The front bodice section of Vogue #2890 as constructed by Jae before attaching the skirt at the Tchad sewing studio workrooms in Chicago Jae wears the gunmetal grey silk version of Vogue #2890 by Belleville Sassoon that she worked up in the Tchad chicago sewing studio workroom classes.

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In: Advanced, Advanced Projects, Draping, General, Patterns used in class, Sewing classes (general), Student Projects
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We’ve had Vogue #2890 up at the workrooms a couple of times of the years, and it is always a crowd-pleaser IF you pay attention to what you are doing AND you don’t mind adapting the shape just a bit in the back of the corset and bodice. Read More →

Sana's first draping project at tchad workrooms

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In: 1st Projects, Basic, Draping, General, Intermediate, Sewing classes (general), Student Projects
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Sana came to the States having worked under a designer before and wanting to know more.  Over the course of the class, she draped this multi-sized grey floor length dress in georgette.     And then once she was done, she got a model to go out for a late-Winter photoshoot:  You can follow her on Instagram and watch her go go go!Read More →

Umang and Verena wearing projects they worked on at Tchad workrooms

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In: Advanced, Advanced Projects, Draping, General, Sewing classes (general), Student Projects
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Umang had started on a formal strapless gown and then got discouraged because she had to take a break and changed size.  We don’t shame folks for that, but there is only so much you can vary in size with a fitted corseted strapless evening gown. So the poor little guy sat in the closet for weeks and weeks, just waiting… And then, after having met the sweetest guy, she all the sudden needed a wedding dress and started the work to get back to the size of the dress. The final day of her progress on it we (shakily) captured:   We constructed theRead More →

Testing the fit of strapless silk with Halston construction at Tchad workrooms

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In: Advanced, Advanced Projects, Draping, General, Sewing classes (general), Student Projects
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Decima, she who conquered Province, called us up wondering if she could fly into Chicago to work on a draped black silk evening gown and beaded collar. We are never ever going to say no to something like that, so with the humility required when students want to fly across the country to work with you, we said: “Yes, absolutely yes.” Decima has already had a good deal of sewing under her belt, and the dress itself was pretty straightforward, so we dove right into it.  As Tchad was showing her how to manipulate the draping so that it formed the right slack, it feltRead More →

Finished smocking on Duree's final dress at tchad workrooms

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In: 1st Projects, Basic, General, Patterns used in class, Sewing classes (general), Student Projects
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When we get beginner folks up here who want to start off with something other than a basic pattern for themselves, we give a couple of caveats about technique and fabric.  Sometimes the things you will learn from a project that is slightly outside of the main will be SO specific that you don’t ultimately get what you need. Duree came to us wanting to work up a smocked pattern from a children’s pattern book and, with the caveats that we always give, we went ahead. She was working from the Girl’s Style Book by Yoshiko Tsukiori. We reviewed it over here. Japanese sewing booksRead More →