Claire-Louise Hardie shares how to elevate your garments with hand-sewn fastenings

One of the hallmarks of couture or bespoke clothing is the use of hand-sewn finishes, in particular, hand-sewn fastenings. The finesse of any hand-sewing inside a garment elevates couture from other fashion. Hand-sewing is time-consuming and is unlikely to be seen inside high-street ready to wear. However, whilst it is more time-consuming to hand-finish the inside of your clothing, it can be extremely mindful and leave you with a beautiful finish. Sometimes in the race to get to the end of a project, we forget that as home sewists, we aren’t producing fast fashion, so we can slow down and invest some time in the end to create a beautiful finish. A hand-sewn hem or a dainty thread loop are worth the extra labour time.

Aside from hemming, over-casting raw edges or sewing on buttons, the main hand-stitched finish in clothing is applying fastenings. Beautiful hand-sewn fastenings were something I observed in the V&A’s Balenciaga collection whilst I worked there on my postgraduate degree. As a costumer, I was taught to only hand-sew fastenings like poppers using a buttonhole stitch. Aside from the practical aspect, they are much easier to cut off and replace when a buttonhole stitch is used. It also makes the inside of a garment look tidy. Using a thread that matches the fabric can also disguise much of the metal.