Australian Stitches

Australia’s leading dressmaking magazine is a favoured by all dressmakers in every age group. Fabulous garments, technical instructions and step x step photos help guide even the most novice sewer to complete perfect garments every time. All the latest patterns and fabrics are covered in every issue plus we trial patterns to give the lowdown on how to improve on each pattern’s instruction sheet. We showcase makeovers of real people, give wardrobe-planning advice and show the latest trends from the USA and Europe.

The Classics Re-boot • • THE CLASSICS NEVER DIE … BUT THEY DO CHANGE! AND NEW ONES ARE NOW JOINING THE CLUB

Pant Fitting

Oh what a night! • Show-stopping eveningwear, just like a great night out, takes you away from the everyday … pull out all the stops in simple, spare and sexy shapes lavished with sumptuous lace, spectacular sequins, gleaming charmeuse, brilliant jewel-tones and liquid satins.

NICOLA FINETTI

WHITE, YELLOW AND ROSE GOLD!

Bias BY DESIGN • Recent fashion trends have brought to the fore a multitude of garments that are cut on the bias, in particular for the younger markets for both men and women’s shirts and women’s skirts and dresses. Most sewers cringe at the thought of embarking on a bias-cut sewing project for fear of being caught up in uncontrollable, stretched seams and wavering hemlines, eventually leading to disappointing results. Being armed with the right tips and methods, the little extra care required will reward you with a result to be proud of.

Finishing Touches • One of the fiddliest, most hair-tearing stages of garment making can be inserting an invisible zipper so it is, well, invisible. There must be a trick to it. And there is ... and this is how the professionals do it. Now the only teeth you’ll be displaying will be the ones in your great big cheesy grin.

One Fine Evening • The new after-hours dress code?Softly shaped, super-flattering dresses licked with lace or brocade or sleek, simply lined separates with ageless appeal, resplendent in luxurious fabrics.

Cover-stitch Completion • With today’s machine technology, most people have either heard of or own a cover- stitch machine. They come in all brands and can either be a stand-alone unit or part of a more advanced overlocker (serger) with cover-stitch being just another stitch available (with some minimal settings and hardware changes). For those who haven’t used one, or don’t have a desire to fiddle with their overlocker, a twin-needle and a small stitch will have to do.

PERFECT BONDING • “It’s what’s on the inside of the garment that makes the outside of the garment worth seeing!”

Fifties fever • The best party dresses of the season have the irt and are of the ‘50s, but with an easier, more modern construction that is as light as air.

Backless

TAKE BACK THE NIGHT • The glint of night-time sparkle, baroque brocade or a lavish trace of lace turn daytime classics into evening-only extravaganzas.

Big and Busted – the Princess Line

The Bias Maker • Bias tape is a type of trim and also a binding. It’s a long, continuous strip of fabric with neatly folded edges, making it ideal for finishing off the raw edges of seams, garment and blankets edge, and for decorative quilting effects, such as Stain Glass Windows and Celtic Knot Work.

The pleasures of dressing up • IN SEXY CORSETRY, ROMANTIC ROSETTES OR GRAND CASCADES OF TAFFETA AND SATIN. THIS IS ALL-OUT EVENING DRESSING IN ALL ITS GLORY …

BOOK REVIEWS

Dress sense • A style with fit & flare that goes to any length (even when it’s sheer-over-short!) and whirls through your day or night … some dresses think of everything.

Sew Suede! • Once you’ve decided to sew with real or fake suede (suede is simply the inside layer of a cowhide, pig or lambskin...