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Knowing professional sewing skills enables you to make beautiful clothing for yourself and your family.
Use these indexed posts to locate the professional information you need to make beautiful clothing that fits.

More information is in Contemporary Fashion Education’s books and videos. Also consider watching Creating Fashion with Laurel videos on the local Philadelphia TV station every Wednesday morning at 9 am at https://phillycam.org/watch

This is how  high-end clothing is sewn in the industry.
Developed by the USA manufacturing industry during the First and Second World Wars, these drafting and sewing procedures are easier, faster, and far more professional than the home-sewing techniques currently on the market. Now available to you, thanks to years of research and testing with people just like you, these procedures can be used in the home with minimal equipment and expenditure. Comments or questions? Please contact Laurel at 215 884 7065 or by email.
About the author  36: Why I write  48: Why I Write
Blouses  79: How Shirts Differ from Blouses
Learn how to draft and fit professional pants and skirts. Only minimal equipment is needed.
Books: fashion/business   32: About Drafting & Fitting Pants and Skirts  103: Fashions from Lady’s Godey Book, 1858   104: MORE Lady Godey’s Book Fashions – May 1878  110: FASHION BOOKS for design and business  102: Sustainable Fashion – Small is Beautiful
Business  33: Starting a Clothing Factory   62: Pricing
Bust fit  67: Choosing your bra size  77: Moving the Bust Area
Caring for clothing & fabric  93: Washing Tips
Children’s clothing  58: Designing and Sewing a Little Girl’s Dress and Bonnet
78: Making a Child’s Dress from a Home Sewing Pattern  90: Anything that can go wrong, will – Murphy’s Law  91: Sewing a Baby Boy’s Hat with a Matching Band
Classes  40: Fit, Sewing Techniques Classes  45: WINTER 2015 CLASSES  54: PRIVATE LESSONS   121: The Skirt Course
The single most important aspect of your clothing is color. This post explores how to determine your best colors.
Color  98: Planning Your Spring Wardrobe with Professional Color Techniques
Costuming  42: Interview, Also, Preview of Downton Abbey Visit  51: Winterthur’s Downton Abbey Clothing Exhibit  52: More Downton Abbey Clothing From the Exhibit  61: Mummers’ Costumes  66: Belly dancing attire
Student demonstrates professional right-to-left cutting, as done in industry.
Cutting  9: Cutting a Blouse  59: Shira Cuts  84: Sewing for Entrepreneurs – Cutting to Match  87: Custom Couture – Cutting to Match 128: High-end Cutting Tips  132: How to Make Hand-Rolled Scarves
Business 138: How to Start a Fashion Line
Designing a professional wardrobe involves coordinating what you have  with what you decide to make.

Design – Personal  137-why-home-sewing-patterns-dont-fit  44: Beauty Secrets  67: Choosing your bra size  77: Moving the Bust Area  80: How to Choose the Right Size Sewing Pattern  82: Professional procedure for Designing & Sewing Personal Clothing  98: Planning Your Spring Wardrobe with Professional Color Techniques  105: High-fashion wigs and other items  113: Career Dressing – Presidential Candidate Wardrobe Considerations  119: Christine Lagarde, A World Leader’s Wardrobe  120: Designing a Practical Wardrobe   144-gift-of-the-magi
Doll Clothes  43: BARBIE’S PROM GOWN  46: DOLL CLOTHES  96: Historical Doll Clothes ALSO on Display at the Philadelphia Museum of Art  125: A Christmas Story
Beautifully fitted pants do NOT pull under the crotch.
Drafting  32: About Drafting & Fitting Pants and Skirts  77: Moving the Bust Area  86: Professional Drafting and Sewing Techniques
Draping  34: Dress Form Usage
Dress forms  34: Dress Form Usage  135: How to use a dress form – https://cfashionedu.com/135-how-to-use-a-dress-form/
Dressy clothing  66: Belly dancing attire  70: The Prom Dress
Teaching technical fashion school students
Education – 140: Contemporary Fashion Education’s program   139:  Problems with Fashion Education
Correct drafting requires careful measuring. A plumb line, which can be easily made with a small heavy object tied to a string, can determine where a side seam should be drafted.
Fitting  32: About Drafting & Fitting Pants and Skirts  39: Pattern and Clothing Sizing  74: How to Measure Crotch Depth  77: Moving the Bust Area  80: How to Choose the Right Size Sewing Pattern  107: Grading – How Fit and Sizing are Achieved  112: Fitting Pants 137-why-home-sewing-patterns-dont-fit 
Grading  65: Scanning for fit  107: Grading – How Fit and Sizing are Achieved
This post shows how to make a cap.
This post shows how to make a cap.
Hats  91: Sewing a Baby Boy’s Hat with a Matching Band
Well-made men’s pants have 2 1/2 inch hems. Buying inexpensive pants that are slightly too long, then shortening them to produce 2 1/2 inch hems, gives the pants an expensive look. Here are the instructions.
Hemming  88: Hemming Pants
4-H project
4-H students, taught industrial methods, finished the PA Clothing & Textile program in 3 years. The program normally takes 10 years.
History of Fashion  63: Fashions in the Thirties

