Couture knitting approaches garment fabrication differently, with a distinguishing emphasis on construction and finishing. Because its practices and techniques are not part of the traditional hand-knitting repertoire, it cannot be assumed that a knitter is familiar with them.
Catherine’s patterns are characterized by their copious Construction Notes that provide detailed descriptions of couture practice as it relates to each stage of garment fabrication and by their Techniques section, where step-by-step instructions guide the knitter through the techniques used to construct and finish the garment. Many of these Construction Notes and Techniques are common to all of the designs. To simplify and shorten the patterns, all of the common Construction Notes and all of the Techniques used in these designs have been extracted from the patterns and compiled in the form of a handbook called The Companion to Simple Couture Patterns. Thus, rather than having the same information repeated in each pattern, it has been gathered into a single booklet that is presented apart from the individual patterns. The Companion is used in conjunction with each pattern but purchased only once.
Every Simple Couture pattern refers the knitter to the notes and techniques in The Companion; it is an essential adjunct to the pattern directions, which are incomplete without it. Likewise, its name notwithstanding, The Companion to Simple Couture Patterns is used in the same way alongside the patterns in the Couture Collection.