Bias Cut Blueprints

A while back, I mentioned that I was editing a sewing book. Now that it’s out, I can share the details: the book is by Julianne Bramson and Susan Lenahan, and it’s called Bias Cut Blueprints.

Bramson and Lenahan are the duo behind Fashion in Harmony, an independent pattern company based in California. My connection to the project was Toronto illustrator Danielle Meder, who created the technical drawings. (You may have seen her fashion paper dolls.)

Inspired by Madeleine Vionnet, the book presents a method of sewing bias-cut garments that minimizes sewing on the bias. Diagonal seams sewn on the straight grain are a Vionnet trademark. Bramson and Lenahan apply this technique to a zero-waste concept, the bias tube, and use it as the basis for a customized bias wardrobe.

The authors are passionate about making the bias cut accessible, and the book contains a range of projects as well as tips and useful tables ranking fabrics’ performance on the bias. You can see a preview on the Fashion in Harmony website.

Publication details:

Julianne Bramson and Susan Lenahan, Bias Cut Blueprints: A Geometric Method for Clothing Design and Construction, Livermore, CA: Fashion in Harmony, 2014.

ISBN 099046430X / 9780990464303

Available to order from Fashion in Harmony.