how does she do it?

Which comes first--the fabric or the design?

It depends. Sometimes I make a pattern, and then look for a fabric that works for the design. More often, I find or make a piece of fabric, and then decide what kind of design it cries out for.

When a new piece of fabric comes into the studio, I first clean it by either washing or dry-cleaning. Sometimes a piece of wool looks like it wants to be fulled (or felted ) before I make it into a garment so I throw it into the washing machine with very hot water and lots of sudsy soap, put it on a long wash cycle, then I toss it into the dryer. The result is a dense fabric that doesn't need hems or turned seams, a fabric I can work in so many ways without harming it like I would if trying to use the original piece of wool.

When using a new pattern, I first make a test garment out of muslin. This shows me how the garment fits, and determines whether the design offers the correct style and drape for the piece of clothing.    When I am sure the pattern is right, I cut out the fabric along with the interfacing, lining, underlining, and anything else that goes into the construction of the piece.

After interfacing the front band, collar, and cuffs, I put the body of the jacket together. If the jacket is unlined and has a yoke, the yoke comes first; then I place the pockets on the jacket's front pieces. That done, I sew the fronts and back to the yoke.

Sometimes I sew sleeves to the body then I sew the side seam of the body and sleeve together in one long seam. Many of my jackets have a sleeve seam that doesn't line up with the side seam, so I have to sew them (the side and sleeve seams) separately. then attach the sleeve to the armhole of the body, add cuffs and collar and finally hem the jacket. I make buttonholes before putting the buttons on. Et voilà --an unlined jacket.

For lined jackets, I make the lining separately, in the same manner as the jacket, and then add the lining to the jacket.

Return to How Does She Do It?