Tutor Couture

Woman's Hour (Radio 4) in UK talking about making your own clothes right now. Tune in!

Excitement abounds at Tutor Couture towers!

We've just been featured (in the "Hot List" section!) in "Sew Magazine", UK's top selling sewing magazine.

What an honour!

... or if you're up to making your own dress stand for custom garments, here's a tutorial ... :-)

Lifecasting Tutorial: Dress Form Cast In Flexible Foam In this tutorial we give an overview of the plaster bandage lifecast process as well as the casting process for F3 Flexible Foam. For best results flexible f...

Thought we'd post this one again, as it's good advice from Deborah regarding finding a dress stand. She found a good-quality bargain, as you'll see below!

Amazon.co.uk: the shopfitting shop dress stand: Kitchen & Home Online shopping for Kitchen & Home; Home & Garden & more at everyday low prices.

Hello. last week I draped patterns for some bridesmaid bodices and fitted them on Saturday. I have to admit the skirts were hurled on at warp speed not long before the clients arrived! I need 48 hour days at the moment. Anyway the fittings went well and as there were 2, made up in muslin I did one with pleats on the skirt and the other with gathers. This was to give the bride a visible choice of which looked better. I often find if people don't sew they simply can't visualize what something is going to look like. I can remember as a child rushing into show my Dad a bit of fabric and telling him with great excitement what I was intending to do with it. I usually got the glazed look of "Oh really. Hmm yes I can so not see that"...
However when I showed him the finished garment his reaction was very different because it existed as a real dress and not a flat piece of cloth. This is why draping on the stand can be so exciting as you pretty quickly get an idea is something is going to work or not. I keep all odd bits of lining and other weights of all sorts, like bits of jersey, and just play with them on the stand to get a sense of what they will do. I also make up toiles out of anything spare. We used some old curtain lining the other day and it worked perfectly well. I recycle and up cycle all the time! If I cut a wedding dress toile,once it is proved on the client and a confirmed fit I transfer it all to paper and reuse the bits of calico on other designs. Incidentally the wedding dress that goes with the bridesmaids fitted yesterday is enchanting and I am really going to enjoy making that up. I'll post photos once the wedding is over.

Hello, one of my students at Snippets came to me with very good ideas but very limited knowledge of construction or sewing skills. She was very much more suited to learning pattern cutting by draping on the stand and got off to a flying start with the basic bodice. her business goal is to make and sell her vintage style collection of dresses, made up with very avant garde fabrics and some wonderfully crazy prints. Since starting lessons with me she has gone from strength to strength on pattern cutting and sewing and loves it. has already got a commission from a friend to make bridesmaid dresses and modelled the pattern on the stand, toiled it to check, and then graded up for relevant sizes. She is doing very well and enjoying herself enormously. The buzz you get from making anything, be it curtains, cushions, patchwork, or couture clothes is amazing. Plus you get lots of compliments from your friends! Hannah's collection will be available online at some stage, so I will keep you posted. (She models one of her designs in the video)

We agree!

William Morris was right – true joy lies in making it yourself Yvonne Roberts: The designer esteemed craftsmen and women, unlike today when they are seen are second-besters

Happy Sunday to you!

Take a look at our wonderful tutor Deborah in action, showing you how to drape a strapless bodice on the stand.

Draping a Strapless Bodice - Lesson 2 Taster This is a taster of Lesson Two, Draping a Strapless Bodice on the Stand. It is part of our 6 hour series (shown over 46 HD videos) which is available now at ...

Hello, this is Deborah, I have been meaning to get on to posting on site but the new business has been a bit demanding. I have designed and made for probably hundreds of people over the years, based from home in a purpose built workroom in the garden. Then a friend of mine essentially kicked me out of my comfort zone saying that I should have a much bigger space and be teaching what I know, as she reckoned a lot of people would be interested. Almost immediately I found the beautiful space in Srevenage Old Town, England, and after a lot of white paint and some hard work, moved Snippets Needlework in to its new abode.
Do visit the Snippets page if you'd like to as I put lots of tips on there on sewing, and fabrics. For those of you who can get to Stevenage, I run classes and workshops all the time.
So, I now have a new space, shared with the dog Rosie, who always comes to work, and a lot of very talented students designing, pattern cutting and making their own clothes. There is also a fabric shop, which is expanding weekly, it seems and everything is very exciting.
I would love some feed back from those of you who have purchased the Tutor Couture programme. This was the first step into online teaching for me, and I'm sure could be improved!
I would like to do some more, including instruction in construction! Now off to the Snippets page to post there.

Hello! Have a look at this video of our tutor, Deborah: in it she goes into more depth about what you will learn in the lessons. She certainly knows her stuff!

Then please leave us any feedback or questions you may have. Thanks!

Tutor Couture: Lesson Outlines for Beginner Series - Available Now http://www.howtodrape.com Tutor Couture's beginner series is here! View this video to see our Tutor, Deborah, speak about the lessons you will receive when y...

Welcome to the page new "likers"!

Remember to go and get your 3 free intro videos now at www.howtodrape.com

You'll learn more about the course ...

Any questions, please feel free to ask here!

Welcome to Tutor Couture

http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_686950&feature=iv&src_vid=rkppkQEyXG4&v=7Illmj03iGE

Tutor Couture Trailer: Beginners' Series: Part 1 YES! Due to popular demand (and a constant stream of requests for a series, from our YouTube sample lesson [thank you to everyone who has contacted us!]), th...