Dressmaking Techniques

Dressmaking Techniques

‘Dressmaking Techniques’ is a Dressmaking course with a difference. Instead of slogging through a whole garment, this innovative course will teach you, week by week, the basic methods of making clothes. such as darts, fastenings, adding a waistband, a facing etc. Are you tired of wonky zips? Or do you even avoid them altogether? Do your facings refuse to lie flat?  Yes? Then this is the course to help you raise your sewing game.

Improve those common construction methods for making your own clothes and giving them a professional finish.

Course Description

Through a series of tutorials, and practical sessions, you’ll be working samples of each technique, so you can practise the skills learnt in that session.  By the end of the course, you’ll have a library of new techniques at your fingertips to take home so your sewing will be more ‘high end’ than ‘high street’.

Artisan Stitch won a Certificate of Excellence in January 2019 and is rated ‘Best sewing classes in Edinburgh’. The UK Enterprise Award followed for Best sewing classes 2020 then Best Private Sewing Education & Tuition in 2021. Artisan Stitch is the only course provider in Edinburgh, and one of only two in Scotland, that is recommended by Queen Margaret University for sewing tuition.

Level:  Intermediate.  You need to have foundation skills in seams and hems gained from a Beginners’ sewing course. Also you’ll have already used a commercial paper pattern to make at least 1 garment (or tried to).

Duration: 12 hours (2 hours per week for 6 weeks. This is an abridged version of the ‘Better Dressmaking 9 week course which has run successfully for 3 years and is always a popular topic of the Summer School programme).

Who is this aimed at?

• Home dressmakers who’d like to achieve a better finish to their home sewing projects
• You must have had some dressmaking experience and be familiar with using commercial paper patterns and basic garment construction (seams, hems and raw-edge neatening techniques).

What will I learn?

• Perfect darts
• Make machined buttonholes and sew on buttons
• How to sew in a concealed zip
• Avoid stretched necklines
• Choosing and using interfacing
• How to do some useful pattern ‘hacks’
• How to change the shape of a neckline
• How to make facings lie flat
• Setting in a sleeve

Course arrangements

All fabrics needed for the course are provided. Sewing machines are available for your use or you can bring your own if you have one. Please remember your power cable/foot control, spare needles, feet, instruction manual.

You will need your basic sewing kit of: fabric shears, paper scissors and small trimming/embroidery scissors, pins, tape measure (cm), chalk pencils or fabric marking pens, notebook.

(includes all fabrics, zip, interfacing etc)

Useful links:

If you need a new sewing machine or any sewing equipment or accessories, then my trusted and recommended specialist retailer is Pembertons.

Here’s a wee note that you might like to read about the various fabric marking tools available.