Sewing: a Couched Vest

Sometimes, you just need a little bit of sparkle to make a garment special.

In this case, I was making a green skirt and matching vest. In my stash of yarns that I had no idea what to do with, I had a couple of balls of a yarn with an interesting metallic texture, one ball of silver, and one of gold. They were small balls - not enough to even knit a hat with. So I decided to use these yarns to embellish the vest, using a couching technique. (Note to beginners: the word "couch" in this context is generally pronounced the same as that big thing in your living room. In French, it would be spelled "couche" and pronounced "koosh".)

Here is a basic lesson in couching.

First, a definition: from the internet we find the following: "To embroider by laying thread flat on a surface and fastening it by stitches at regular intervals."

The concept is to stitch a strand of something to a base fabric. Knitting yarns work well for this. So do strings of sequins or pearls. Or ribbons. Or skinny strips of leather or suede (real or imitation). You are limited only by your imagination.

If your laundry philosophy is to only have garments that you can just toss into the washer and dryer, you should make sure that what you use for embellishment will survive the laundry process - shrinkage or even destruction of the embellishment would be quite frustrating.

If you want, you can couch a defined pattern, such as a grid, a star, a heart, or whatever. Or you can let your creative spirit free, and do the couching freeform, as was done in the vest.

If you want, pre-draw where you want the embellishment to go. Gentle curves are best, although some yarns will manage a corner quite well.

Set the sewing machine to a zigzag stitch with an appropriate width.

If you make it too wide, then the zigzag stitches will be visible to the sides of the embellishment (and, of course, depending on your creative spirit, that may be the look that you want!).

If you make it too narrow, the sides of the embellishment may flap away from the base fabric, or even come unravelled.

The target is to just make it so that the zigzag wraps the embellishment comfortably.

Use a thread that is appropriate for your project. (The photos above use contrasting thread for visibility). Metallics are nice, and add some nice glitz to the fabric. For my vest, I just used a light yellow thread.

Now lay the embellishment where you want it to go, and start zigzagging, following the embellishment (and any lines that you have drawn).

The vest photos at the top of the page show that I had many trails of the gold or silver yarn, crossing over and under at whim. I chose to put the embellishment where I was comfortable with the attention that it would bring - and drawing attention away from other parts of the body!

For the vest, I did all of the embellishment AFTER the shoulder seams were sewn, but BEFORE attaching the lining to the vest. That way, the embellishment travelled nicely over the shoulder, and the ends of the yarn were not exposed.

I admit that this is not something that I usually teach in my beginner sewing classes. However, it is an easy technique. Practice on some scrap fabric, and when ready, dive into your project.