How and when did you start sewing?    
My godmother tells me that I starting draping my dolls when I was very young.  At 13, I bargained for my first sewing machine. (You don’t have to give me anything else, All I want is a sewing machine.)  It was an old Kenmore that had two stitches — forward and backward.  My mother didn’t sew, but she set standards for the quality of my work.  She said that it had to look as good on the inside as it did on the outside, and if I spent my clothing allowance on fabric, whatever I made I was going to have to wear.  That meant I learned to finish seams, set in zippers, and  handwork button holes.  Right from the beginning I learned Quality and Excellence were presented to me as standards.

What’s your favorite sewing tool/piece of equipment?
I love my Bernina automatic button hole maker.  After years of bound button holes, and imperfect machine button holes, I love that I can now make button holes that even my mother would approve of.

How much time to you have to sew?
I have as much time as I take to sew, because I schedule it, just as I do everything else that is important to me.  I would love to sew something every day, but I don’t have that kind of life.  I do go into my studio almost every day.  Sewing calms me down.  It is while working of a project that I also work out solutions for other aspects of my life.  When I am too tired or too busy to work on a project, I will often just sit in the studio, browsing through patterns, or playing with my stash.  I probably average one garment a month.

Where do you go for fabrics?
I look for fabric everywhere I go. When I am at home, in Los Angeles, I go to F&S on Pico Boulevard.  I like the size of the shop and love their selections of silks and woolens.  I almost always find what I need there. The Fabric Store on N. La Brea is new to LA, and I like it because of its selection of natural fibers and because all of the fabric is arranged by color.  If you want to make something red, you only have to look in one place.  In Los Angeles we are very lucky because we have MANY choices.  Mood and International Silks and Woolens are also well-represented in my stash.

What’s your favorite fabric to sew on?
Light weight wool.  I love summer-weight suiting, and blouse weight wools.  I can wear them year-round, they last forever and they are wonderful to work with.

Who is your favorite designer?
I’m not sure if I have a favorite.  It depends if you are asking whose work I appreciate most, or about my personal style.  I don’t think I have ever made a garment from a pattern without altering the style in some way, so I guess my favorite designer is me.   I like almost everything from Eileen Fisher’s studio, and I love Koos’ sense of color.

What is your biggest inspiration?
The fabric inspires me.  I walk through the store waiting for something to whisper, “Take me home!”  I’ll buy a piece of beautiful fabric not knowing what it will become, and keep it until its destiny is obvious.

What is your favorite fashion book?
I don’t have one.  I don ’t collect fashion books.  I have basic books on how to sew.  Susan Khalje’s Bridal Couture is my favorite sewing book because she covers the basics and more in a very accessible way.

From a technical point of view, when you sew, what’s easiest?  What’s hardest?
The easiest part is imagining… the hardest is turning that vision into something I can proudly wear.  Small angled pieces like gussets make my eyes cross.

What is the favorite thing you’ve ever made?
I belong to an organization that used to have an annual formal dinner-dance.  For 15 years, I got to imagine and create a formal outfit, suitable for dancing.  Those were some of the best times I’ve had sewing — incredibly beautiful fabrics, challenging designs and the pressure of having all decisions made and executed on time for the New Year’s Eve Gala.

What’s your next sewing project?
A wool safari-style jacket for my brother, who is an urban farmer (Truly Living Well, Atlanta GA).   He speaks and teaches a lot and I want him to wear something nicer than a flannel shirt or a cotton safari jacket.

Whose personal style/wardrobe/image do you admire?
Mine.  I like natural fibers, simple lines, fabulous fabrics and interesting texture and patterns.  My clothes are easy to wear by many body types.  They are comfortable and versatile.  I travel a lot so versatility is important; any one piece can be worn in combination with several others.  Whether I buy or make something, I have to be able to wear it with at least one garment that is already in my closet.  I speak in front of audiences, so it is important that my clothes do not distract from my words. At the same time it is my responsibility to give the people something pleasant to look at.  I keep to a simple color story, but often use bright,  surprising, colorful linings.

We like to feature a garment you’ve sewn – can you tell us about it? 
Aubergine is a new color for me.  Most of the things in my closet are black, browns and reds.  I can wear colors that are less flattering, if I have one of my best colors around my face.  I began to experiment with some new colors from a stash I inherited from a dear friend.  I loved the aubergine trim I used to tone down a fuchsia and tangerine plaid, so I bought more.  However, what worked for trim didn’t work for a whole garment. So the tunic and slacks I made had to wait for an enhancement.  I found it when I visited a strip mall at a store that sold sari fabric, in a city I was working in.  I used the beautiful gold and aubergine to make cuffs for the tunic and a narrow scarf to wear with it.  The fabric was sold in pieces and I still had most of the four yards I purchased, so I made a calf length vest to wear with the tunic when the scarf wasn’t enough.  The vest transformed a too-simple garment into a spectacular, special-occasion outfit. I used the remaining sari fabric to line a suit jacket. I’ve gotten lots of wear out of all the pieces and many compliments as well.

