Learning to sew is an exciting journey, but sometimes it feels like a whole new language. But don’t worry! Knowing a few basic sewing terms will make your learning journey much easier and boost your confidence. The vocabulary of sewing requires some orientation. Different terms for the same process or materials are used in dressmaking and tailoring, and in home sewing and industrial garment manufacture. This guide covers the essential sewing terms / glossary every beginner should know to sew with confidence and precision, explained in plain language.
Sewing Terms: Essential Guide for Beginners
Alteration:
An adjustment to a finished garment, usually to improve fit. Raising or lowering hems and taking in or letting out seams are all alteration activities. For some reason, style experts have started to refer to alteration as tailoring, which annoys me and must make generations of Savile Row tailors spin in their graves.
Apex:
Apex is the central reference point for many bodice alterations because it indicates where the fullest part of the bust sits. Used most often in pattern drafting as shorthand for the high point of the bust. Also known as the nipple. Correctly locating apex ensures better garment balance, smoother fit, and more accurate shaping around the chest area.
Appliqué:
A piecing process using small amounts of fabric or fabric motifs sewn onto a background fabric in a decorative design. Appliqué can be done by hand, by machine, or with fusible web. Appliqué is a great technique to cover stains, rips or other problem areas on a larger fabric area.
Armo:
A traditional name for the hair canvas interfacing used in serious tailoring of coats and suits. Use any currently available sewing hair canvas when this is referred to.
Armscye:
Dressmaker speak for an armhole. In pattern making, the armscye is one of the most critical shaping curves on a garment. Its depth, angle, and contour determine how comfortably the sleeve will move and how smoothly it will sit at the shoulder. A well-drafted armscye prevents tightness, gaping, and pulling, especially in fitted garments.
Atelier:
A sewing workroom. An atelier tailleur is a couture workroom where suits and other tailored garments are made. An atelier flou produces dresses and other lighter women’s wear.
Backing:
The bottom or back layer of an item, usually in a plainer fabric than the main material. Backing adds stability, support, and structure to the main fabric. It’s widely used in quilting, embroidery, upholstery, and garment construction to improve durability, maintain shape, and protect decorative surfaces.
Backstitch, hand:
This is the strongest hand stitch you can make. Use a single or, for more strength, a doubled thread. (1) Bring the needle up through the fabric. (2) Instead of moving forward with the in and out of a running stitch, take a stitch back behind where the needle has come up, down into the fabric. (3) Bring the needle up one stitch length to the left of Step 1. (4) In each subsequent stitch, take a stitch backward to meet the previous stitch. From the right side, a backstitch will look very similar to a row of machine stitches. From the wrong side it will look like a series of double stitches.
Backstitch, machine:
At the machine, a backstitch has a totally different meaning, referring to the few stitches forward and few stitches back. We all do this at the beginning and end of every seam to secure it. Taking a few stitches in place with the machine set at zero stitch length accomplishes the same end.
Bagging:
A method of backing a fabric item that involves sewing the back and the front, right sides together, around three edges, but leaving a gap in the fourth side. The item is turned right side out through the gap, which is then stitched closed.
Ballpoint needles or pins:
Most needles and pins operate on the pointy principle—they pierce the fabric because they are so sharp. However, even sharp points can still have difficulty puncturing some dense synthetic fabrics or knits. For either of these—a pin or needle—with a rounded point, hence a ballpoint, will move more easily through the fabric because it can spread the fibers. Ballpoint needles are easy to find; ballpoint pins are less so.
Bar tack:
These can be made by hand, but most of us make bar tacks at the machine. Use them for extra security at the end of high action seams, such as at the top of pocket stitching or the bottom of a top-stitched fly. Some machines have a bar tack preprogrammed as a stitch. Otherwise, bar tacks can be made with a fairly wide zigzag stitch and a small stitch length, essentially a satin stitch. Remember to tie off each end of a bar tack made this way with a few straight stitches made at a zero stitch length.
Basting stitch, hand:
Hand-basting stitches have an infinite number of uses in sewing. Primarily, they are used to hold tricky seams in place instead of pins, which are sometimes too wobbly. A seam in velvet should always be hand basted rather than pinned, for example. Basting can also be used to position patch pockets or other details in place before topstitching, or to hold down an edge, such as a wool collar before it is pressed. Try to use a different color thread to hand baste so it will be easy to see when it has to be removed. Silk thread is an excellent basting thread (save it for reuse after you use it) as this thread can be pressed over without leaving any indentations in the fabric. Basting stitches are usually fairly loose and long, about ½˝ of stitch and then ½˝ of space, made in and out with a longer needle for speed.
Basting stitch, machine:
Machine “basting” is really just straight stitches made at the maximum stitch length possible on your machine. Machine basting is used most often for making parallel rows of gathering stitches, as in a sleeve cap where the fabric needs to be gently eased into a space.
Bat-wing sleeve:
There are many variations of cut-on sleeves and among these bat-wing sleeves, sort of an exaggerated dolman, are the most extreme. A true bat-wing extends from the wrist almost to the waist.
Bespoke:
In English tailoring, this is a term for garments made from custom-drafted patterns. This often indicates a client relationship where, once the patterns have been made to measure, the client can order garments to be made as required. I find it uncomfortable when bespoke is used to refer to any less serious endeavor.
