Susan Khalje class July 2014

I had the pleasure of taking a class, The Couture Sewing School, with Susan Khalje recently at The Sewing Workshop in San Francisco.  

For six days each of us worked on a couture level project of our choice under Susan's guidance. It was a pleasure to work side by side with such a talented group.  As Susan instructed a group member we often all crowded around to hear what was recommended or demonstrated.
Here is the course description:

"The Couture Sewing School

At the Couture Sewing School, six intensive days are devoted to creating your garment—it can be sophisticated day wear, evening wear, a wedding gown, the little black dress—the choice is yours. It can be for yourself, for a friend, or it can be a sample. You’ll be incorporating into your project the couture techniques and details that go into Susan Khalje’s exquisite garments. You’ll prepare a muslin ahead of time, and after Susan perfects the fit, you’ll begin working on your garment.

Students Will

• Fine-tune the fit of the muslin and adapt it for project use
• Choose and work with appropriate underlinings and linings
• Learn expert techniques for difficult fabrics
• Learn about boning, inner structure, and engineering
• Take a close look at a number of Susan Khalje’s garments, including many from her articles in Threads Magazine
• Spend an evening discussing business issues, including advertising, pricing, public relations, business growth, and related professional organizations
• And most importantly of all, construct your garment using couture techniques, under Susan Khalje’s close supervision
• Anyone with solid sewing skills and a passion for learning will benefit from the class, and from the camaraderie of working with fellow enthusiastic sewers. Classes are small to allow for individual attention."

Couture sewing is the equivalent of fixing the finest of gourmet meals with the finest ingredients, in this case with a master chef's guidance.  Torture for some, heaven for me.

My garment, Vogue Vintage Pattern 2934, while seemingly simple is likely to take 60+ hours to complete. No, I am not making it in red (this time.)

 

If this level of sewing intrigues you consider purchasing Susan's book Bridal Couture. The hardcopy is out of print and currently selling on Amazon used for about $100 (a reflection of Susan's respected expertise).  Susan does sell a CD copy of Bridal Couture on her website.

Even better, Susan has a class on Craftsy.com that covers everything we learned, which comes with lifetime access.  Watching the class on Craftsy inspired me to take the workshop with Susan in person.

More details about my garment to come.