Chanel collector and couture sewing expert Claire B. Shaeffer returns with Couture Sewing: 'Making designers trims' to teach you everything you need to know to create and attach the perfect trim to any outfit.

The devil is in the details
After spending weeks creating a couture, Chanel-inspired suit it would be a shame to skimp on the trim. With more than 280 photos paired with step-by-step instruction, Shaeffer takes the mystery out of creating designer trims. You can easily make them yourself as long as you keep an eye on the right combinations, colors and you know how to work with the materials.

Instructions
Learn how to easily swap out one trim for another when you want a fresh look without creating a whole new garment. In this book you will get great instructions. Learn to topstitch like a pro to achieve a simple yet elegant trim, apply ribbons, prairie points, piping, bands, and braids. Create intricate seamed, lining, and facing trims. Make your very own cord-filled piping and crocheted trims

About the Author
Claire Shaeffer is an internationally respected author, lecturer, college instructor and columnist. Her innovative sewing techniques and easy-to-read instructions have guided readers and students through many sewing facets of the garment industry. Claire Shaeffer based her knowledge of haute couture construction and meticulous research studying original Chanels in museum archives and her own collection.  She wrote the celebrated Couture Sewing Techniques for Taunton Press and has authored and starred in a multitude of successful videos on couture sewing.

Great:

• The book is informative and very useful.
• Lots of information and instructions.
• Good images to illustrate instructions.
• Interesting photographs which are very rare.
• Great book to complete your own Claire Shaeffer Collection !

Not thát great:

• A bit scary for beginners because of its advanced levels.
• Missing opportunities:  modern self-made trims like braiding, crochet and knitting (Chanel does !), Etsy and Craftsy stuff.....
  
• A bit out-dated examples.  We really would have love to see more bold, daring and superb modern fantasy fringes/trims.

Notes:
We specially love the "Lining and Facing Trims" paragraph.  Now that is Chic Couture !!

Summarized:

'Making designers trims' is a great book for Chanel-style couture lovers.
It is also a great gift for the holidays!

We hope it will the next publication of this book contain be a bit more modern, bold and daring trims and fringes. We also hope the book will have more photo's and examples of  self-made trims like braiding, crochet and knitting. More Etsy and Craftsy stuff.....

Chanel jackets or Chanel-Style jackets are usually made of Bouclé fabrics and silk  linings. You have to be careful with the jacket because it is impossible to wash and dry it like your other clothes. How do you take care of Bouclé fabrics? And how do you clean it? We will help you.


Cleaning Tweeds and Bouclé fabrics:
Tweed is a woolen fabric used for clothing, upholstery and various types of cases and equipment. It is a tough fabric that is moisture resistant because it is closely woven, but the tight weave of the fabric can allow dirt or stains to become embedded. Care needs to be taken with cleaning techniques to keep your tweed looking its best. When in doubt, bring the tweed item to a dry cleaner for professional attention.


What are you wearing underneath?
Try to limit yourself to clothing made of cotton fabrics. Fabrics as polyester and synthetics can be sweaty and give off to the jackets above. A simple blouse or cotton underwear guarantees more limitation of smelly odors. Be careful with deodorants as some can easily ruin the silk lining. Treat a Bouclé jacket as a woolen outdoor-coat. Do not wash or dry clean it too often and hang it outside regularly in the fresh air (shade!).


Maintaining Tweeds and Bouclé Garments:
Store tweed clothing and upholstery fabric in a cool dry place. Moths are attracted to wool. Put tweed items in a cedar chest or other cool dry receptacle, where moths cannot eat them. You can also buy moth deterrents at home improvement stores. Follow the instructions on the packaging to apply it.


Washing a woolen jacket:
Wool is a warm and durable fabric, and a wool coat or jacket will give you years of wear if you care for it properly. It is necessary to wash a wool coat a couple of times each season, but you do need to take special care to avoid piling, shrinking, and distorting the fabric. While it may be possible to wash some wool coats in the machine, it’s usually safer to wash by hand. Another key to cleaning a wool coat is to avoid putting it in the dryer, because this will lead to shrinkage.


Read the care label:
You should always read a garment’s care label before washing it, because the care label will tell you exactly how to proceed. Check the care label for:

• Whether you can machine wash the coat or if it has to be hand washed
• Which cycle to use in the washer (if permitted)
• What detergents or soaps to use
• Other special washing and care instructions
• Drying instructions
• Whether the is coat dry clean only

The Overlocker Technique manual, Julia Hincks is an interesting manual and a great gift for the holidays. For fast and professional edging, hemming, seaming, and decorative stitching, you simply can't beat a serging machine. This all-skill-level book is the perfect guide to make sure you get the most out of your new machine (or out of that old serger that you've never got the hang of!)