Bias:
Woven fabrics have three “grains”—lengthwise, crosswise, and bias. True bias runs diagonally across the fabric at a 45° angle. The chief characteristic of bias is its malleability and stretchiness. As a result, bias can be somewhat unstable, so it can be tricky along seams if not stabilized in the seam area in some way, but it drapes beautifully. Bias strips make excellent binding for curved edges as it can be pressed into shape before it is applied, and as a result can be sewn on without wrinkles. Bias-cut fabrics behave very much like knits in that they do not fray along the edges. It is not necessary to finish bias seam allowances, for example. Needless to say, garments cut on the bias require far more fabric then those that can be laid out orderly along the straight of grain.
Binding:
A bound edge is any edge that has had the seam allowance removed and is wrapped with narrow strips of fabric to finish. Bias binding is used in most clothing as the edges bound in garments are curved—necklines and armholes, for example. Straight-grain binding is fine when the edge to be finished is also straight. Bindings can be folded right sides together, stitched to the front of the item, and then turned to the wrong side where they are most often hand stitched in place; or sewn right side to the wrong side of the garment and then flipped to the right side, raw edge turned under, and topstitched in place. Make your own bindings; never use the purchased stuff, as the fabric quality is often poor.
Blind hem, machine:
Most machines have some sort of machine blind hem stitch—you will recognize it by a series of straight stitches interrupted by a long and wide zigzag stitch—and a blind hem accessory foot. To make a blind hem by machine, fold up the hem allowance and then fold it back on itself so that only ¼˝ or so of the cut edge of the hem allowance extends. Next start stitching with the straight stitches situated along the hem allowance and the zigzag swinging into the hem fold so it just nicks the fold a tiny bit. When the hem is smoothed down, only a tiny vertical hemming stitch should show on the right side. I use machine blind hemming, which makes a very durable hem, only in knit fabrics with some texture to further disguise the hemming stitches.
Bobbin:
A small spool for holding thread. Sewing machines use two threads to make a stitch – the needle thread, coming downwards from the top of the machine, and the bobbin thread coming upwards from under the needle plate. Bobbins can be top-loading (dropped into the bobbin case through a sliding or hinged panel in the needle plate), or side/front-loading (the bobbin is placed into the bobbin case outside the machine, the filled bobbin case is then inserted into the machine at the front or side through an opening door).
Bobbin case:
The metal case with tension plates on the side, which holds the bobbin. On top-loading machines, the bobbin case is normally left in place unless it is removed for cleaning, or to change it for a spare or special bobbin case so the bobbin tension can be adjusted for free-motion work. On side/front-loading machines the bobbin case is taken out of the machine before the bobbin can be removed from it.
Bodice:
This describes the body part of any garment between the waist and neck, excluding the sleeves and collar. The bodice shapes the upper torso and is central to garment fit. It may include darts, seams, or panels to contour the body and is used in dresses, blouses, and traditional wear.
Bolero:
A very short jacket, usually ending just below the bust, often with short or three-quarter sleeves. A bolero is an ancestor of the shrug.
Boning:
Thankfully now made of rigid plastic rather than whale ribs. Boning is highly useful in making fitted garments, such as corsets, or to hold up strapless tops and dresses. Always applied in casings, usually in the linings or inside seam allowances that have been seamed together, boning can be added to the side and princess seams of any strapless dress for support. Just make sure you round off the ends of the boning so it doesn’t poke through the casing.
Border print:
Most often seen in cottons, border prints have one edge printed with a very dominant pattern, a row of flowers or geometric shapes, for example. Border prints can be very effective, such as when the border is laid along a hemline, but require much thought during the pattern layout stage and, of course, considerable extra fabric to work with.
Bound buttonholes:
These are the classic buttonholes of fine dressmaker suits and slower to make than they are difficult. A typical bound buttonhole can be identified by the two fabric “lips” that fill the small faced opening.
Box pleat:
Pleats are clever—designed to maintain the trim silhouette of a straight or A-line dress or skirt, yet still provide extra movement room where legs need it most. A box pleat is an inverted pleat centered behind the unstitched portion of a seam. Box pleats tend to be the largest of the pleats, generally one down the center front of a skirt or as a pair on either side of center front.
Breakpoint:
Most often used in tailoring to describe the exact point where the front facing of a jacket or coat turns to the right side and becomes a lapel. To facilitate this turn, it is usual to clip through all seam allowances right to the stitching line at the breakpoint so the facing fabric can fold to the right side easily.
Bulk:
This may seem like too obvious a term for a glossary, but it really matters. The phrase “eliminate bulk” is often used in sewing and often ignored. Captured by the keep-it-sturdy principle, many home sewists are reluctant to trim, terrified that somehow things will fray away. Trim anyway. Remember that bulk on the inside will always show on the outside, and who needs bumpy clothing? If you are worried about durability, double stitch over the seams where you might have to trim the most.
Bust:
Breasts—as in bust measurements taken across a woman’s chest right across the fullest part of her breasts. Bust measurements are essential for garment fitting, helping determine pattern size, dart placement, and shaping. Accurate measurement ensures comfort, proper fit, and balanced proportions in dresses, tops, and fitted garments.