Home sewing vs industrial/sample making  109: Home Sewing Instructions – why they lag behind industrial methods

Knitting  58: Designing and Sewing a Little Girl’s Dress and Bonnet  118: Liberty Bell Knitting Guild
How to prevent fabric jams in the race.
Machinery 49: Safety-Stitch Problems  57: Fabric Jams  60: Winding Bobbins While Sewing  73: Efficient Feed Dog Usage
Make up  44: BEAUTY SECRETS
E.F. Schumacher says industry needs to be scaled down so it can be used at the village level.
Manufacturing  138: How to Start a Fashion Line 33: Starting a Clothing Factory  41: SEMINAR – From Conception to Production  71: Producing a Fashion Line in America  102: Sustainable Fashion – Small is Beautiful  123: High-end vs. Mass-produced
Manufacturing – History  106: The Development of Modern Apparel Manufacturing Methods 
117: USA Fashion’s Fight for Better Working Conditions and Wages
Masks  130: CoverAidPHL Fabric mask v1 Production  131: Tips for Mass-Producing CoverAidPHL Fabric mask v1  132: How to Make Hand-Rolled Scarves  133: How to Hand-Sew a Mask  134: How to Make a Mask Without Sewing
Measuring  67: Choosing your bra size  74: How to Measure Crotch Depth   
107: Grading-How Fit and Sizing are Achieved  112: Fitting Pants
Men’s Clothing. See Pants
Movies  126: Bombshell – movie review
Measure the crotch depth by having the person being fitted sit on a chair. Most women need one inch added to the measurement.
Pants  32: About Drafting & Fitting Pants and Skirts  74: How to Measure Crotch Depth  75: Preparing to Sew Pants  76: Sewing Pants  88: Hemming Pants  112: Fitting Pants
Patterns  35: Home Sewing Pattern’s Sleeve Cap/Armhole Problem
Pricing  62: Pricing
Quilting  47: A quilt, made by a child in the late 1800s  50: READERS’ QUILTS
Recipes  95: Decadent Cherry Chocolate Chip Valentine’s Day Cake
Tracing patterns
Reducing the seam allowances, BEFORE the fashion fabric is cut, saves time and effort, AND produces a more professional garment. Cutting on a 5/8 inch seam allowance and then trimming the seams after they are sewn, means you are cutting the garment out twice!
Sample making, also see Sewing  31: Sample Making Defined  69: Why learn sample making – sewing as done in industry?  99: Sample Making Process  100: Couture Sewing defined  116: Basic High-End Sewing Procedures Everyone Needs to Know  122: Professional, High-end Tips to Speed Your Sewing
Sample making vs home sewing  35: Home Sewing Pattern’s Sleeve Cap/Armhole Problem   36: Why I write  124: Sample making vs. Home sewing
Scanning  65: Scanning for fit 
Schools – fashion schools 
37: Jenna is back from her internship in India   64: NYC Fashion Schools
Sewing, also see Sample Making  49: SAFETY-STITCH SEAM PROBLEMS  75: Preparing to Sew Pants  76: Sewing Pants  83: Sewing for Entrepreneurs  84: Sewing for Entrepreneurs – Cutting to Match  86: Professional Drafting and Sewing Techniques   
90: Anything that can go wrong, will – Murphy’s Law  99: Sample Making Process  100: Couture Sewing defined  101: Finishing Seams
Shirts  79: How Shirts Differ from Blouses
This Downton Abbey show explained how and why corsets were worn during the Victorian era.
Shopping  108: Fabulous Shopping in Cape May
Shows  38: Patrick Kelly: Runway of Love Fashion Exhibit  42: Interview, Also, Preview of Downton Abbey Visit  51: Winterthur’s Downton Abbey Clothing Exhibit  52: More Downton Abbey Clothing From the Exhibit  53: Winners – Clothing/Textiles at the PA Farm Show  56: African Fashion on a Global Stage  68: Philadelphia Flower Show – 2018  92: Texworld Trade Show Visit  94: Fabulous Fashion: From Dior’s New Look to Now  96: Historical Doll Clothes ALSO on Display at the Philadelphia Museum of Art  97: Flower Power – PHS Philadelphia Flower Show
Grade rule
A set of graded front bodice slopers
Sizing  39: Pattern and Clothing Sizing. See also Grading  80: How to Choose the Right Size Sewing Pattern  107: Grading – How Fit and Sizing are Achieved    A set of graded slopers is shown above.
Tiffany checks the measurements in her charts to make sure her drafting is correct.
Skirts  32: About Drafting & Fitting Pants and Skirts
Sleeves  35: Home Sewing Pattern’s Sleeve Cap/Armhole Problem
Prom gown designed by Shira
Shira, ready for the prom, in the gown she designed.
Student work  37: Jenna is back from her internship in India  85: Students display professional skills
Sustainability  102: Sustainable Fashion – Small is Beautiful  https://cfashionedu.com/  142-sustainability-industry-personal/ 114: Texworld USA Trade Show, Upcycling, Summer 2019, 
Teaching Styles  55: Styles and Methods of Teaching Sewing

