Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Couture Stripes

If you've ever sewn with stripes, you know what a masterpiece this dress and jacket ensemble is.  Made by Paris couturier Marie-Louise Bruyere in 1955, the workmanship here astounds me.  Bruyere insets horizontally striped panels between the vertically striped ones from neckline to hips.  Each piece would have been individually cut by a master cutter to keep the stripes straight on the pattern piece.  Then each piece would have been fitted and sewn with extreme care to keep the stripes straight.  Those long vertical darts that give shape to the dress do not extend through the horizontally striped bands.  I cannot imagine the amount of hours it took to construct this marvel of design.  It's pure genius!