Buttonhole twist:
A heavier often slightly more finished kind of thread used traditionally to hand stitch buttonholes. It is now used most often for top stitching to add stitch definition or to sew on outerwear buttons. Note when using a thicker thread like this for top stitching, make sure you also use a machine top-stitching needle, the one with the large eye, so this thread can move easily during stitching.
Cap sleeve:
A very short sleeve, sometimes cut on and sometimes attached, with an underarm seam of only 1˝–3˝. Cap sleeves cover just the shoulder, adding a delicate, feminine look.
Casing:
A fabric channel made by either folding over a top edge, as in the case of an elastic waist skirt, or an applied strip of fabric stitched to a lining, as in the case of a boned bodice. Casings are made to hold either elastic, a drawstring, or a supportive material such as boning.
Catch stitch:
An X-shaped hand stitch sewn from left to right. Catch stitches are flexible and have some movement, so they are an excellent choice any time a pattern tells you to “tack down” a detail—a facing to a shoulder seam, for example—as these stitches will not pull or pucker.
Center-slot zipper:
Once used in most dresses, these are now used mainly in front zipping jackets or for decorative effect in some zippered pockets. Invisible zippers have made these less popular than they once were. Since the top stitching on both sides of the zipper needs to be evenly spaced in a centered zipper, I generally lay a piece of clear tape centered over the seam as a stitching guide when I have apply a zipper this way.
Chain stitch:
A type of sewing machine stitch that can be formed of one or two threads. With a single thread, the needle thread passes through to the reverse of the fabric where it loops through itself. If the machine uses two threads, a looper moves back and forth on the reverse of the fabric to create loops in the second thread that the needle thread crosses through. Most modern sewing machines form lockstitch instead of chain stitch.
Chanel trim:
The distinctive braid trim, sometimes simple, often elaborate, characterizes the classic collarless Chanel jacket. In knit sewing, the term is often used to describe any narrow, turned, and stitched knit trim around a neckline, armhole, or down the front of a closureless jacket.
Channel stitching:
A form of garment quilting done through all layers—fashion fabric, lining, and sometimes a batting—to bond them all together. Tweed Chanel jackets are often channel stitched by hand or machine to hold the tweed, an underlining, and a lining together. Close channel stitching also stiffens the fabric and so is also used frequently in accessories such as hat brims, belts, and bags to add structure to the fabric.
Chinese ball buttons:
These are a great DIY substitute for hard buttons in any garment that buttons at the back. Made simply of narrow turned fabric tubes, these are essentially just a fancy sailor’s knot. A lot of how-tos online. Fun to make.
Clapper:
A smooth piece of hardwood that can be pressed hard down on any fabric that has just been pressed, to flatten and get a really sharp press. To increase the potency of the clapper, you can also lay the fabric down on a board and hit it hard—hence the name. Walk by any European tailor and you are likely to hear the noise of clappers at work.
Clean finish:
This instruction, frequently given in reference to long edges like the facings, simply means to finish the raw edge so it won’t fray but with minimum bulk. The most common options for clean finishing are serging the edge, turning it under once and topstitching, or binding it.
Clip:
A small cut through the seam allowances, stopping just short of the stitching line, usually indicated in situations in which the fabric needs to be freed up to spread, as in around a curve or to turn at a point.
Closures:
Not surprisingly, any device or notion used to close a garment. These would include buttons, zippers, snaps, hooks and eyes, and whatever creative solution you may come up with. Frequently also a design feature.
Continuous lap:
A finish to the raw edges of the slit at the bottom of a sleeve above a cuff, often referred to in sewing patterns. These can be fiddly to do and can be bulky when complete, so I don’t really like them at all and prefer instead to make a small tailored placket, like you would find in a man’s shirt, when I can. My advice: Look for a shirt pattern with this placket feature for sleeves with cuffs and save it to use in patterns that call for a continuous lap.
Convertible collar:
You would recognize this as the typical camp shirt or bowling shirt flat collar—a collar without a stand that folds flat back onto a shirt or blouse to create a version of the notched collar. The convertible part of this collar comes from the fact that it can be worn two ways: buttoned to the neck or open with the facings turned back.
Corded buttonhole:
A machine buttonhole with the satin stitch worked over a heavy thread—a buttonhole twist or even a pearl cotton—to add stability, polish, and density to the buttonhole. Most buttonhole feet have a hook at the back to hold the cording in place while the buttonhole is stitched. Corded buttonholes are beautiful on coats and jackets and make gap-proof buttonholes in knits.
Couture:
In French, this simply means to sew, but many Anglos use the word to describe what the French call haute couture or high sewing. As the French mean it, haute couture is high-end, beautifully made, custom-fitted, custom-designed clothing. To the ordinary eye, this level of couture can be recognized by its exquisite fabrics, lovely details, and extensive use of hand stitching both in construction and in finishing.
Cross grain:
The grain in woven fabric that runs across the fabric and perpendicular to the selvage edge. Cross grain affects drape, stretch, and seam stability.
Crotch point:
The point at which crotch seams and inseams meet in a pair of pants. The crotch point is critical for comfort and fit. Proper placement ensures smooth movement, prevents pulling or sagging, and helps the pants conform naturally to the body’s curves.
