When I tell people that I am teaching adults how to sew using their own designs and their own patterns, their eyes get big. Whoa… seems so mysterious…. so advanced… so ambitious…
When I tell people the course is designed for beginners to garment sewing, frankly no one believes me. Pattern making seems like it would be really hard; something that only people who already have a lot of experience making clothes should even attempt. I have a confession to make, though: I have never graded a pattern and I do not know how to do an FBA. To me, that is what sounds hard.
I have, however, created hundreds of garments worth thousands of dollars to perfectly fit individuals of all shapes and sizes. Well, “sizes” might not be the right word. I also don’t use sizes.
Sound liberating? It is. 
My name is Brooks Ann Camper and, though I am now a 40-year-old professional designer and dressmaker of couture-quality one-of-a-kind bridal wear, I learned to sew relatively recently. I got bit by the sewing bug as an adult, while working in professional theatrical costume shops. In that setting, you have to make all kinds of clothes, for all kinds of bodies, based on a sketch. An envelope full of tissue paper is rarely helpful, with such unique, specific creations.
Yet, I am now learning that this is the way that most people are taught to sew clothes: via an envelope full of lines that represent someone else’s style and someone else’s size(s) with an instruction booklet. Personally, I’ve never been able to complete a garment following a commercial pattern. It’s just not the way I learn. Here’s the thing, though. That’s alright. There are, in fact, other ways!
Many people learn to sew when they are young, but I think many adults have a desire to learn in a different way than kids. Some of us actually thrive when we are able to start off in a way that is little more in-depth and a little more nerdy. We like to investigate, problem-solve, get personal, and grasp larger concepts. We appreciate (and even demand) quality. We cherish the occasional epiphany.
It is my opinion that beginning adult sewists are not given enough credit. They are often only taught the short-cuts in order to get projects done that are “quick and easy.” This not only makes for less-than-stunning results, it also makes it harder to grasp the larger concepts later. This is why I think there are so few who make it to the “advanced level.” Designing and drafting your own patterns can be simple and fun. And bonus: A custom drafted pattern fits you and nobody else, rather than the “it fits everyone, yet no one” approach of patterns that you buy. I believe that taking a slower more-comprehensive “whole picture” approach can be very rewarding and can get you better results from the start. Learning how patterns work, helps inform fit, helps inform sewing and fabric choices, helps you look and feel great.
I believe that your ability to express your unique personality through clothing should not be heavily dictated by the fashion industry or what is included in a size-range. You should not have to depend on someone else’s work in order to create your own! Yes, creating custom-made clothing has a different process than both home sewing and sewing for the fashion industry. It is certainly not profitable for anyone who manufactures clothing or patterns to create something that fits individuals. They have to base their products on an average of those who might possibly purchase their products, in order to make a profit. Unfortunately, that leaves a lot of us out.
But the process of creating custom-made clothing is one that I absolutely adore as it opens up a world of design and fit opportunities for individuals. My only fear is that if individuals don’t start learning these skills soon, the art might die completely. People are beginning to lose sight of the individual, lured by the desire to have something that works for the masses.
So, what is the process for custom sewing? Asking that question is a little like asking What is the process for woodworking? I can’t explain it in one post, but it all starts with an individual, rather than a standard. The design has the individual in mind, the sketch is created on the person’s actual silhouette, the patterns are created via a set of personalized measurements that goes well beyond the circumferences of Bust/Waist/Hips, the marking and cutting process is designed for accuracy of fit, and so on… Developing a foundation of knowledge for the whole picture makes all the difference, creating fun puzzles rather than frustrating alterations.
Unfortunately, it seemed that interning at a professional costume shop, shadowing a custom dressmaker or tailor, or going through a specialized degree program was the only way to gain these skills. This is why I’ve been researching and creating ways to share these “secrets” in a fun and logical way. In my Intro to Custom Sewing eCourse: Skirt Skills, I break the whole process down into simple components for women who don’t want a career in the subject, they just want clothes that fit!
So if any of you are thinking you’d like to skip the whole commercial pattern thing and learn to sew by designing and creating your own patterns, don’t immediately assume it something that is “too advanced.” In my opinion, it is not any harder. It is just different. And different is not a bad word. Different is something to celebrate. That is my confession, as a couturier.
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Brooks Ann Camper is a custom designer and couture dressmaker of one-of-a-kind bridal wear located in Hillsborough, NC. She has a professional theatrical background that includes sewing for Broadway creating unique costume pieces for the likes of Bernadette Peters, Kristin Chenoweth, the Muppets, and the Rockettes.