The Blue Faille Coat

It’s silk faille – a sort of old-fashioned fabric – heavily ribbed – that’s a pleasure to sew with.  It’s underlined with silk organza and lined with silk charmeuse.
The inspiration for the coat came from a vintage coat that a student of mine either wore, or brought, into class one day….hers had been found at a vintage shop, and was in perfect shape .  I loved the lantern sleeves…

The lantern sleeves.

I recall when I was doing the pattern work, I had to scale them down a bit – too large and they’re comical; too small, and they look like regular sleeves.   You can also see there was a little bit of shaping at the tops of the sleeves – soft angles at both the front and back of the armscye.  I love those subtle little details.   The original coat was wool – and the horizontal seam at the sleeve was  embellished with trapunto stitching.  We decided, for the article, to use a beaded trim, which was repeated on the pocket welts.

Beaded trim on the pocket welts.

You can see my hand understitching along the front edges of the coat – it keeps the layers together, and it also allows me to position the fold so that the facing is cheated every-so-slightly to the inside…

It’s the perfect evening coat – it’s such a pretty color, it’s got a little bit of sparkle, it’s got pockets, there’s no closure to fuss with…I’m so glad it’s back!!!

Detail of the inside edge.

I was out walking one chilly afternoon, and saw a number of beautiful scarves in the window of a boutique on the Boulevard Saint Germain.  I kept on walking, but on my way back, I couldn’t help but go in…and this is the one I fell in love with.  The scarf is a creation of Paris-based fashion house Alexandra Sojfer.

The owner told me only a few are produced every year…and this was my favorite.

A piece of Chantilly lace has been felted to the scarf – it’s first been machine-stitched into place, along the top and bottom edges (zig-zagging along the top, straight-stitching along the bottom).  You can see how the felting process has distorted the grain of the scarf  a little bit (it’s very light-weight, and I’m not sure of the fiber content, but I’d guess some sort of a combination of wool, silk and maybe cashmere).

I’ve no idea how difficult it would be to replicate this – but I found it to be a very clever – and beautiful – way to combine the lace and the fabric.

I did my best to match the lines of sequins…and I did have to cut them away from some of the seams at the top of the neckline.  When sequins are caught in a seam, they can be pretty tough, and scratchy if they’re right against the skin.

I love the way the sequins look – they appear to be squared off, but it’s the thread that makes them look that way……they’re regular sequins, covered on four sides by thread bars….very clever.

There’s nothing very complicated about the jacket – I underlined it with silk organza, and lined it with a pretty flowered silk crepe de chine.  There’s a pretty sturdy zipper in it, but that’s it…..

I do like the shaping in it…..princess seams that curve into a funnel neck (or col montant, as the French call it).  I recall having lent to pattern to someone, which is too bad as I’d like to make another!

Leisa Stanton

How and when did you start sewing?   
I started sewing after my youngest started school – nine years ago.  I’ve always drawn and painted,  but I quickly found that immersing myself for hours on end with oil paints was no longer an option with four young children.  Sewing was a natural creative progression, I love clothes and shoes but could never afford what I wanted to wear.

What’s your favorite sewing tool/piece of equipment?
My Japanese needles without a doubt. They are an absolute pleasure to hold and are thin enough to sew through almost any fabric with ease.

How much time do you have to sew?
On average, I would say three or four full days a week.  I started a sewing blog two years ago and like to have a variety of interesting works in progress as well as completed garments to show.  It pushes and inspires me to constantly evolve and try different and interesting techniques, which in turn makes sewing an endless pleasure.

Where do you go for fabrics?
I work part time at Mendel Goldberg creating content and curating their website, so a lot of my fabric comes from there, but I also love  B&J and Mood in NYC.  I recently discovered Max of General Diff when in Paris on Susan’s tour and am now trying desperately to find an plausible excuse to visit him once a year as well!!

What’s your favorite fabric to sew on?
I have a few, Guipure and Alecon lace for when I want to slow down and reconnect a little more to the sewing process, Cashmere for tailoring when I want something more complex and challenging and Boucle when the need for another Little French Jacket strikes!

Who is your favorite designer?
Without a doubt Alexander McQueen. The tailoring, the femininity, the complex edgy designs and unusual fabrics… an absolute genius.

What is your biggest inspiration?
Fabric – always.  Its a very liberating and often a challenging process, to buy the fabric first and then find the right pattern and one I have learnt so much from.

What is your favorite fashion book?
Alexander McQueens Savage Beauty and Madame Grès Sphinx of Fashion.