Differential feed:
In sergers/overlockers with this feature, the feed dogs come in sets, one behind the other under the foot. The differential dial moves the speed (and therefore the size of the steps) of the front feed dogs independently to those behind. A differential feed set to a higher number will increase the relative speed of the front feed dogs, easing in slightly more fabric to the rear feed dogs—counteracting the waving out that can occur in some knits, for example. When set to a lower number, the front feed dogs move more slowly, flattening out the puckering that can happen when serging fine or closely woven fabrics. A useful feature to have in any serger.
Dart:
Darts are the mainstay of shaping fabric to fit over the contours of the body. Basically the job of a dart is to take in fabric where the body doesn’t need it and to let it out where it does. An effective dart points directly at the high point or any body contour, and stops just short of it, ½˝–1˝ away. If your darts don’t do these two things, or if they seem to take in too little or too much fabric, they will need to be adjusted.
Dart legs:
The long sides, also the stitching lines, of a dart. The end point of the dart, where the stitching stops, is called the dart point.
Dauber:
A tool used to apply extra moisture to very specific areas that need extra attention in steam pressing. This sounds more official than it is. Most work rooms use a bowl of water and a folded cloth or a device that looks like a giant cotton swab to daub a little bit of water here and there to details during pressing.
Degree of stretch:
This is usually expressed in percentages and helps you identify the suitability of any fabric to a pattern designed for a particular stretchiness to achieve fit and comfort.
Delta:
A term that home sewists once used to describe the pattern guide sheet. You still hear it used every now and then, particularly if you talk to my mother.
Direction of maximum stretch:
It is really, really important you are able to identify this in a knit fabric. For comfort and fit, and to conform to the way knit patterns are drafted, the direction of greatest stretch needs to run across, not up and down, any pattern piece.
Dirndl:
Think The Sound of Music. A dirndl is any skirt gathered at the top into a waistband. This style creates fullness and a soft, feminine silhouette. Dirndl skirts are easy to sew, flattering on most body types, and commonly used in traditional wear, casual skirts, and costumes.
Dolman sleeve:
A garment style in which the bodice and sleeves are cut as one. Dolman sleeves create a relaxed, roomy fit with a deep armhole and tapered wrist.
Dress form:
Sometimes also called a dress dummy. These are useful fitting tools but only if they have been padded to reflect your own figure. Essential as well for designing clothes by draping fabric, if you don’t have the luxury of working on live models like haute couture designers.
Dressmaker suit:
A lovely term used to describe women’s suits made by dressmakers, most often with distinctly more feminine lines than the counterpart man-style suit. Fitted, interfaced button-to-the-neck jackets, often with Peter Pan collars and peplums, are typical of a dressmaker suit. Note these garments always, always had bound buttonholes, indicative of the craftsmanship and hand-sewing skills of the dressmaker.
Dressmaker’s tracing paper:
Not at all as used as it once was, this paper can still be a very useful marking tool. Similar to carbon paper (assuming you remember what that was) but waxed and frequently colored, tracing paper is laid wax side out between fabric layers. The sewist then uses a tracing wheel to run over important pattern details, which are transferred to the fabric in rows of tiny waxed dots. This method of marking is particularly useful for transferring patch pocket placement and for pleat and dart stitching and fold lines. Be aware that once pressed, these markings can become permanent and in some fabrics show through. Always test before you use this method of marking.
Dropped sleeve:
A sleeve in which the seam that attaches the sleeve to the bodice is dropped substantially from the end of the shoulder point, sometimes even a few inches down the arm. Most often seen in casual clothing.
Ease plus:
A method for gathering up that bit of extra fabric necessary in some situations, such as easing in the top of a sleeve cap but without having to pull on gathering stitches. To ease plus, hold a flat finger behind the presser foot as you stitch, forcing the fabric to pack up behind the foot as much as you can. Inhibiting the exit of fabric out from under the feed dogs this way will make the feed dogs pick it up again slightly, creating the slight easing you need. I find I have to sew several lines of stitching this way to really get sufficient easing, but it works well in loosely woven wools and is faster than traditional gathering to ease.
Edge stitch:
A kind of top stitch, always done from the right side, where the stitches are placed close to the edge of the fabric, generally ⅛˝ or so. Edge stitching is generally used to sharpen the edges of crisp fabrics such as gabardine or linen. For stitch definition, use a longer-than-construction stitch length.
Ensemble:
Another term from the culture of women’s dressmaking. An ensemble denotes a set of garments designed or specifically sewn to be worn together—such as a dress and matching coat or, more frequently, a matching top, skirt, and jacket—as opposed to a threesome of mix-and-match separates. More sophisticated than just an outfit. I would say the Queen nearly always wears some version of an ensemble.
Exposed zipper:
My all-time favorite zipper to put in because, of course, it is the fastest. Usually reserved for outwear or bags, the exposed zipper is applied right side of zipper to the garment and stitched about ¼˝ away from the zipper teeth, which are then exposed when the zipper is turned to the right side.
Face:
As a noun, this is an industry term for the right side of the fabric. As a verb, it means to sew a backing to any detail.
Facing:
A garment piece applied to an edge both to finish and support it. Facings are used on necklines, armholes, and openings to create clean edges and add stability.
