Camp Couture: Field dispatch #1

As you may have guessed, dear readers, I was sewing like crazy in the past week, which I spent in an isolated hotel in Baltimore together with several other couture aficionados. We worked day and night, and I was really happy to get some sleep once I was back home.

If you were wondering, packing for this Camp Couture was an exercise in restraint, and I managed to squeeze all my belongings, fabrics, tools and notions into two medium-size bags. I spent half a night carefully selecting every single item and managed to forget only my tracing chalk. And, once in Baltimore, I also skipped a shopping spree at Michael's fabrics, which saved couple of hours of precious sewing time...

Of course, I underestimated time needed to make a couture garment, so a bustier still remains a project-in-planning (PIP). But! I  managed to complete two garments I planned for my Couture Challenge: a skirt (#118B) and a blouse (#126) from the April 2012 issue of BurdaStyle magazine. More on this projects, plus tutorials will come later - this time, I will be treating you to something different! Are you ready?

Susan has kindly agreed to share with you some of her sample couture garments! So I diligently photographed several pieces, including some engineering, construction and finishing shots. I will be posting one garment at a time, with the first one being a dress bodice made of beautiful magenta lace and matching silk (the draping suffered from suitcase storage, but this is less important).

The lace is lined with flesh-colored silk organza. 

Bodice fragment: scallops were applied by hand on armholes and neckline

Inner support is provided by boning, and seam allowances are catch-stitched to the foundation

Bodice close up from the inside

I hope you enjoyed these detail shots, and many thanks to Susan, again, for letting me share these images with you. Stay tuned to more goodies from this class!