Think Couture with Charles Kleibacker: Designs on the Bias, 1979

people often ask me hi Becca you love bias-cut what kind of fabric works best in it well I find really most and instead of doing a lot of talking could I show you so I'll bring on Tony and Deborah because on Deborah we have the muslin first and of course this is the way the participants of this seminar at Iowa State University and I have been working developing their idea into muslin and then someday I hope they'll put it into fabric so in New York I first did this muslin very bias cut and then on Tony you see the dress as it developed in wool crepe so there we have an idea of how one bias works in a sturdy fabric such as wool crepe that sleeve incidentally is also very biased and don't forget that you're going to preserve that grain until you're at the machine but once there you're going to stretch like my head just what I'm doing as your machine stitch we go from the sturdiness say a black wool crepe to the fragility of pure silk chiffon this one an import from France on EJ we had all kinds of biases on the side we're on course grain in the back more bias on the side and we're on selvage grain in the front the skirt very much bias here to show you the detail that we do I wanted all of these stripes to continue so I could not do it at the band of the skirt we took a stripe a satin stripe we faced it in silk chiffon and to make that stripe continually we then applied these by hand at the waist pure silk chiffon comes out on Nikki but this very very elegant lady who is one of the staff members of the textile and clothing department here at Iowa State University on Nikki more pure silk chiffon from France here again very very biased we did center front and center back on the sides or rather also on first of all on that Center front in the centre-back won't you please my tour the way we've done here on the sides we made those stripes match so indeed your job is going to be harder if you're working with stripes on Nikki there is an under dress of silk and Nikki as I lead you down could we show in the camera how we have made the stripes of the yoke match the stripes of the dress you're going to have a lot of work if you're working with stripes we go from silk chiffon to a jersey on Mary Ellen this one is the Kiana fiber and I indeed like it as a man-made we are very very biased see in all the front of this dress we do wrap around to straight grain in the back because it is straight grain that I feel works best for your zippers yes indeed there is a reason for cutting Jersey on bias there's not that much stretch on the straight grain on the cross grain there's enormous stretch and in that bias there is enormous enormous stretch if you're working in such a pale tone as this gray in Jersey my suggestion to you would be that you double the fabric we've simply underlined it in itself from Jersey to linen that superb fiber that I hope you ladies don't desert although you tell me it wrinkles but again I bring you my story that it is the most aristocratic of wrinkles here on Lori we are very biased in the back so indeed I think linen works beautifully with bias grain two toned dresses they're in the fashion wind if you're going to do them you must do impeccably clean beautiful curves beautiful straights and remember you achieve that beautiful kind of a curve if you will pin as we are doing here in the seminar at Iowa State University this garment from the right side then slip based from the right side by hand then you turn inside out and you're ready for machine stitching with that thought of how a muslin develops into a garment I bring on Mary first and Mary could we have a hand in the pocket this is the muslin of the you now see on Kim Kim Williams another member of the staff also as is Mary so here we have this very biasing muslin which developed into this very biased a skirt of pure silk gays are yes of course there's the piecing down there the fabrics and import it was only 36 inches wide so what could we do but two-piece I don't think you're really aware of that piecing are you most people who buy bias clothes realize that somewhere along the line it probably is going to have to be piece so here one of those very crisp fabrics that are moving back into the fashion picture silk gays are Gaz a are made in Switzerland I think it's a superb piece of fiber again in pure silk that little band that you saw on the muslin is here indeed on Kim Williams the top is glittery kind of fabric I found in France it's a combination of silk rayon and cotton please would you notice that we have a bias here at the sleeve of pure silk organza all of these little balls which I bought by the yard in France are on wooden bases and all of that silk thread has been woven around it by hand some story there now when we were first doing this skirt we had only one layer and I felt it really looked a little bit transparent so instead of underlining the skirt I simply made another skirt of pink this time pure silk shantung and you see people my idea was that that way I was going to sell two skirts rather than one remember you've got to keep in business we bring back EJ to show more bias here pure silk a beautiful piece from Italy it's pure silk crepe de Sheen and what has cost us a great deal of money in this coat or coat dress however you want to wear it is rimming all of this ham and all of this sleeve in a bias of pure silk satin notice please what has happened here the work of the steam iron yes indeed you can make those folds behave if you will put in needles in between the folds and put the steam iron very close to it and set those folds EJ may we show the dress underneath and in doing so I'm going to ask you to really do a turn let me have the coat we are indeed biased here and when you have a superb looking girl like this it's great fun isn't it we've yards and yards and yards of crepe back satin the word for it today is char mousse if we want to get very fancy knee fashion II but it is release crepe back satin the top very much bias all of these folds on bias and indeed we had to work to get those points sharp are you ready young lady we bring on Deborah not all of the clothes I do are bias although I much prefer them on Deborah and her wonderful look is pure silk crepe very straight grain the only place where bias here is this little rim around the hem and if you're going to do such a rim could I get you to think for layers we're not just one layer here we've cut this quarter of an inch an inch and a half wide we've machine stitch from the top I'm on the fold which we can do very cleanly by hand the other bias of course is this very very skinny one and may I take it from