The Importance of Dressmaking Skills

By Jack Goldhammer | Submitted On July 16, 2010

Whether you have that dream of starting your own fashion line or you simply want to make your
own fabulous clothes, you can never succeed on it without learning the art of dressmaking. Sure,
you can hire designers to do all the hard work for your vision; but it is definitely better and less
expensive if you have ample knowledge on the trends, styles and designs that are suitable for
your figure. Moreover, if you aspire to become a fashion designer, being equipped with
dressmaking skills can help you get on top of your game.
Aside from going into fashion school, there are other ways for you to educate yourself on how to
create clothes or dresses. There are several books and resources available for you to get started.
The basic skills you have to know are the different sewing techniques. Certainly, you cannot go
without familiarizing yourself with the sewing parts, tools, supplies and equipment needed in
dressmaking.
Next, you have to learn and practice doing dressmaking patterns, measurements and designs.
Knowing the implications of the different fabrics, colors and designs on physical appearance is
very important as well. Being adept in designing clothes lets you have an in-depth knowledge on
what kind of clothing styles complement your hair, skin tone, face and body shape. It can also
give you a significant clue on how to hide some physical flaws and how to emphasize certain
physical assets. All of these can contribute to a deeper appreciation and a sound judgment of
fashion styles and fads.
Jack Goldhammer is a fashion designer and loves to write a lot about dressmaking patterns and
sewing cabinet.
Dressmaker
Dressmakers create made-to-measure clothing such as dresses, skirts, trousers and blouses for
their customers. They may specialize in a particular type of clothing like bridal wear. If you are
interested in textiles and fashion, are practical and enjoy working with your hands, this job could
be ideal for you.
In this job you will need to be able to imagine how a dress will look from the pattern design. Youll
also be using your great communication skills to deal with customers in a polite and tactful way.
There is no set entry route into this job. Courses in dressmaking, fashion and pattern cutting will
help you to develop the skills you need. You may be able to get into this job through an
Apprenticeship scheme.
What are the core skills of sewing?
February 13, 2005
What are the core skills of sewing that can be defined as standards of desired skill acquisition? I
am deliberately setting aside -for the moment- the related mechanical positioning, rhythm,
tempo, fluidity of sewing (in a continual process) things largely comprised of experience, practice
and the development of muscle memory. Once these are defined, its easier to teach the
specified tasks. Which processes are simpler and which are more complex? Heres a rough
outline and not necessarily in order of difficulty or complexity:
1. Sewing a straight line along a given edge with uniform stitching from the edge of the goods.
2. As above but with two layers of goods.
#2 may seem overly simplistic but consider two equal lengths of bias cut goods. If one does not
position the two layers of bias goods evenly, the goods grow in length the further along the
seam one goes. Sewing a 1/4 or 3/8 seam is much more difficult than sewing a 1 seam
allowance as there is greater grain stability the farther in from the cut edge that one sews. This
applies to bias goods only! Goods on the straight of grain are more easily sewn with smaller
seam allowances. This is not to say that I dont think one can develop the skill of sewing small
seam allowances on bias. I usually use 1/4 particularly when dot-to-dot skill (sewing a gusset,
see #5 below) is required.
If one were to think of it, one could add the concept of sewing two edges of striped or plaid
fabrics together so that the stripes are matched evenly across the seam as another example of a
core sewing skill but this is not a sewing skill per se, regardless that the seam is actualized at
that time. Having sewing operators to sew stripes neatly is rarely a concern in a good factory
because the required controls -the accurate cutting of the goods- was done well before it got
near the sewing line. In the factory, the seam quality of matched stripes is not governed by
stitchers! It is designed into the pattern (a precise match stripe is drafted and marked on the
pattern piece) and the matching of the seam is dependent upon the pattern grader following that

match point, then the marker maker who must communicate the lay-out of fabric repeat to the
cutting department etc. etc. Sewing operators have little to no control over how the goods are
cut; its unfair to blame them for errors in the process that preceded them. Just because they had
it last, and the proof is easily demonstrable then, doesnt mean they are to blame.
3. Sewing a simple line with 2 layers of goods of different fabrics, i.e. a shell fabric and a lining
fabric. This is more difficult to do on home sewing machines as they lack the pressure of
industrial machines to keep the goods aligned. Similarly, its more difficult to sew the tape of
zippers to lengths of dress-weight goods and for the same reasons. This is less challenging in
industrial environments as the dressweight goods are usually stabilized with a fusible interfacing
in the zipper inset area. In other words, successfully sewing a zipper is dependent upon
processes prior to the initiation of sewing; a good result is dependent on what happened to the
goods before a stitcher got anywhere near the goods. A pattern for the fusible had to have been
made beforehand, graded, cut, paired with the commensurate shell pieces, fused and then
resorted into bundles appropriate to the sewing process order.
4. The skill of sewing from one fixed point to another, dot-to-dot, along a defined edge.
5. As above but with two layers of goods.
6. As above but with two layers of differing goods. An example would be that of the back V -at
garment edge- on a back vest waist. Not only must the dot-to-dot points be precise but the
differing weights of the shell of the vest and the lining must be managed.
7. The skill of sewing from one fixed point to another, dot-to-dot, on the interior of a piece, say
along the placement lines of a welt pocket. Its more difficult to sew evenly on the inside of a
body of goods -rather than a seam allowance edge- as more skill is needed for the work to lie flat
and correctly aligned.
8. As above but with two layers of goods, the dot of each end sewing point of one layer to be
correctly aligned with the dots of the underlying layer.
9. As above but with two layers of differing fabrics. Say a welt leather pocket on a wool coat.
Notes on 7-9: again, a commercial environment manages this differently and well before it gets
near a sewing operator. As in welt pockets, the shell side (the side to receive the pocket), is
fused from the underside (wrong side of goods) at least one inch away from the area to be sewn
all the way around. The entire area is stabilized prior to stitching. Considering the known
tendency of manufacturers to guard against waste, the additional use of goods and process
-fusing for one- must mean that successful completion of the job (the welt pocket) is highly
dependent upon stabilization and worthy of increased cost of goods (more interfacing), design
(pattern) and additional processes and steps (fusing and doing so within a precise target area).
Being able to do the latter consistently btw, is a process thats not well known to home sewers.
This usually requires a placement guide made by the patternmaker before hand. The concept of
guides -a pattern piece not used to cut out goods but designed to mark them is largely unknown
to home sewers.