Brooks Ann recently began teaching her custom sewing methods both in-person and online. Visit her bridal site and follow her blog at: www.BrooksAnn.com and check out her interactive Intro to Custom Sewing eCourse at www.SkirtSkills.com.
Sadly, I fail to understand any part of this post, other than that it says ‘I can’t explain my brilliant method, you need to take my class’.
There is no helpful information contained within the post, no examples of her student’s work, no logical explanation of how I would benefit from this class were it available to me – nothing I can take away and use now, or at a future date. It is merely a conglomeration of artfully-arranged words and phrases, and does not contribute in any meaningful way to the purpose or aims, as I understand them, of CSC.
I also feel that using (awarding oneself?) the title of ‘couturier(e)’ is … somewhat dubious.
Hi…I am one of Brooks Ann’s students. I have taken both her Skirt Skills class and I am taking private sewing lessons from her. I came to Brooks Ann because I had decided to sew my own wedding dress and I was becoming very frustrated with the multitudes of information and sewing techniques out there. Other than a pillow and a couple of children’s costumes, I had not sewn much and everyone thought I was crazy for wanting to sew my dress including my mother, fiance and sister. Brooks Ann, however, believed in me and told me I was not crazy. She said she could teach me. In the past 5 months, I have worked with her to design my dress from a concept all the way through the final fitting of the muslin. I start to cut silk this next lesson. I feel so comfortable with her process and guidance that I have added an evening coat to the ensemble and a wedding hat. I can tell you that she breaks things down in to simple to understand principles that can be applied elsewhere and to which you can grow your skills. Not only that the camaraderie of the women with whom I have met has been wonderful much as I am sure of it in this forum. I look forward to learning from everyone. 🙂
Wow. For a site that is supposed to be geared toward body acceptance and for offering curvy sewists ways to make beautiful garments, I am surprised at the mean girl comments from readers. Do you know what kind of blog you’re reading? I mean, isn’t this the kind of thing that you would want to know? About a class that teaches you how to sew for your body? How is this at all tawdry? Maybe it’s just not the kind of thing that every sewist is ready for. I have taken this class and I know for sure that the readers of this blog are exactly who she’s speaking to. A careful reading of the post would show that this is serves to be informative. It is shocking and sad that women can be this hurtful to one another. Brooks Ann is a businesswoman. Why shouldn’t she have a link to her class in a post about curvy sewing?
YES YES YES!!!
Welcome Brooks Ann Camper, I, for one, enjoyed reading your article.
ok this is a quibble, but I see it all around the Internet on many different blogs. Please stop calling blog posts “articles.” They are not articles. They are blog posts, which are mainly personal thoughts and opinions, and they don’t adhere to any journalistic standards. This is not to say that this blog, and others, don’t have certain standards, but they’re not the same thing. If this appeared on a newspaper’s website or in print, it would be classified as an “advertorial”.
That said, I’m glad to know of Brooks’ existence and her work, and I’m interested in learning more about her methods. But this post did come a bit out of the blue. Although I don’t think anyone should be offended by it. This is not a blog for which anyone is paying a subscription fee. Sure, she’s ‘endorsing’ her own class, but so do many instructors offering video instruction.
I have paid for subscriptions that weren’t as blatant in terms of this is my product and I am selling it. There is not a single scrap of information presented other than “Take my Class.”
Like I said, I would have been far less annoyed had someone else endorsed it.
Yes, this is a blog. A free blog. But frankly I had higher hopes for it than succumbing to this sort of tawdry advertising.
And you can’t endorse your own product. Endorse is for one party that they like, use, approve of a service or product provided by another party. An endorsement may be paid (not necessarily in cash) or unpaid.
When referring to one’s own product or service, one can advertise it, promote it, pimp it, solicit for endorsements. But you can’t, by definition, endorse your own stuff under your own name.
It is clearly marked as an “opinion” post. All opinions should be taken with a grain of salt. Yes, you’re being sold something. Welcome to the world. Perhaps she has something of value to sell; perhaps she doesn’t. That’s up to you to decide.
That said, it was an unexpected, and quite unexplained post from someone we hadn’t been introduced to previously. A note from the one of the CSC editors would have been nice to preface Brooks’ post.
I’m not sure what you’re responding to in my post, or the one I wrote earlier. I’m pointing out that referring to one’s own promotion of one’s own product or service can’t be an endorsement of it. Clearly the writer has an opinion of her product. I also clearly said in first comment on this post that I get she’s selling something.
