

This book is so good that I am going to purchase it. I checked it out of our local, public library and someone else must have loved it enough to cut pages out of it. Roberta Carr writes about what every sewer wants to know. She tells what a perfect fit entails. She describes perfectly how to make a "single-thread" dart, how to work with the forbidden BIAS, the dos and don'ts of buttonholes, etc. I learned volumes from this book.

If you are a lover of fine clothing and dressmaking this is the book for you. Roberta Carr's dedication to teaching techniques that elevate sewing from mundane to extraordinary is evident on every page. The extremely readable instructions and georgeous examples make this book a must have for home sewers who want to take their clothing construction to a higher level.

This is the first really good and very inspiring book about couture sewing techniques. Wonderfully illustrated.

It goes into:

-which fabrics are appropriate for lining
-pleating out stripes
-how to block fabric
-how to use grain boards
-flat hand held chalk
-even bias tape makers
-innovative techniques on seam allowance
-how to preserve structural effects by using scalloping as an alternative clipping method
-thread tracing in order to ensure your fabric remains flat on the seam, darts and pleats.
-Cross basting for multiple layers fo fabric
-why not to back stitch
-proper way to press fabric to that it lies flat
-how to sew a french seam
-hong kong seam finish
-tucking
-how to cut out fabric correctly

And so much more!!

This book is a very good investment, and I highly recommend it to any serious designer, or any one obsessed with sewing :D

I was somewhat disappointed in this book, especially since it belongs to the Palmer/Pletsch series, some of whose books are wonderful (in particular the two "fit for real people" volumes). I didn't care for this book for the following reasons:

1. As a previous reviewer noted, the images are strange. Even considering the fact that this book dates to the early nineties, the clothes displayed look very old fashioned. There are Victorian dresses (complete to bustle and high neckline) and gowns for old ladies--the kind of "shmotes" my grandmother used to wear to Orthodox bar mitzvahs. The sleeves are enormous, the colors garish and they are just plain odd and ugly. The author pours praise on a black and gold gown that, frankly, is both shapeless and ugly. There are no work/business type suits in the images, no beautifully tailored blouses, not many business/casual pants, hardly any really serviceable coats.
2. The explanations are complex. Once again, this stands in contrast to the "Fit" books, where the explanations are wonderfully clear. I sew pretty well and was very confused in some places. For example, there is a whole section of "off graining", but the author never actually explains what this term means.
3. The tone of the writing is condescending. It has an "I know better and most people just don't take the trouble to learn" feel to it.
4. The organization of the book is discombobulated. The "dior" rose is placed next to seam finishes for no discernable reason, for example.

This said, there are some good tips in the book and sections that I found helpful, but it was not what I had hoped.

I put off buying this book because of some of the reviews and I'm sorry I did. Now that I have it in hand, I have to say I am in awe of Roberta Carr and the generous way in which she shares her lifetime of experience in this masterwork. IMHO this book is more useful than any of the other couture books (Schaeffer included) that I have in my collection. The reason is that there is so much in here that can be used in your own sewing. It's isn't just a look at the techniques of others, it's a practical guide to bringing your own sewing up to couture levels. Sure, you might have to get over the pictures of old lady dresses and actually read the words, but it's important to realize that this book is about "real clothes for real people." The dresses pictured were designed and worn by the ladies who sewed them, not some idealized 20-something toothpick or the impossibly fine-tuned trophy wives of billionaires. For those who already own the Schaeffer books, you will find many of the details in here are not covered in those great books and would make a perfect addition to them. For example, topics include: cutting off-grain, constructing and using grid boards, a great section on truing grain, accurate cutting in single layers, cross-basting, correctly stitching seams of mixed grains and more. Much more. This is a book to take slowly and read carefully. Flipping through the pictures will give you nothing, perusing the contents will give you a goldmine of techniques you can put right to work in your own creations.

Page 54 describes and explains the need for a "grainboard" which is a necessary tool in pre-shrinking and graining-up fabric, especially woolen fabrics. The book provides a good description of what is involved in creating this DIY grainboard except for the fact that "Fabric stores and mail-order catalogs offer the heavy cotton covers pre-printed with a 1" (2.5 cm.) grid to mark grain lines" which you will need to finish this project is a missnomer. Both the professional tailoring supply sources in Chicago and those on the web don't know what this pre-printed heavy cotton cover is. Say they ". . . never heard of it." Wish there was a source reference in the back of the book.

The book's design and many of the featured garments are pretty ugly, but the basic information seems good, and there aren't that many books out there on couture techniques. Claire Schaeffer's book, for example, is not a book for beginners, it's more of an outline for people who are already very experienced sewists.

It is ironic that a book that celebrates what are supposedly the most exquisitely made garments on earth provides so many fussy, hideous examples.

I am a fan of this book because I found clear directions on sewing welt pockets. If you compare the directions in this book to the ones included in the book sold by a popular sewing author with an internet sewing show, you will see why I'm a fan. In no way could I have successfully completed a welt pocket using the sewing book I received from signing up for the t.v. sewing show. On the other hand, Ms. Carr's directions are very well organized and complete.

Firstly I would like to thank the previous reviews, as my purchase was based on their experiences.
As I am fairly new to sewing and have only been doing machine sewing and then pattern making via short courses, I found this book an excellent source of information. I needed the finer details of how to finish my garments. I found this book to be very detailed and lots of pics to support the explainations. I also loved the pics, even though they are not modern day examples, it was the techniques that was being showcased in them. A great resource book of techniques.