Earlier this year, we were thrilled to announce something truly special: world-renowned couture sewing expert Susan Khalje was leading a live couture skirt class with 25 Cashmerette students. Now, it’s available for you to watch and work through at your own pace!
Sew a Couture Skirt with Susan Khalje is a six-lesson deep dive into the techniques, mindset, and hand skills that define haute couture construction. Led by master tailor and couture instructor Susan Khalje, this course takes you through every step of making a beautifully finished straight skirt using the Elmwood Skirt pattern (included with an All Access membership), from your very first muslin all the way to a hand-sewn hem.
This class is exclusively available to Cashmerette Club All Access members!
Get FREE, instant access when you join the Club today:
Already an All Access member?
What is Couture Sewing?
When you hear “couture sewing,” you might picture elaborate wedding gowns or runway creations dripping with beadwork. But at its heart, couture is sewing done with care, precision, and beautiful hand techniques — and those skills can transform any garment you make.
Couture methods create garments that fit better, last longer, and have a truly elevated look. In this sewalong, you’ll learn skills like:
- Underlining: Adding a hidden layer of support that gives fabric body and makes finishing easier
- Hand basting: The key to total control in fitting and construction (and it’s easier than you think!)
- Catch-stitching seams: Keeping seam allowances flat and invisible from the right side
- Hand-picked zippers: The technique that gives a perfectly inserted zipper, every time
- Grosgrain waist stays: The couture secret to skirts that stay perfectly in place
These aren’t fussy, impractical techniques — they’re methods that make your sewing better, whether you’re making a bridal gown, or your perfect office Elmwood Skirt.
About Susan Khalje
Susan is, quite simply, one of the foremost educators and practitioners of couture sewing in the world. Her journey began with professional training at Chez Cez et Bez, a legendary New York couture salon, followed by years as a Seventh Avenue designer. She then founded Susan Khalje Couture, creating wedding dresses and evening wear, before dedicating herself full-time to teaching and preserving couture techniques.
Today, Susan runs The Couture Sewing School and travels internationally to teach. She leads annual trips to Paris and London where students get an insider’s look at the couture arts. She’s a contributing editor at Threads Magazine, authored the best-selling “Bridal Couture: Fine Sewing Techniques for Wedding Gowns and Evening Wear,” and hosted “Sew Much More” on HGTV and DIY Network for six years. She received the Association of Sewing and Design Professionals’ Lifetime Achievement Award — an honor that speaks to her decades of impact on the sewing community.
In other words: she’s the real deal. And her classes are extremely exclusive!
What You’ll Learn
This isn’t just “make a skirt.” Susan teaches couture techniques and skills you’ll use for the rest of your sewing life, including:
- How to construct, fit, and use a muslin as your permanent working pattern
- The philosophy of couture seam allowances and why the seam line — not the cut edge — is your guide
- How to apply silk organza underlining by hand basting, and why it transforms fashion fabrics
- How to stitch darts for a smooth, perfectly tapered finish
- How to sew a hand-picked (prick-stitch) zipper — both centered and lapped applications
- How to attach a lining using couture hand stitches, including the catch stitch and the fell stitch
- How to shape scallop-edged grosgrain ribbon into a curved inner waistband
- How to create a jump pleat (ease pleat) at the hem of the lining
- How to make a thread bar — a couture alternative to metal hooks and chain loops
- How to finish a couture hem by hand
- Bonus techniques: pattern matching for plaids, adding an inseam pocket, constructing a lined back vent
What Students Are Saying
Twenty-five lucky participants got to join Susan for the live course—and here’s what they’re saying:
“I must say this is the best fitting skirt I have ever made. Prior to this I would never have worn a shirt tucked in, but now I realize that was due to the fit, and not my body. What a revelation!! This has changed my whole outlook on sewing, which at my age I didn’t think possible. Thank you Susan and Cashmerette.”
-Kathy
“Thank you once again for the incredible opportunity to work with Susan Khalje for the couture class! I learned so much and came out of it with a really beautiful garment that I just put the finishing touches on this morning.”
-Mollie