Here is what I wrote:
Because outside of pimping a very expensive class, I don’t get this article’s purpose
I didn’t get it then. I don’t get it now, outside that she wants our $$ and enrollment in her class. But I don’t get why it was posted here, unless it was openly referenced as an ad. What does it have to do with sewing for a curvy figure? Because it could be liberating to sew without thinking about size? Okay… except that if a program still has a sewist using measurements, it still has the person thinking in terms of size by using inches or centimeters.
An editorial preface would have been nice. Because it looks like the CSC is the body endorsing this class.
I would have preferred to see one of these things over that shill:
a review of pattern making or draping program by a participant
an editorial or essay on rethinking how we view size, perhaps by renaming sizes
a discussion of a few techniques to draft a few easy pieces as a test of whether or not a person is suited for more self-drafting
hack suggestions (and OH how I HATE THE TERM PATTERN HACK) for taking a basic pattern and use it draft new pieces
Welcome to the world? For real??
While I am a curvy sewist, and always looking for ways to improve my skills, I feel like this is a commercial, an advertisement for her class. I’m offended. I would feel less offended if someone other than Brook Ann had endorsed her class, but she is endorsing her own product. On a blog. I see from the other comments I am alone in this, however, I felt compelled to comment.
You’re not alone. I just didn’t know how to politely phrase what I wanted to say. Because outside of pimping a very expensive class, I don’t get this article’s purpose. It feels like one of those advertorials in magazines.
Also: the title couturier is a specialty honorific, and only those licensed by the French controlees should call themselves couturiers. Someone may be using the techniques of couture design and sewing, but that doesn’t make that person a couturier. Couturiers study for years. They apprentice with recognized design houses. Making One-of-a-kind items is NOT the same thing as couture.
Kinda like buying a “champagne” from California. If it isn’t method champagnoise from the designated Champagne region of France, it isn’t champagne. It might be a cava, or a prosecco, or just a sparkling wine. But it isn’t champagne.
Not quite true. Couturier is a term for one that makes hand made garments. The term that can only be used by the licensed French is “Haute Couture” Or “Haute Couturier”. You can’t add the “haute” by yourself.
You are not alone. Because I love this site I hesitated to write in public but it upset me also.
Thank you, Elaine! But I commented BECAUSE I love this site. I just hope someone got paid for the post.
I quit reading a popular blog from a very prominent sewist because of her constant tawdry hawking of her own products. Initially I defended her right to do so. But after a while, it became constant while the posts dwindled each one seemed to have something to do with her books, classes etc. But at least she was up front about it and didn’t couch her activities with such a sham. And it was her blog. This however, is a collective, a place to share information and opinions (yes, I see that the post was framed as an opinion) as well as perspectives regarding body image. This blog is a wonderful idea and I believe it will contribute amazing things to promote acceptance of those of us who struggle with body issues and ways of clothing less than ideal body shapes. Sewing is a wonderful way to find acceptance of who we are as I have come to learn.
I quit sewing when I gained weight and was working through a personal struggle regarding the death of my mother. Now, 11 years later, I am sewing again. I am struggling with fitting issues, but I am tackling the problem along with finding acceptance for who I am and how I look. Blogs like this have helped me find this path. I am grateful. In my pain, I had forgotten the gift sewing can be, not only to others, but to myself. I am even teaching my daughter how to sew.
I didn’t mean to open such a big can of worms, but I felt as though I had to comment.
This was my first ever Guest Post and my first time talking to home sewists on a large platform. After following and enjoying this blog since its inception, I honestly thought my story and message was something that members of the CSC would value and that what I have to offer would be welcomed here. I was trying to help people. I never dreamed that anyone would be “offended” and “upset” by the things I wrote. I sincerely apologize. While it does hurt to put yourself out there for the first time publicly and have your work called “a sham”, “tawdry” and “shill”, I will humbly take the criticisms and try to do better next time.
I’m not offended or upset. Nor do I think your post was tawdry or a sham. A shill, yes. But a shill is an attempt to sell or promote a good or service in a covert or less than direct manner, that is basically what your post is. While shill can have a negative connotation, it isn’t negative by definition. You’re a business person in addition to be craftsperson, and yeah, finding spaces to promote your class is essential to your success. And had there been a brief intro to you or a statement that this was largely an ad to promote your program, I don’t think I would have looked at this and asked “why is this here?” in the context of other posts. I remain unclear about the take-away of your post except to take your class. When you write that you can’t explain your process in a post (meaning succinctly and clearly), it leaves me dangling as to a larger purpose or lesson I can extract from the post except that I’m supposed to take your class.