The serger or overlocker
Photographs and step-by-step instructions guide you through the essential techniques, showing you how to set up your machine, how to adjust the settings to get the best results on a range of different fabrics, and how to edge your fabrics quickly with perfect results. The troubleshooting section provides tips and quick fixes for skipped stitches, snapped threads, and uneven stitching. Also includes a buyer's guide to different sergers, providing you with advice on finding the right machine for you.

An overlocker: yes, but why?
First of all: an overlocker is not a sewingmachine. A (good!) sewing machine can do almost anything, but an overlocker is a the dessert after a delicious meal. The finishing touch, the whipped cream on the cake, the golden thread that makes your sewing work so professional finished. Do we know more metaphors? Probably, but let's stick to the (sewing) lesson.

For example, an overlocker can sew elastic materials together and finish with a 3 or 4 thread-stitches without any difficulty. For example: these stitches at the end of a t-shirt. Turn your t-shirt or sweater inside out and take a look down. So now you know why! Even the best seamstress in the world can't get it done with a sewing machine. An overlocker sews and CUTS the fabric at the same time.
So put those zigzag scissors away and from now on finish your own clothing with an overlocker. T

In addition, an overlocker also creates decorative seams, even threads beads or pearls on the fabric and is able to do a lot more magical tricks.
And imagine you are working with a sewing machine to deal with a huge piece of fabric that should become a curtain: an overlocker would turn the big job into a piece of cake.

A great book:

• The book is a very good basic resource.
  
• Lots of practical material and has an incredible number of detailed photographs that go with the instruction.
  
• Good images to illustrate instructions.
  
• Colorful photography, really nice.
  
• No drawings or schedules: just great and clear pictures.
• Very inspiring, makes you want to lock forever!

A bit less interesting:

• For a beginner: don't be overwhelmed. Just start locking !
  
• A lot cheaper compared to a real life workshop but sometimes you miss a voice to guide you through this book.
  

Summarized:
We love all the beautiful examples. But it all looks a bit like a mamma or grandmother is sewing (locking) for her baby. Next edition: please provides us with more pictures of modern clothes or beautiful couture.
Nevertheless: the book is a great gift for a seamstress for the holidays!

A short jacket, a half-long jacket or a really very long jacket. You might think turning a short jacket into a long jacket is not thát difficult. Extend the fabric and you have the same jacket but then longer. But it is a bigger deal...

Long coat = other function
A long jacket has a completely different function. Long coats are usually meant to be worn over clothing to go outside. Hey, hey, doesn't everyone know that? That's right, but sometimes ugly mistakes are made in the sewing world. More spacious and wider Jackets are often underestimated in terms of sewing techniques. Sewing patterns are taken a little less seriously when it comes to long coats. Many seamstresses who have often made a long jacket, know that sewing a long jacket is just as meticulous work as making a short jacket. And that making a long jacket is not that simple at all. How often did we experience a long jacket is 'just not right'? Sadly, too many times.

A coat or a long jacket?
A coat always refers to an outer jacket. Usually it is a long classic model made of wool, loden or tweed. An outdoor jacket is more like a sporty (long) jacket made of waterproof fabrics, or a quilted jacket with a hood. In the sewing world, people talk about coats or simply: jackets. The shorter (Chanel style) jackets are often categorized with blazers or 'jackets'. Often it is confusing but follow the golden rule that coats are the outer coats and 'jackets' often the inner jackets.

Sewing and cutting:
You have to pay attention when you are going to cut the fabric. Do not fold the fabric double, but put it in its total width on a table or on the floor. The front piece needs plenty of room just because it is cut in a wide arc, because of the wrinkles. Take a good look at how often you need to cut the fabric. Most sewing pattern parts do not have to be cut twice, only once, even the back panels. A different cutting schedule applies to the lining. Make sure you have cut enough fabric because the pattern does contain a lot of fabric. Stretch velvet or velor panne is not easy to cut. The fabric slips quickly. Pin the pattern pieces to the fabric with extra pins and use weights in the middle of the pieces.

The same for sewing: use lots of pins. This prevents a lot of frustration. Make sure you use a stretch needle and a special foot for smooth fabrics.

There are no pitfalls or difficulties mentioned. With a little sewing experience you can do the job, as long as you take the time to work with the  highly stretchy fabric..