Madeleine Vionnet sewing techniques

   This is an extract from the "Threads Magazine" article by Betty Kirke, on the designer's sewing techniques. http://www.bettykirke.com/articles/threads/threads.html
"  The seams Vionnet chose could be the usual overcast seams seen in most dresses of the haute couture. The green dress of velvet patchwork at the top of this article demonstrated that to the extreme. Seams for all 153 parts were opened and overcast, as were all neck and hem edges, and a flat gold thread was couched over the seams on the right side. The same treatment was given to the edges.
   Vionnet stated in a post-opening interview that one reason she started to use bias was that it possessed an inherent stretchability. By making dresses that could be put on over the head, she created garments that were both easy to get into and out of and comfortable to wear. This anticipated the functional quality we find in knits today.

   Once into the use of bias as a stretchable medium, there would be problems to solve on both sides of the spectrum. When she didn't want the stretching to occur, what should she do? When she wanted it to occur, what solutions would she devise?

   Generally, when curved seams are opened, the seam allowance won't lie flat when pressed back. If the allowance is convex, the outer edge is longer than the seamline and will tend to ripple and be bulky. If the allowance is concave, the shorter edge prevents the allowance from lying flat by holding it in. If the edge of the allowance is stitched, whether by machine or hand, that, too, will hold in the edge of the seam.

There are solutions to this problem. A narrow seam lessens the difference in the lengths of the edge and the seamline. Slashing the allowance sufficiently, as close to the seamline as possible, permits the edge to open, thus correcting the difference in lengths. A third choice is to eliminate stitching at the edge.
   Vionnet used all these methods. Because she worked so many parts and seams on the bias, she had additional problems of allowing the stretch to be at its optimum. On one coat, intended to hug the hip area, the seams were heavily slashed, and there was no overcasting stitch at the edges of the allowance - not a finish one would ordinarily, attribute to a haute couture garment.
   There were other considerations when hanging the cloth against the body on the bias. Because each fabric, by its fiber and weave, is going to react a little differently, Vionnet's dresses were not lined. If they were sheer, a separate lining or slip was supplied, and each part was allowed to go its own way. Coat linings were attached only to the neckline and the front facing of the opening. Often jackets had no lining.

   Necklines cut on the bias presented another problem. On a dress with slightly dropped shoulders, to prevent bias stretch at the finished edge, which was on the true bias, folded on-grain strips were stitched to each neck edge and turned back, as shown in the drawing left. The selvage was intact, so there was no need for clean seaming, making the edge thin and flat, while controlling the neckline stretch.

   Another neckline, the concave edge of a circular cut, was slightly scooped in front and back. It was not necessary to add a part; the solution was inherent in the cut. It works on the same principle as the concave seam allowances. The edge will be shorter than any seamline placed within the part and will thus prevent any stretching of the finished neckline. Vionnet simply folded the raw edge twice, as shown in the drawing, hiding it inside the second fold, on the reverse. Only a narrow edge shows to finish the neckline. 

Vionnet overcast and turned up edges for many hems, even if the cut was bias. For circular cuts and sheer fabrics, she usually resorted to picoted or rolled hems. The hem on the dress at right, a circular cut made in eyelet, demonstrates Vionnet's care for finding solutions that considered problems of both structure and aesthetics. Rather than turn back the hem, which would have caused an uneven intrusion into the pattern1 of the eyelet because of the circular cut, Vionnet cut the eyelet at the hemline. Now she had one layer of uneven eyelet pattern. The resolve for this was again both functional and aesthetic. A buttonhole chain stitch secured each loose end of the eyelet motifs, simultaneously creating an even finish line for the hem.