Feed dogs:
These are the little pointy teeth in a sewing machine throat plate that move the fabric along under the presser foot. You might be interested to know that stitch length is controlled by the feed dogs—big steps make big stitches and little steps make little stitches. Keep your feed dogs clean so they can make these moves easily.
Finger pressing:
Smoothing a seam with your fingers in preparation for the next construction step or to crease it to make a temporary marking, as in fold in half to find a center point.
Flat-felled seam:
A seam made by sewing wrong sides together, trimming one seam allowance down and folding the remaining longer seam allowance over and top stitching it down over that cut edge. A flat-felled seam is neat on both sides and is very strong. For this reason it is used in jeans construction and in shirts.
Flounce:
A kind of a ruffle made without gathering by cutting the fabric into a spiral within a circle. Much of a flounce is therefore cut on the bias, which makes it hang well.
French dart:
Essentially two darts meeting at the middle with a point at each end, resembling a diamond. French darts are used when fabric needs to be taken in at the middle and then released into two body contours—a French dart in a bodice, for example, wider at the wearer’s waist and releasing to the bust at one end and the hip or abdomen at the other.
French seam:
A nice, neat seam, completely enclosed on the wrong side, suitable for lighter weight fabric. To make a French seam, sew the seam with a ¼˝ seam allowance, wrong sides together. Press the seam flat and then turn and press again, right sides together. Next sew the seam again with a ⅜˝ seam allowance and press.
French tack:
Also known as a swing tack, a thread chain often made by several ½˝ or so stitches between a lining and a garment so they can be attached but remain flexible.
Gathering:
To gather up a longer length of fabric to fit another, as in a gathered skirt or a gathered sleeve cap. Gathering is made by sewing in two to three rows of long machine basting stitches along the edge to be gathered (the more rows of gathering stitches, the more even the gathers) or by zigzagging over a length of heavier thread or cording. To make the gathers, pull along the bobbin threads of the machine basting, or if using the zigzag method, pull along the cord.
Gore:
Vertical skirt panels, generally slightly A-lined or flared, as in a four-gore skirt, a six-gore skirt, and so on.
Gorge line:
The seam that attaches the collar to the lapel/facing piece. The gorge line defines the break between collar and lapel, influencing the suit’s style, neckline depth, and overall balance.
Grade:
To trim two seam allowances but trimming one of these slightly more than the other to blend away right side show through of seam allowance bulk. Note that the seam will always have tendency to roll slightly to or “favor” the shorter, trimmed side. For this reason, the longer seam allowance is always the one closest to the right outward facing side of the garment.
Grain:
A line in the fabric that can be drawn directly over the lengthwise or crosswise fibers that create the fabric. Grain determines how a fabric drapes, stretches, and behaves when sewn.
Grainlines:
Long lines, usually with arrows at each end, printed on patterns to help you lay the pieces so that they can be laid to measure an equal distance from the selvage.
Grosgrain:
A kind of stiff ribbon distinguished by dominant vertical ribs. Because grosgrain does not bend easily, it is often used for support in dressmaking, such as to make waist stays, to face the button and buttonhole areas of knit cardigans, or to face waistlines and waistbands.
Gusset:
A triangular or more often diamond-shaped insert added to areas where extra ease is needed for movement in tightly fitted garments. Gussets are typically added to under-arm seams or even to pants and leggings at the crotch point. The beauty of a gusset is that it adds so much wearer mobility but usually remains hidden in the lines of the garment.
Hair canvas:
A heavy but pliable interfacing with a canvaslike appearance, sometimes with the little hairs that denote its classic fabrication from goat hair. Used extensively in traditional suit and coat tailoring, this interfacing is best when sewn in and can be shaped when necessary by hand stitches. Hair canvas provides a kind of substantial support without bulk to heavy fabrics that no other interfacing can match.
Ham:
An indispensable pressing tool, and one that is shaped much like a real ham, that provides the variety of curved surfaces necessary for pressing anything but flat, straight seams. These come in the usual oval shape but can also be found with a variety of surfaces that are useful—my own has a kind of a nose on it that is good for small areas. Like all great pressing tools, a ham is covered on one side in cotton and the other in wool, to absorb different heats, and are always tightly packed with hardwood sawdust. Since wood captures and releases both heat and steam well, this assists in the actually pressing of the fabric as well as providing a shaping surface.
Hand:
One of the most potent of all sewing terms and used throughout the industry to describe fabric quality and suitability for various uses. Hand literally means how does it feel in your hand. Fabrics are variously described as having a “crisp hand” or a “soft hand.” The saying a fabric has a “good hand” is the ultimate fabric compliment, meaning it will sew well and produce a quality garment.
High bust:
An accurate measurement that can capture true upper body size more accurately than the traditional bust measurement.
Hong Kong finish:
A seam-allowance seam finish in which raw edges are wrapped with binding. Cut the binding on the bias and it will not be necessary to turn the raw edges under on the underside of the binding, as bias does not fray.
Horsehair braid:
Not surprisingly, this is no longer made of real horsehair. A stiff clear to white tape, “horsehair” is machine stitched to the bottom of full formal dress hems and then just flipped up and tacked to the seams. Once installed, the stiffness of the tape will hold a full skirt out and away from the body—an absolute necessity in bridal wear, for example.
