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Sewing with Threads Podcast

Dressmaking as an Art Form, with Helen Haughey | Episode 86

Video: Threads Magazine

In this episode, dressmaker and sewing teacher Helen Haughey discusses what it takes to practice her profession. Plus, she talks with Threads Editor Carol Fresia about several poignant learning moments that helped her refine her sewing skills and advance her career.



 

Helen Haughey
Helen Haughey. Photo: Bruce Haughey.

Dressmaking Business

For example, Helen, who has been sewing since age 10, decided to join a couture sewing club while making her daughter’s wedding dress. That eventually led to her opening a custom dressmaking business. Today, she teaches mainly project-oriented sewing classes, and she organizes an annual trip to Italy to show others how art and fashion come together.

Helen says she has incorporated her lifetime accumulation of knowledge into each piece she sews. She draws from myriad experiences and approaches. What she learned while earning a Master of Sewing and Design Professional certification has helped, along with lots of practice sewing, inspiration through her travels, her eye for style and partiality for minimalism, plus so many other skills.

Some of Helen’s inspiration comes from designers like Chanel and Dior. One standout is the Red Rose Dress, designed by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen, part of the Autumn/Winter 2019 collection and first worn by supermodel Kate Moss.

Sewing as Art Form

In “The Art of the Dressmaker,” Threads #228, Winter 2024, Helen shares some of the qualities and construction details that elevate her garments to an art form. Listen in as she further discusses her methods.

“I don’t go about trying to create a work of art right from the get-go,” Helen says. “I would say it evolves as you are working on it.”

model wears a graphic black-and-white print, flor-length dress.
Helen Haughey’s winning design from 2018 reveals her expertise in designing and construction. Photo: Jack Deutsch.

One example of Helen’s art as a dressmaker won her the Best Overall award in the 2018  Dallas Challenge sponsored by Threads and the Association of Sewing and Design Professionals. In this episode, she explains her process for creating the one-shouldered, black-and-white, columnar gown. See more about this garment here and in “The Dallas Challenge,” Threads #203, June/July 2019.

Find out more about Helen at work, her classes, and her trip to Italy at HelenHaugheyDesigns.com.


This episode’s sponsor

Travel wuth Threads to Londonin 2025

Join us on an exclusive trip to London in May 2025. Highlights of this tour are a glove-making master class, an embroidery workshop at Hand & Lock, a visit to a renowned theatrical costume house, and a guided tour of Savile Row. We’ll also visit specialty fabric shops—and enjoy afternoon tea at Fortnum & Mason. To find out more, go to ThreadsMagazine.com.

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