27.4.14

Vietnamese Princess Seams

I am planning a trip to Vietnam, so a friend showed me a dress she got made there.  Of course, I had to turn it inside out and check out all the construction details...and to my delight, saw something new.  The front princess seam was constructed by folding out a curved dart in a single piece of fabric, rather than cutting a side front and centre front and stitching the two together.


Other quick construction features include binding the armholes and neckline with a binding that sits outside the dress.  These were completed before the side seams were sewn, which I guess allows for quick alterations.

Similarly for the zipper insertion, the neckline was bound, then the zipper attached  and the top of the zipper tape folded away between the dress and the turned back edge.


7 comments:

Anonymous said...

These are great techniques that allow for future tweaking. I even do this with waistbands on pants.

Marie said...

Thanks for sharing. That is really interesting about the dart. Have fun on your trip. Are you planning to get some garments made to check out the techniques?

poppykettle said...

Fascinating how techniques can be changed and updated to suit different manufacturing needs... thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for sharing, I love spying inside garments!! I used to buy clothes at Salvation Army just to open them or go to Saks in NYC to spy inside designer clothes... The Lekala sheath dress (5166) that I now use as my TNT has similar darts in case you want to try them!

katherine h said...

I looked up that Lekala pattern, and now that you point it out, I have seen other patterns with that darting shown....how do you mark and sew the darts...you must use a better technique than my typical bodgy dart marking!

Kristy Chan said...

I had some winter coats made up in Hoi An about 6 years ago that were really cheap but are still in great condition. They were super quick in making them too - I was amazed and a little envious at their speed and skill. Have a great trip, I'd love to go back again (to Laos and Cambodia as well)

katherine h said...

That's good to know. I was wondering if I would be too fussy to get clothes made by somebody else, but I think you are more of a perfectionist than me...so if you're happy, sounds good. Actually, somebody told me that they got shoes made, which is appealing to me.