From a technical point of view, when you sew, what’s easiest?  What’s hardest?
Fit will always be the hardest. I struggle with that constantly – its such an essential skill and yet almost impossible to master when you sew and fit yourself.

And the easiest: hand sewing.  There is so much control and freedom with just a needle and thread.

What the favorite thing you’ve ever made?
I’ve not made it yet.  I like most of what I sew but there is always something I think I could have changed or sewn better… it’s a journey… but I know one day if I keep practicing, I will be good enough to create that piece.  That’s my motivation.

What’s your next sewing project?
I sew with Marfy patterns almost exclusively but have come out of my comfort zone to try Vogue V1440. Its a fairly complex jacket with multiple odd shaped pieces, and about twelve crazy inches of ease.  Its certainly giving me fitting practice, and reminding me why I don’t often buy these!

Whose personal style/wardrobe/image do you admire?
Georgina Chapman of Marchesa.  I don’t know anybody else who can wear lace with just the right amount of sass and elegance as she does.

Can you share with us a garment you’ve sewn and talk about your inspiration and process?
I have a picture in my sewing room of a Prada lace shirt that is simply beautiful.   Technically,  it’s a little challenging as there is no underlining or lining to hide the seams and the process of working through those issues appealed to me.

I imagined making it with a nice fine Alecon lace and using French seams to keep the insides neat… but I kept being drawn back to a Prada re-embroidered Alecon lace at Mendel Goldberg that was made of cotton and substantially thicker than I had planned on buying.

I bought it anyway, wondering if it would be possible to hand sew the shirt in it’s entirety so I could control the seaming allowances inside and try out some new techniques.

For the pattern, I picked a well known and incredibly well drafted shirt called the Archer by Grainline and made a muslin first for fit and then a second test garment using a cheap nylon lace to work out any technical issues with the fashion fabric.

In total, this shirt probably took a week to make, and I still cannot believe how wonderful it feels to wear.   The seaming is soft and flexible because of the hand stitching,  and the tiny hand bound seams are invisible on the outside and comfortable to wear on the inside.

This shirt is the very first garment that I had sewn intuitively from start to finish and because of that, I am keeping it on a hook in my sewing room as a reminder of how far I have come from that very first class with Susan three years ago –  a long, long way indeed!

(For a more in depth look at the entire process of making this garment, go check out Leisa’s blog post.)

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Fellow Sewers,

I’m delighted to announce the French Couture Jacket Class. In this course I’ll walk with you through the entire process of constructing one of the classic couture garments. I pour a lifetime of experience in to this course and truly believe you will find advice in it that you cannot get anywhere else. From paper pattern to finished jacket, you’ll see me make two jackets: one in a plain fabric and one in a fabric that requires matching.

• Adapt the muslin for pattern use
• Apply a wide range of hand stitches along the way
• Quilt the lining to the fashion fabric
• Work with elegant trims and buttons
• Add hand-constructed pockets
• Apply the finishing touches that a couture garment deserves

Once you’ve completed one jacket, I’m happy to say that this course includes separate instruction for a regular and patterned jacket, with a pattern we send to you in the mail to accommodate your choice! And there’s no doubt that the techniques and knowledge gained from this project will be applied to any others you tackle in the future.

For more future updates subscribe to our mailing list at the bottom of this page!

The Draping Classes

Join Susan Khalje’s Paris-based colleague Julien Cristofoli for classes in the classic French method of draping—the moulage.

Each class will begin with the application of woven tapes (bolduc) onto the dress form— these tapes act as reference points to the corresponding lines that are drawn on muslin. Temporary design lines are then applied to the dress form, and the draping process begins. It is a fascinating and brilliantly effective approach, and Julien is a master of it.

This is a unique opportunity—a chance to learn the authentic French art of the moulage, beautifully rendered and expertly taught by Julien Cristofoli. Please join us this spring for a wonderful learning experience.

2015 Schedule

Susan Khalje Couture is thrilled to announce the return of master draping teacher Julien Cristofoli, of Paris. Three sessions will be held in Baltimore in the spring. Classes are limited in size, and Susan Khalje will be on hand to assist.

Session 1: Tops and Skirts
April 22–25, 2015

Session 2: Dresses
April 26–30, 2015

Session 3: More Tops and Skirts
May 2–5, 2015

Flowered Swiss lace and pink silk gazar.

I spent last week at Mendel Goldberg in New York, teaching a Classic French Jacket class. And yes, it was definitely like being in a candy store… you can imagine that students bought fabulous fabrics for the projects at hand, but clearly, future garments were in their sights as well…

Printed, Pleated

A fire a year or two ago led to a major renovation in the store, so the basement is now large enough to hold a class. It’s not a huge space, but by New York standards, it’s palatial. And it’s in a fun neighborhood, in the lower east side, on the upper fringes of Chinatown. There is even a vintage shop around the corner, with a window full of Chanel handbags.