Interfacing:
A fabric that is attached by stitches or fusing to the wrong side of garment details for stiffness, support, or reinforcement. Use designated interfacing for best results, rather than trying to substitute with another layer of fabric. Typical areas that are always interfaced are collars, collar stands, cuffs, some button bands, and many hems.
Interlining:
Not to be confused with interfacing or underlining, interlining is a layer of special fabric added most often to outerwear as extra insulation or as a wind block to the garment. Interlinings are generally cut to match the garment piece to be interlined (often the back) and machine basted to it at the edges. I have interlined the body of fall jackets with cotton flannel, children’s winter jackets with fleece, and the backs of coats with chamois leather.
Invisible zipper:
Requires a special foot (get one from a dealer explicitly for your machine rather than the generic one from a fabric store) to install, although some folks do a great job with a regular zipper foot and using their fingers to spread the coils. Since there is zero topstitching in an invisible zipper, I think they are the easiest of all zippers to sew in and perfect for beginners.
Keyhole buttonhole:
These are the buttonholes with the little circle at one end. This circular opening accommodates a button with a shank and as such is the preferred buttonhole for outerwear of heavy fabrics that require those buttons.
Kick pleat:
A short pleat in the back of a straight skirt to give you walking room. Usually these are small box pleats because they are a closed detail. A kick pleat covers the lining that might show when you walk, something that can happen with an open back skirt vent.
Kimono sleeve:
A real kimono sleeve is actually a rectangle attached to a kimono, forming a boxlike sleeve. These kimono sleeves typically have a small opening in the seam under the arm for movement and enough room hanging in the corners of the sleeve to serve as sort of a built-in purse. In the West, however, a kimono sleeve often is used to describe any cut-on sleeve with an almost square angle under the arm.
Knee lifter:
A long lever that extends down at the front of the machine so that it can be pushed with one knee, enabling the presser foot to be lifted and the feed dog dropped without letting go of the fabric being stitched. It is not available on all machines, but is useful for quilting, sewing around intricate shapes, and appliqué.
Knife pleat:
There are many descriptors for similar kinds of pleats—accordion, pinch, fan, and sunburst—but they all describe fine pleats. These may be pressed from waist to hem, sometimes in a circular skirt and sometimes vertically in the yardage before construction. These pleats are really difficult to make accurately yourself, but there are still pleaters in places like the New York garment district and online who will do the job quickly for you. Note that to pleat well and permanently, the fabric does need to have a high proportion of synthetic fiber in its makeup. Polyester is ideal.
Knot:
Dressmakers traditionally knot hand-sewing threads by forming a loop around their index finger, rolling it off, and pulling on the thread to make a large knot. This was the first thing my mother showed me when I learned to sew at eight years old.
LBD:
The “little black dress,” the one garment all women are supposed to own and judging by office holiday parties, most of them do.
Magyar sleeve:
Another, and apparently the Hungarian, version of the cut-on or dolman sleeve.
Main:
An industry shorthand term for main fabric (as opposed to lining, interfacing or contrast fabrics), often seen in cutting directions as in “Cut 2x main.”
Memory:
This describes the ability of a knit fabric or of an elastic to bounce back to its original dimensions after having been stretched. It is very important to assess memory in anything stretchy before you purchase. An elastic that won’t snap back in the store is likely to get saggy pretty fast in a garment, and the same is true of any knit fabric that shows weak memory.
Muslin:
It’s a plain-woven fabric, a fit garment made from muslin, or an audition of a new pattern before it is made in the “good fabric.”
Needle board:
If you sew a lot of napped fabrics—velvet, for example—a needle board is quite useful. Essentially a mat with a metal pile, the needle board is used to support facedown napped fabrics. This allows them to be pressed from the wrong side without flattening.
Notch:
A little triangular shape often seen along the cutting lines of patterns, used to match pieces during construction. I don’t actually cut out these notches but make a little clip into the seam allowance anywhere they occur instead.
Notions:
Sewist speak for all the stuff you need to make a garment, apart from the fabric, interfacing, and pattern. This includes threads, buttons, zippers, trims, and any other bits and pieces the garment might need.
Off-grain:
Garment pieces or even entire garments themselves that are laid away from the marked grainlines.
Overlocker:
The name for a serger in most places outside North America. An overlocker trims fabric edges and wraps them with thread in one step, creating clean, durable seams. It’s essential for knitwear, stretch fabrics, and professional finishing, preventing fraying and giving garments a polished, factory-quality look.
Pad stitching:
Small diagonal hand stitches, more or less imperceptible from the right side of the fabric, used to attach a sewing interfacing, such as hair canvas in tailoring. Pad stitching also is used to shape the piece—putting a roll in a collar, for example—and is often made while bending the fabric over your hand while it is worked.
Patchwork:
An older term for piecing fabric squares together. Often pieced quilts are referred to as patchwork. Patchwork combines small fabric pieces into larger designs, creating patterns, textures, and visual interest. It’s widely used in quilting, home décor, and craft projects, blending creativity with traditional stitching techniques.
Peter Pan collar:
Nice, little, flat collars characterized by their curved shape. Most often seen in traditional little girls’ dresses or in retro blouses and dresses.
