General Class Shot

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In: General, Sewing classes (general), Workroom
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We get a lot of folks who’ve found Tchad online or have walked by the workroom and wondered what the space looked like… We are going through what seems like a ton of pictures retrofitting the blog and getting things shipshape, so we thought you guys would like a little show.  The rooms are always changing and with each new group of people comes a new sense of what the spaces are and can be:Read More →

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In: Books, General
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We’ve been using The Secrets of Sewing Lingerie: Make Your Own Divine Knickers, Bras & Camisoles by Katherine Sheers for lingerie work in class since it came out a couple of years ago.  It is a really great little book and the patterns are trued up well and well marked.  The instructions would be a little rough for the early beginner, but anyone who has a couple of patterns under their belts should be fine. The language and vocabulary isn’t in standard American English, so there are words here and there that aren’t what you would expect if you are from the US, but  the world isRead More →

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In: General, Philosophy of Sewing, Sewing classes (general)
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I was writing about fabric exchanges at the workroom and what I see for this place as a creative environment and started thinking about inclusion. When I was a kid in Southern Indiana, my Grandma used to talk about workers they would hire on the farm and property and how the family would interact with them.  She’d describe these big meals prepared outside where everyone would sit down to long tables: workers, farm owners, wives, kids – everyone.  She’d say:  “If you are good enough to work for me, you are good enough to sit at my table”. This really resonated with me and hasRead More →

Entirely hand-sewn seams in Sylvia's dress shirt at Tchad workrooms

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In: Advanced, Advanced Projects, General, Sewing classes (general), Student Projects
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What makes this picture so “Advanced” that is is categorized with advanced projects? After all, it just looks like a regular old shoulder and sleeve conjunction… Baby, those seams are ENTIRELY backstitched by hand.   She is doing a GREAT job with this.  It is incredibly difficult to keep this quality of sewing consistent.Read More →

Our favorite and most used iron in action at tchad workroom sewing classes in chicago

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In: General, Sewing classes (general), Tools
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We get questions about tools all the time. At the workrooms we use old tailor’s irons that have no steam function.  We like them better for a few reasons:     1. They are heavy – somewhere in the range of 10-20 pounds.  This lets the iron do the pressing work rather than your arm. 2. They have flat plates with no steam holes.  This means that when you are pressing delicate or textured fabrics you don’t have to worry as much about damaging the texture by pressing the steam holes into the face of the fabric. We supplement the steam and moisture that aRead More →

Progression of pattern manipulation from straight to flare

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In: Drafting, General, Tips & Tricks, Tutorials
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We’ve recently had a ton of students telling us that A. We don’t update the blog enough (and seeing as how we have 72 stored drafts in the draft folder, we’d be inclined to agree).           and B. They want to know how to do specific stuff and want tutorials. So, to keep the revolutionaries in check and anarchy at bay, here is our first update in a while to walk you through turning a straight skirt pattern into a flared pattern.  A little shout-out to Sophia here (Thanks Sophia!) for making the classes worthwhile for us and off we go!Read More →

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In: Fun & Random Stuff, General, Sewing classes (general)
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All of the regular folks up here know that there is so much more than sewing going on on any given day.  There is such a mix of people from all over that you never know what you are going to be exposed to. Recently, Hillary (not that one) was showing us the effect of water pressure on styrofoam.  The head on the left was taken down 300 feet. Huh.Read More →

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In: General, Philosophy of Sewing

Some time ago, I was reading Threads Magazine and came across an essay on levels of projects and the thoughts behind choosing projects and techniques to make them.  The writer was comparing sewing to cooking.  Look, they were saying: When you cook you don’t always cook the biggest, most expensive meals in the cookbook.  Sometimes you don’t even need the cookbook.  Sometimes you just make a hamburger.  Or, if you need a really quick bite, you open the freezer and throw one of those sad hot pockets you’ve had since 1998 (don’t lie) in the microwave. One of the things that I say over andRead More →

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In: Basic, General, Intermediate, Intermediate Projects, Sewing classes (general), Student Projects
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Verena wanted to work up some simple modern clothes for the baby she’s expecting but wanted something gender neutral and clean. She found a copy of Esprit Kimono pour les Petits and, as a palate cleanser between all of the high-end and beadwork she’s gotten herself into lately, ran out some ADORABLE baby kimono tops in cotton prints.  These will make even the grumpiest grump smile.Read More →

