Couching Adds A Touch Of Class
Couching comes from ‘couchier’ which is a French word for a particular kind of embroidery. This entails putting threads down flat and sewing them onto the fabric with stitches at intervals. A long time ago, couching was very popular and was used to embellish clothes. It added a different dimension as well as texture and color to the dress.
The stitching that is used to hold the threads in place can be plain or very often today is decorative, so you can use a zigzag or some other fancy stitch. The threads used come in a range of choices and can be the regular embroidery thread or cord, ribbon, fiber or yarn. You get a wide choice at most stores that stock these things.
What will amaze you is how couching can very often transform a very simple piece of clothing to something dressy and stunning. Even better, couching can, while it embellishes, also be used to hide an ugly stain or tear on the fabric. Just a few strands of thread and it will look like something new!
When you do couching by using your sewing machine, there are various special attachments to help you do it better. In fact, for couching, you have a choice of five presser feet. You will also have to use the right threads and needles.
Let’s take a look at the first one which is an Open-Toe Embroidery Presser Foot. This is the most widely used because it is the basic one which is used for all kinds of materials. You can see while the threads and the material are being sewn. Then you have a Cording Foot where you have a little loop that allows you to feed in ribbon, braid or yarn and it has the right side up so you can position your trim.
The Blind-Hem Presser Foot is if you want thicker trims at the edge and the Beading Presser Foot is great if you have beads that you want put in as strands. There is also a Multi-Cord Presser Foot where you have more than one cord that you can feed in at once.
The needle has to be a special one meant for couching and it is slightly larger than the regular one. This is very important especially if you are using thicker fabrics. The selection of threads too is important and you will have to decide on what color you want and whether it should be the same as the fabric or in a contrasting color. Sometimes, metallic threads can be very vibrant.
There’s also something known as a fabric stabilizer that you might want to use. This is very helpful when the fabric you use is very light and moves around a lot. You get tear-away stabilizers as well as sew-on light-knit ones.
Couching isn’t too difficult to learn but it does help if you practice a bit. Once you get it right, you can have a lot of fun as you get creative with many couching designs.