Petersham:
Very similar to grosgrain ribbon, woven with one long edge somewhat shorter than the other so the ribbon curves in slightly. This makes petersham an ideal facing for skirt waistlines where it provides firm support and eliminates the need for the interfaced fabric facings.
PMIQ:
Pin and mark in quarters. A short-cut measuring trick for dividing an opening into four equal parts. To PMIQ: (1) Fold the opening in half and put a pin at each fold. (2) Fold the opening in half again, but this time match the pins. (3) Put two more pins at the new folds. The opening will then have pins at each quarter point.
Point presser:
A hardwood pressing tool that I always describe as a Barbie doll ironing board. An essential tool for pressing open seams in hard-to-get-at areas, such as collars.
Pouncing:
A technique used to transfer markings to fabric in embroidery and tailoring. A pin, dressmaker’s wheel or unthreaded sewing machine needle is used to make holes along the lines of the design on paper. The paper is then pinned to the fabric and fine chalk dust, or special pounce powder, is brushed through the holes. The powder can also be dabbed through the pricked holes using a small piece of rolled up felt.
Presser foot:
The part of a sewing machine that is lowered on to the fabric to hold it in place over the needle plate while stitching. There are different feet available.
Princess seam:
Essentially darts turned into seams, these are used to shape garments perhaps more smoothly than darts can. Princess seams run vertically in the garment and can start from the shoulder or the middle of the armhole. In either case they always run directly over the bust in the front and the shoulder blades in the back. Princess seams are wonderful fitting tools, particularly for curvier figures.
Sleeves that connect with diagonal seams into the neckline rather than to the end of the shoulder.
RTW:
Ready-to-wear. Clothing in standard sizes to be purchased “off-the-rack.”
Revers:
You sometimes see this term in the European sewing magazines. It means lapel.
Roll line:
The line along which a collar or lapel folds back on itself. In tailoring, this line often is taped for definition and support.
Running stitch:
A simple, evenly spaced straight stitch separated by equal-sized spaces, used for seaming and gathering.
Seam roll:
A hardwood sawdust tightly stuffed fabric sausage used to press open seams allowances without right-side indentation marks on the fabric.
Self:
An industrial term often used in cutting to mean cut out of the same fabric as the main garment pieces.
Selvage:
The finished, usually woven, edge running lengthwise along the length of the fabric.
Separating zipper:
A zipper that opens at the bottom; used in outerwear.
Serger:
Machine used for quick stitching, trimming, and edging of fabric in a single action; it gives a professional finish to a garment. There are a variety of accessories that can be attached to a serger, which enable it to perform a greater range of functions.
Set-in sleeve:
A sleeve that is set into the bodice at the natural shoulder point, generally with an eased sleeve cap.
Shawl collar:
A rolled collar without notches, made from an extended front and extended front facings, both seamed at center back. Classic bathrobes have shawl collars.
Sheath:
A fitted one-piece dress, usually sleeveless and with a straight skirt.
Shirring:
Gathering, usually in fine fabrics such as challis, lawn, or chiffon, and applied to specific areas of the body of the garment, such as shirring in a blouse below yoke.
Skipped stitches:
A series of random long stitches that interrupt any line of machine stitching. Skipped stitches are almost always caused by using the wrong needle for the fabric. They can usually be eliminated by changing to a ballpoint needle for knits or even a leather needle depending on the fabric to be sewn.
Skirt marker:
An old-school tool and a really useful one if you have no one around to help you pin up a skirt. Essentially a yardstick set upright on a stand, the skirt marker allows you to mark a hem an even distance from the ground (the way all good hems should be marked). Some come with a puff of chalk to make the marks if you are working on your own, and some have a lever that lets a helper line up pins to mark the hem. Definitely handy.
Slash:
A scary-sounding way of saying cut right down the middle of something to open it up, as in slash open a welt pocket. The main thing to remember when following a slashing instruction is to cut right to the stitches with the slash—try putting a pin in the fabric as a barrier to make sure you do your slashing to and not through the stitching line.
Sleeve cap:
The curved upper quarter or so of the top of a sleeve piece. In set-in sleeves, the sleeve cap is always eased in by at least two rows of machine-basting stitches. These are then pulled up slightly and steam pressed into shape until the sleeve fits smoothly into the armhole.
Sleeve head:
A material stitched to the top of the armhole seam allowance and extending into the top of a tailored or formal wear sleeve cap. The purpose of the sleeve head is to support the cap so it won’t collapse over the shoulder. In tailoring, a sleeve head may be a piece of fleece or lamb’s wool. In puffy formal sleeves, the sleeve head can even be a tightly gathered tulle ruffle.
Slip basting:
A kind of basting done from the right side of the garment, often to hold a detail in place in preparation for topstitching. The lap side of a lapped zipper, for example, would be slip basted down before final stitching from the right side. Since holding things still is important in this kind of stitching, slip basting is usually done diagonally, almost like a loose whipstitch.
Sloper:
Basic-fit garments with only minimal ease used as a foundation for understanding the fit of an individual figure. Slopers are too tight to be worn as garments. However, once they are used to establish fit, that information can be used to fit wearable garments precisely. Dress and pants sloper patterns can be custom drafted or purchased in standard sizes from the major pattern companies.