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In: Advanced, Books, General, Resources, Sewing classes (general)
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We bought a copy of Early Victorian Men by R. L. Shep to help round out our menswear books at the workroom a while back. Amazon describes it as: “The end of Men as Dandies & peacocks! Fashions did not change much since they were set by George IV and Beau Brummell except they were less extreme. This book is a good look at what they were between the 1820s up to 1850 and how to make them. After that they got more drab and less interesting. George Walker’s rare “The Tailor’s Masterpiece” of 1838 is paired with the full text of “Hints on Etiquette” 1836Read More →

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In: General, Workroom
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Fashion and design generate TONS of waste.  If taken in the aggregate, we are talking hundreds of thousands of tons every day. We fight against this in a couple of ways: recycling, composting, and reuse. Chicago doesn’t have a robust recycling program, so we do what we can with paper and plastic. We use all absorbent scraps of fabric generated from cutting up here by turning them into rags and dustmops. What doesn’t get turned into a dustmop or rag is then composted, as are the rags and dustmops themselves. Our compost is packaged every week and set aside to be taken to special compostRead More →

Huis Clos (No Exit) stage in the Tchad® workrooms.

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In: General, Sewing classes (general), Workroom
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So the nebulous answer here is: “Well… Yes, but…” The longer answer is that in the off-class time, the workroom is a place that adapts to what we are doing at any given moment and that is a hard visual to get over for the visitor sometimes. The best example is this: Alec needed a space to stage a video adaptation of Sartre’s Huis Clos and couldn’t find a space already adapted to his needs, so it ended up getting built out here.  We built this out in one of the long workrooms to really get that sense of eternal foreboding. It is a farRead More →

Clamps holding down denim belt loops for perfect flatness.

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In: General, Intermediate, Sewing classes (general), Tips & Tricks, Tools
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One of the things that happens up here when people are sewing tough or rigid fabrics is that they can’t get a good professional press. If you have a tailor’s point press, anvil, clapper, and some clamps you will be able to get that thing to lay flat as a flitter. Get a lot of live steam and heat in the seam, then clap it between two pieces of wood and fasten.  You can take the clamps off when it cools and move on to the next section. It is especially helpful when you are doing belt loops or complex junctions in heavy fabric. ItRead More →

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In: General, Intermediate, Intermediate Projects
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We found this post lingering in the drafts folder and couldn’t have felt worse.  Too cute os a project to be left in a server’s memory banks without showing it to everyone! Three types of knit and a LOT of handwork.  We get a lot of requests for knit up here, and with the caveat that sewing knit is different form woven in terms of the applied skillset, we are always down for some knit sewing!Read More →

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In: Advanced, Basic, Books, General, Intermediate, Sewing classes (general)
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We purchased Handsewn: The Essential Techniques for Tailoring and Embellishment by Margaret Rowan to help give some direction to students who were learning hand sewing and tailoring. We needed something that was comprehensive but wasn’t an embroidery book specifically. Amazon says of it:  “Take handsewing to the next level! Sewists are developing increasing interest in heritage handsewing techniques that add beautiful or couturelike finishing touches to the final project. Small handfinished details can quickly become a testament to the style, creativity, and skill of the sewist. Handsewn offers step-by-step instructions for a comprehensive collection of hand-finishing and embellishing techniques, including hems, edges, buttonholes, cuffs, tacking layersRead More →

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In: Advanced, Books, General, Intermediate, Patterns used in class, Sewing classes (general)
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Verena wanted to work up some clothes for her baby so that it has some cute modern non-gender specific stuff to wear when it gets here, and started looking for a copy of “Esprit Kimono pour les Petits” by Peggy Goyer-Roussel and Zazo Bouzi. It is a French children’s pattern book that can be hard to find, but she found it and worked up some of the cutest little kimono-inspired tops. The instructions are all in French, but the sequence and layout will make this easy enough for the non-French speaking intermediate sewer. The shapes are simple and if you do read French, the directionsRead More →