Trade shows  115: US Trade Policy – Seminar at Texworld Trade Show – July 2019
Trends – fashion trends  81: California Fashions
The MOST important aspect of your wardrobe is color. Laurel has found the seasonal color palette theory the easiest for students to understand. Knowing both your primary AND your secondary season makes determining your best colors easy.
Wardrobing  82: Professional procedure for Designing & Sewing Personal Clothing  98: Planning Your Spring Wardrobe with Professional Color Techniques  105: High-fashion wigs and other items  113: Career Dressing – Presidential Candidate Wardrobe Considerations  119: Christine Lagarde, A World Leader’s Wardrobe  120: Designing a Practical Wardrobe
Wigs  105: High-fashion wigs and other items
Zippers  89: Setting a Zipper in a Lapped Seam

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Laurel@CFashionEdu.com
215 884 7065

© Laurel Hoffmann, 2020.

Laurel, writing and diagramming sample making procedures used in industry.

4 Comments. Leave new

  • Marlon Jackson Brooks
    October 1, 2020 3:24 am

    Hi Laurel I was scrolling through your post and noticed your zipper been attached to a ribbon . Can you help me to understand that demonstration with the red zipper? Thank you Laurel.

    Reply
    • Contemporary Fashion Education
      October 9, 2020 12:25 am

      Thanks for asking about this, Marlon. I’ve corrected the caption under the picture to read, “Narrow grosgrain ribbon sewn over the teeth prevents a skirt fabric’s loosely woven yarns from catching in the teeth.”

      Sewing the narrow grosgrain ribbon over the teeth is only needed when the garment’s fabric is loosely woven and likely to catch in the teeth. Lrl

      Reply
  • Jeannette Antry
    October 2, 2020 1:44 pm

    So much information. I have read most if not all of these posts. I am so excited to be able to easily review any post from your index. This is a great blog. Thanks for sharing and being so generous.

    Jnetti

    Reply

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