If you are looking to pursue a career in fashion design, you need to have one skill that dictates every aspect of fashion design!- Couture Sewing has been a skill that has dictated high-end fashion for years now, right from the times of Napoleon Bonaparte to the modern era of international fashion houses, couture sewing is the technique which helps designers to create gorgeous and beautiful designs for clients of high status as it is quite costly for normal people.

Couture sewing uses fabrics and hand-woven patterns to create garments stitched with specifications of the wearer. A French tale of design, panache and historical significance, for a budding designer looking to get a creative career through fashion design course, should learn Couture Sewing.

From the house of worth in 1858 to the modern Christian Dior in 1947, Couture sewing and designing has been the choice of high-end fashion trends and over the time it reached the common women from the exclusivity of royal women. 

So, what is so different about Couture Sewing that makes it worth learning?

For any fashion designer, the design is like a life form that brings the joy of creation, nurturing and seeing it grow to its potential on the wearer. If you are a professional looking to enhance your career through a fashion design certificate added to your resume, couture sewing will be like icing on the cake!

So, as far as uniqueness is concerned, anything that is hand-made in fashion is coined as couture. But, one particular and oldest form of couture - Haute Couture, is actually regulated by the French Government and for any fashion house to achieve the status of designing the same needs an Atelier with 15 other workers and workrooms.

For European fashionists, an expensive couture designing is more than business, a heritage they savor. Come to markets like India and such high-end fashion clients are of small numbers. And yet there is this cultural heritage of hand-stitched and hand-woven clothes in India for years now.

For any student with a creative eye to fuse Indian heritage with European couture sewing can certainly change the fashion trend. 

Haute Couture in French means “sewing at high-level” and it certainly sums up how it is preferred by high-end rich women for custom-sewn clothes with colors, styles, and accessories that are rich in every way.

So, what are the types of Couture Sewing methods to learn?

For a couture garment, there are thousands of temporary stitches and hundreds of permanent stitches used on the finished product. There are several types of garments that can be created with couture sewing techniques and some of the techniques to learn are:--

Muslin: 

Normal fashion design sewing includes cutting of fabric based on the pattern pieces. But, with couture sewing, you need to start with a muslin or a toile. A garment that lets couture designers fine-tune the final look and ensure that the pattern works exactly as it should before you go for the final cut.

To make the most of a garment like muslin, you should cut the main body sections of your pattern, ditch all facets and adjust the seam allowance to go for your next move - that is, basting the garment.

Basting:

As we already discussed that there are permanent stitches and temporary stitches in a couture garment, temporary stitches or basting are later removed fro the garment. They are utilized for their purpose of garment marking to enhance the design and styling through different sections of the garment.

Types of basting used are:

• Even Basting
• Uneven Basting
• Lap Basting
• Double Basting 
• Top Basting

For, temporary stitches and trail styles of couture sewing, designers often use the muslin cloth. It is a type of cloth that is quite popular in couture designing.

Hand Stitches: 

Hand stitches are famous for their design and artistic touch. From cross-stitched hems to zippers, in the world of couture, sewing hand stitches is of utter importance. Each stitch embarks a real touch of designer vision on to the fabric and creates a masterpiece.

Needlework often needs the right rhythm and once you have that rhythm, it is no longer a tedious job, but, relaxing experience for your hands. 

Couture Waistband: 

Couture method of creating beautiful waistbands that add panache to the dresses for your high-end fashion design. The band never rolls and is compatible with thicker woolens. It works with the woolens due to the non-existence of double fold face fabric reducing the bulk.

Image Source: Couture Waistband

The technique takes much time, but, the result is an exquisite waistband that goes with woolens. 

The method begins with the cutting of the band, next is removing the seam allowances, further, seam lines are marked on organza and seams are stitched using tailor’s canvas.

Next tacking is done, putting the organza on the opposite side of the waistband. then start stitching. Once your stitch is ready, add a Petersham ribbon for the finishing touch. And your couture waistband is ready!

Luxury Fabric Interlinings: 

The design of a luxury fabric can be enhanced or inhibited by backing or interlining them with several different companion fabrics. Whether you are planning to design structures, form-fitted jackets or a dupioni gown, using the backing technique with a silk velvet will help you mold the fabric to the figure. Silk velvet is extensively used, as its naturally fluid and drapey. 

Image source: backed skirt

Take an example of, silk dupioni skirt. This design is half-backed with cotton flannel and the other half is unbacked. The backing is actually an interlining method adding weight and depth to skirts, especially in dupioni skirts.

Signing Off:

Whether you are a fan of European tailoring or whether you want to design high-end garments, Couture Sewing is the pinnacle of fashion design. So, for all the aspiring designers out there searching for fashion designing colleges that offer couture sewing knowledge, iNIFD Gurukul Ahmedabad has the best courses for pursuing fashion designing after the 10th.

Faculties and internationally renowned mentors at the award-winning fashion institute have in-depth knowledge of couture sewing, which can help students learn the art of high-end fashion.