you Deborah to show people that if they are patient we can really do these very very long Deborah as I lead you down I'm going to explain to people that this dress has no zipper and if you can avoid the zipper marvelous in other words these buttons work Deborah may I give you the bias as well we bring on Mary in one more straight green version this pure silk we are biasing in the work of this sleeve I think somewhere along the line if you can incorporate lace into your garment did I call you Mary when you're Betty I keep doing that I'm sorry if we can do that somewhere along the line it does a very romantic feminine look to address especially if you're in black we now bring on Mary not Betty every showing a lot of basting 'he's here I feel you must do basting Xand we could not be more biased than we are on this garment again a piece of silk crepe and import and I feel a beautiful one and again that story that we're very biased in the sleeve and how that bias is going to give with you and again that story please that don't think here just straight true bias in other words this is a bias is following the anatomy of the diaphragm area if you saw the pattern flat it goes in and then it comes way out so that we get all of this fabric at the bottom which is icy it makes such great sense because as you sit and cross your legs then you have this fabric not binding you in any way on Mary we're very biased in pure silk on Laurie we bring back that top to show you how you might use it say with a short dress remember how it is almost a stripe and how I have tried to respect that now Laurie if you put your hands up can we get rid of this top and probably Brewin your hair doing the process and show that we don't have a lot of dress but it is very bias E and once again we've rimmed that hemline in a bias this was a process that I did learn in the three years that I worked at Long Valley in Paris you really must do it on custom-made dresses our coats or suits and of course that's exactly what we're talking in the seminar here at Iowa State University the textiles and clothing department on rocks and more bias this elem a1 from France a chiffon white one so like that we needed to underline and we did that in pure silk shantung again that bias has wrapped around to straight grain so that I could put that zipper in on straight grain indeed not on bias I think the gold again roxanne's bond this is such a good look and would you help me clean up the SAP rocks on dr. Agatha you bit back her the chairman of this beautiful department at Iowa State University textiles clothing on Agatha who has such a I feel such a regal looked and such an authority when she wears clothes we bring out Jersey in Kiana that Kiana fiber can work beautifully beautifully for you with bias cut the skirt is very very biased II so that you're getting all of these folds Agatha can we show that rather batwing look again we're very very bias e in that hole Kate yes I think it's rather dramatic but don't you agree that Agatha wears it superbly we're wearing we're moving back into a bit of glamour I went to the opening and in Des Moines the other night of the Civic Center there and I thought people were marvelously dressed here in Ames when I go to the Hilton Coliseum I think you should get turned out like this can't we be an example to the rest of the world EJ in a very young dance dress on Agatha you pin Becker you saw the fiber in Kiana here you're seeing the Jersey in pure silk it's rather hard to come by and it is very costly and again I've used yards and yards which you might like to swing around if you're dancing would you notice please how we have overlaid this black lace over silk crepe and we have done a great deal of work with some careful applique and some very careful snapping here to hide the zipper we're strapless so it has an under bodice that is indeed boned we're hitting some strap strapless looks in the seminar and when I explained to the participant that she must do an under bodice she's not always so happy with the work but that's the only way we're going to be able to go huh those crisp fabrics back on the fashion scene I showed you now Tony do we mind showing the world that you've got the skirt on backwards it happens we should be backstage there two zippers on the side we've about 13 yards of pure silk taffeta here made in Italy we have done a little vest and again because Tony has that kind of a look we're going to bring that same bando back and if you're in a bit of a daring mood maybe you might think of such a costume as this could I give it back to you to show that we have lined in a beautiful piece of pure silk satin the rest of the dress pure silk taffeta on Mary a silk very very much on the bias the whatever we might want to call it the tape --let on the bias it is really lined in a pure silk taffeta so that you could wear it on its own if you like or wear it rather on its reverse side the dress is the kind of long dress that while bare I have a rather easy time selling in New York here again an example of that bias and I feel that this dress sails because we really have engineered it the top of it almost works as a bra so while it is backless and sleeveless I feel it's very much there engineered I love that word for talking about garments when you are doing some kind of special effect remember we've taken all of the stretch out of these skinny little biases we bring on Nicky buck we're thinking glamour here we're thinking whether it be Paris New York Ames Des Moines you should show the world an example and get your most glamorous this season the whatever we might want to call it the stole it's a pure silk georgette made in France and I found these motifs in France we backed them and of course I always leave myself into more work I thought at first I'd have this one row then we put the cloak on a model in New York and of course she flipped around and this looked ugly so we had to do another layer under there the dress on Nikki a very heavy for apply silk crepe it couldn't be more bias and of course silk crepe is one of the beautiful mediums for bias cut I did this first in a Jersey I'm sorry Mae I had you all of this Nikki I did this first in a muslin and if perhaps you remember the tapes from last year we indeed really work on that neckline so it does not gap when you sit so in the dress on Nikki is this straight grain seam binding and we eased about 7/8 of an inch more fabric against the measurement on the seam binding so that dress really stays with you Nikki I'm leading you down and I'm reminding all of you out there that we're in one of the laboratories of the textile and clothing department at our WA State University you you