I’ve been doing some bed time reading lately on a newly released book called ‘Vintage Couture Tailoring’ by Thomas von Nordheim. I saw this book on Amazon UK and found that the writer is German who moved to the UK in 1990s and worked for London couture house Lachasse. He also teaches at the London College of Fashion on tailoring and vintage couture techniques.

Covers of Vintage Couture Tailoring. The book on the left is Basic Tailoring which I’ll describe later in the post

I’m half way through the book and enjoy reading it immensely. The text is very informative covering the historical backgrounds on couture tailoring and the tailoring process. There are tailoring tools which I’ve never heard of before but he also advised on the alternatives if you don’t have access to those tools.

Table of Content of Vintage Couture Tailoring by Thomas Van Nordheim

Everything from interfacing, shaping the fabric by pressing to weighting a hem are covered with many detailed photos to show how things are done.

An example of the step by step photos. You can click the photo to see a bigger version.

Each photo shows details of the tailoring step. A woolen cloth with a distinct right / wrong sides is used for easy reading.

If you have Tailoring – The Classic Guide to Sewing the Perfect Jacket and feel that you need more information to cover couture tailoring techniques and don’t mind lots of hand stitching then this book is for you! Although the text is written in UK / Europe context, the book covers American terms and supplier list as well. The only negative thing I can think of is the font used. I need very good lighting to read the main text as the font is quite small and thin and I don’t have any eyesight problem (touch wood).

On another note, I have the habit of reading the bibliography in sewing books to find out if there are other books (especially vintage books) which might be of interest. I spotted the Basic Tailoring book which formed part of a sewing book series published in 1975. I got a second hand copy from Amazon and was surprised to see that there are tonnes of useful information there.

Each book in this series has a fabric print cover. Herringbone print is so appropriate for a tailoring book!

Firstly don’t be put off by the 70s style as the text on technical information such as fabric types and usage are still relevant.

You never know, this might become trendy again…

In addition to what would be expected in a tailoring book such as pad stitching interfacing and typical procedure for assembling a jacket, the book covers fitting issues for on jacket and pants for both women and MEN!

An example of the detailed information in Basic Tailoring

Fitting information on pants for women

Fitting a jacket for men

This Basic Tailoring book costed me £10 to buy (including shipping) in the UK but I know that it’s much cheaper on US Amazon (cheapest is 0.88 USD!!!!!). It’s definitely a bargain book worth having!