What is this blog about?
Welcome to Couture Hacking!
We are so happy to welcome you to our blog/website/community!
Why this blog?
The idea for this blog was born in 2021.
After more than 10 years of sewing and more than 8 years in the business, I had worked in almost every area of fashion, from stage costumes to jewellery to wedding dresses to haute couture. And after all these years, I was devastated.
Fashion is the most polluting industry on the planet, I saw it with my own eyes and I couldn't change it. By working for companies in this industry, I was also participating in the over-consumption and destruction of natural resources.
Although I always knew in the back of my mind that fashion was this beast of consumption and pollution, I continued to design clothes without knowing why I liked it so much or how I could make a difference in my small way.
It was through travelling that I found an answer.
During a stopover at a weaving workshop in Burma, I discovered that the lotus plant could be used to make beautiful silk fabrics. And that's when it hit me. What I loved about fashion was not the glitz and glamour of the industry, but the technique and the human element.
The techniques of garment construction, how you go from 2D to 3D to fit a moving body. How a simple detail can change the whole volume of a garment and make it unique. But also how to achieve the same result using different techniques, especially as there is no one way to sew.
All these techniques and artisans fascinate me and give me hope. Fashion is not just about the giants of the industry who think they can continue their practices with impunity. Clothes are made by people who work with their hands to make the clothes we wear on our backs.
How I decided to act
After spending countless hours sewing, working for different companies and most importantly learning about the impact of the textile industry I decided to do something about it.
I have always been good at sewing. I've made a lot of clothes throughout my career. Prototypes to send to factories and made-to-measure clothes.
But when it came to making clothes for myself, finished from scratch, that I could keep for years, there was no one. I would make a garment that I would only wear once because my finish was poor and I would end up throwing it away before putting my heart into another project that would also end up in the bin.
I thought that making a garment with professional finishes was just for professionals and that I couldn't reproduce finishes as beautiful as those I found in the shops with my little sewing machine.
I was completely wrong.
What is this blog going to bring you?
Whether you are a beginner or an experienced seamstress, we can all make a garment with finishes as beautiful as those created by designers.
We can make a garment in your image in an environmentally friendly way by reducing the supply chain and with unique textiles and details at every level.
The more complex techniques are easy to learn with step-by-step practice and patience.
It's true that it takes a lot of time, trial and error, but if the artisans and designers can do it, why can't we?
In this blog, I would like to share my love of clothing with you, so that together we can create the clothes of our dreams.
This will be done through step-by-step articles, in-depth sewing questions, youtube tutorials, downloadable patterns, and then we hope to create a community space where we can share successes and difficulties we may have.
If I can help you make the clothes of your dreams through my explanations and my examples, I will achieve my goal!
I look forward to sharing it with you!