I respect you’re in business and trying to grow your label and services. I think this post should have been labeled as an advertisement or that there should have been more introduction to you or perhaps a series of posts about programs that teach self-drafting, custom pattern making, and the like to go alongside or before your ad went up. For me, it is about the content thus far and hence the context of posts.
This seemed to come from left field and didn’t really pertain directly to curvy sewists. Indeed, this post verbatim could work in almost any forum in which sewists are complaining about their troubles dealing with pattern fitting for whatever reason. I think you’d likely find that some people who are very tall, very short, very muscular, very thin, etc. that would find a custom block appealing instead of monkeying with pattern companies’ ideas of body sizes, shapes, and proportions. Actually, since you say that a person doesn’t need any skills or experience with sewing to take your class, this post doesn’t just address sewists. Any forum where people are complaining about the hassles of fitting RTW could be an audience. To me, there is a disconnect in the context and content that needed to be filled in.
I love this article. I think that there is also a nice blending to these two techniques. I learned how to draft and drape. But I really get inspired by other people pattern designs, too. Having both skill sets lets me take something that may not fit me right “off the tissue”, and make it something that I can wear.
For many years I feared that the skills of the couture dressmaker were going to disappear – but this recent renaissance of dressmaking has shown that there are many people interested in keeping these skills alive!
I would LOVE to take a class from you! This sounds like exactly what I would enjoy most
Wow how rude are you? I am very impressed with her creations. I actually enjoy creating without an existing pattern which is what she does. I own very few big 4 patterns and tend to stick to things I don’t have to alter much. Not every blog post will interest every reader. I think those of you who did not enjoy it should just skip it, as I do the contributors I don’t enjoy.
I am a frequent reader of this blog and I really love it. I am also a recent graduate of Brooks Ann’s class. Let me say that this class changed the entire way that I look at my body and my clothes. I had basic sewing skills, and since March, I have created 2 couture skirts that fit me better than anything I have ever worn. Brooks Ann is a marvel of a teacher and this class, which was a Christmas present to myself, has paid off in dividends. If you want to have perfectly fitted clothes, learn couture techniques (which is not nearly as scary as it sounds) and really learn about fabric, this class is worth it. I liken it to the Fashion Plates I had as a kid; I got to sketch and design my own outfit and it actually exists now! This blog plus Brooks Ann’s class has made my LIFE!
Brooks Ann you are speaking my language! It’s not that I can’t adjust patterns to get a good fit out of them, but I think the process would be much easier if I could just start with my dimensions and design around them. I have all these ideas in my head and sketches on paper that I want to produce! Your skirt course looks like a great place to start!
Love this article. I’ve wanted to learn how to draft patterns for individuals for a while. I’d never be interested in creating mass patterns, but creating a garment from scratch for an individual to see them beam with confidence after putting on a perfect fitted garment is definitely in my interests. I’ve been spending the last while trying to up my skills and learn couture sewing methods. 🙂 Next step, I am working with a friend to learn how to draft patterns based on individual measurements. I can’t wait! 😀
I could not love this article more!!! As a 41 year old adult learning garment sewing, I agree with everything said. I already know that Big 3 tissue patterns will probably not fit me due to my larger than average bust size and apple shape (large waist), and that has blocked me from learning in so many ways. I do not want to waste time and money on sewing clothes that will not fit. This led me initially to quilting and bag making (no size issues there!) but I still want to make dresses, jeans,etc. and clothes for my daughter who is also not an “average” sized 7-year old. Basically I have had to research adjustments for large bust and waist (on this very amazing site) before I even start. Luckily I didn’t sew very many things before learning of these techniques, although I have yet to try some of them. I agree that there is so much freedom when we just throw out those horrible labeling numbers called ‘sizes’ and just sew for our bodies, whatever lovely shape they may be. Wonderful article!
I found the article inspirational. If it was a sales pitch, it was lost on me. What I took from it was (to use a worn out cliche) to think outside the box. So many of us (myself included) think that sewing equals flat patterns. It’s pretty liberating to consider using a different method that involves draping. i probably will not be trying anything like this anytime soon, but I’ll surely keep this in mind as I try to become more creative with my sewing.
Thanks CSC for sharing this article (and the beautiful photography by Shane Snider http://www.ShaneSnider.com )!