San Jose dressmaker Helena Chenn’s jacket ready for a fitting…

Chicago designer Victoria Kathrein’s jacket’s sleeves are ready to be pinned into place…

The asymmetrical lining of another jacket is carefully laid out…

Owner Alice Goldberg Wildes has just come back from a buying trip to Europe, so seeing the just-arrived shipments being opened only added to the temptation!

Alice in the action

Speaking of temptations, one of my guilty pleasures is reading magazines, and even fairly humble convenience stores in the city (and of course in neighboring, very trendy Brooklyn) often carry a wonderful selection…

And of course, there are temptations on a cultural level, too, which included one very wonderful evening spent at Lincoln Center, watching the extraordinary dancers of the American Ballet Theater.

I’m back in Baltimore, ready to start teaching my final class of the year – one last Classic French Jacket session. It’s back to Mendel Goldberg tomorrow (just for the day, though) and M&J for trims and buttons… then we’ll dive in and start sewing. Inspiration awaits!!!

Here’s Australian student Kristie Fritz modeling the jacket I made for the upcoming French Couture Jacket video…

Susan discusses the benefits of our newest and most exciting product, waxed tracing paper.

The recently-closed Charles James exhibit at The Metropolitan Museum in New York isn’t the only examination of his work this year – A Thin Wall of Air: Charles James will be on display at the Menil Museum in Houston through September 7. While the Menil Museum exhibit closes this weekend, it’s worth a look if you’re in the area. And fortunately, a beautiful book accompanied the Metropolitan Museum’s exhibit – it’s well worth reading if you’re interested in knowing more about Charles James.

While far smaller and different in scope than the Met’s exhibit, the Houston presentation is charming and very personal. In addition to creating clothing for Mrs. de Menil, James designed furniture and interiors for the couple – wealthy French art collectors and patrons of the arts who spent much of their time in Houston (and built the well-respected museum bearing their name and housing their collections).

Mrs. de Menil’s garments are beautifully presented (her personal dress form from 1950 – red! – is also part of the exhibit). Carefully-shaped forms hold them in place, and while the temptation is still there to peel back the layers and look inside, it’s still possible to get reasonably close to them.

I’m afraid I’ve always let James’s difficult life – both personal and professional – cloud my view of him – that and his relatively small output of garments has kept me, til now, from appreciating him fully.

He truly saw things in a very unique way – his clothing designs are as much architecture and sculpture as they are things to wear – and it’s with his careful seams and painstakingly manipulated layers of fabric that he created and shaped his magic.

As I looked at the garments, I was so tempted by the idea of Charles James patterns… it would probably be far more trouble than it’s worth, but it certainly would give a clear and studied window into just how beautifully his garments are conceived and constructed.

Photo Credits (Left to Right, from Top): Dress Form 2: Charles James, Dress Form for Dominique de Menil, ca. 1950, The Menil Collection, Houston. Courtesy of Charles B. H. James and Louise D. B. James Photo: Adam Baker. Mauve Wool Suit: Charles James, Wool Suit with Fur Lining and Silk Blouse, ca. 1950, The Menil Collection, Houston. Courtesy of Charles B. H. James and Louise D. B. James. Photo: Adam Baker. Velvet Bustle Dress: Charles James, Bustle Evening Dress, ca. 1948. The Menil Collection, Houston. Courtesy of Charles B. H. James and Louise D. B. James. Photo: Adam Baker. Camel Day Coat: Charles James, Wool Day Coat, 1947. The Menil Collection, Houston. Courtesy of Charles B. H. James and Louise D. B. James. Photo: Adam Baker. Satin Evening Coat: Charles James, Satin Evening Coat, ca. 1948-1951. The Menil Collection, Houston. Courtesy of Charles B. H. James and Louise D. B. James. Photo: Adam Baker. DdM_James_Sofa_1 and DdM_James_Sofa_2: Dominique de Menil in a Charles James gown with [and seated on] a sofa of his design, 1951. The Menil Archives, the Menil Collection, Houston. Courtesy of Charles B. H. James and Louise D. B. James. Photo: F. Wilbur Seiders

I’m writing to announce an exciting new part of our growing online platform: the Susan Khalje Couture blog! The success and appreciation for our first course (The Cocktail Dress) has been tremendous. In response, we want to broaden the reach of Susan Khalje Couture.

I truly hope this serves as a way to connect to the couture community with frequent posts about topics ranging from exciting (and inspiring) student work; recommended articles, books, and exhibitions; reports from my travels across the country as I teach; technical sewing advice; access to free video tutorials; and the very latest updates on all of my upcoming videos and classes.

Please check in frequently. Welcome to my blog, and I hope you’ll enjoy being a part of Susan Khalje Couture.