Stabilizers:
Any material put under a fabric to help keep stitches, particularly embroidery stitches and buttonholes, flat and even. There are a wide variety of stabilizers available for purchase—cut-away, tear-away, and water soluble—and a few DIY ideas such as tissue paper, coffee filters, and printer paper.
Stash:
Sewist slang for a fabric collection. A stash often grows over time with leftover pieces, impulse buys, and special fabrics saved for future projects.
Stay stitch:
Stitching done just inside the seam line prior to any construction to stabilize the grain of cut fabric edges, particularly those cut with a curve.
Stay tape:
A stabilizing tape applied anywhere that a specific edge needs to be kept from stretching. In tailoring, this may be a narrow twill tape hand stitched along a jacket roll line, around an armhole, or at the shoulder seams. In knit garments, this is usually a fusible tape or cut pieces of fusible interfacing pressed to shoulder seams or at the point of a V-neck.
Stitch-in-the-ditch:
A way of securing a binding, facing, or other detail by machine stitching from the right side, aiming to put those machine stitches in the “ditch” or seamline.
Straight of grain:
Refers to a pattern piece that has been laid so its center lies directly over the lengthwise fibers of the fabric. Laying out pattern pieces on the straight of grain is usually achieved by measuring from the selvage edge to each end of the marked straight-of-grain line printed on the pattern piece. When both ends of the line measure the same distance from the selvage, the pattern piece is lying straight of grain.
Stretch stitch:
Often also called reverse-action stitches, because in most cases they are made by the feed dogs moving the fabric back and forth with every stitch. This movement essentially creates a strong double-stitched stitch that is meant to hold up under the seam stress of stretchy fabrics. In some cases, these stitches can be useful, such as when sewing crotch seams, that need to be very secure. In other cases, all that feed-dog action can stretch some knit fabrics out of shape. My best advice is to test each stitch on the fabric you want to use before you start a garment.
Tack:
Tacking is a temporary stitch used to hold layers of fabric in place before final sewing. It helps maintain alignment, control tricky fabrics, and ensure accuracy during construction, especially in tailoring and detailed garment work.
Take-up lever:
This is the arm at the front of a sewing machine that moves up and down while you stitch. Of all the thread guides, the take-up lever is the most interesting as it actually measures out the length of thread necessary to meet the rotation of the bobbin. The take-up lever is always threaded after and not before the thread is nestled in the tension disks. In my experience, bird’s nests—those awful messes of thread that can tangle up the lower part of the machine—are most often caused when the upper thread has bypassed or slipped out of the take-up lever.
Toile:
In French, toile de corps, literally a fabric body, because it is just that—a close-fitting garment that mirrors the body with only minimal ease. Toiles are used to refine individual fit and not intended as wearable garments. An English term for the same thing is a sloper.
Two-way stretch:
Knit fabrics that are stretchy both horizontally and vertically, most often required in active wear. Note that even when there are two ways the fabric stretches, it is still essential that the degree of maximum stretch be situated so it runs around the body, and the pattern laid out accordingly. If you have trouble determining the direction that stretches the most, pull on the fabric each way. The maximum stretch direction will have more bounce back. The direction of less stretch will return with less enthusiasm, a bit more like old bubble gum to my mind.
Tracing wheel:
A spikey little wheel on a handle, used with dressmaker’s tracing paper when marking a pattern.
Trace basting:
A method of marking fold and placement lines on fabric. Loose stitches are sewn along the lines on the pattern to the fabric beneath, then the thread loops are cut and the pattern removed.
Top stitching:
Any stitching that can be seen from the right side and should therefore always be stitched from the right side.
Top-stitching thread:
A heavier-weight thread used with a topstitch needle and a longer stitch length for well-defined stitching in heavier fabrics. If it is difficult to find a good color match of thread to fabric for topstitching, try using two construction threads in the needle, threading the two threads through the machine as if they were one.
Truing a seam:
A fancy way of saying that if the seams don’t quite match up properly after you have adjusted the pattern, just redraw them gently to blend until they do.
Turn of cloth:
Understanding and respecting turn of cloth is one of the first principles of good sewing. Turn of cloth recognizes that fabric has volume. It understands that once stitched and turned, the internal bulk of seam allowances, even those that have been trimmed, can pull some other fabric edges in and shorten them. For example, turn of cloth explains why a pressed collar, in which the seams have been rolled under slightly to the wrong side, will no longer have even-cut edges, and the sewist should not try to force them to match, although she can trim them even.
Two-piece sleeve:
A fitted sleeve design in which there is a second vertical sleeve seam running up near the elbow. Because a two-piece sleeve is able to follow the arm’s shape more accurately than a one-piece sleeve, they typically have fewer wrinkles and hang more naturally. I always choose a two-piece sleeve pattern over a one-piece whenever I can, particularly when making jackets, coats, or long-sleeved woven dresses.
Two-way zipper:
A zipper that can be opened from either the top or the bottom, easy to identify by the two zipper pulls. It is really important to use a two-way zipper in a coat or jacket—you are going to want to unzip just the bottom so you can sit down.
Under collar:
Obviously the underside of a collar, but also a part of the collar that needs to be flexible and shouldn’t peek out from under the top collar. Ideally a good under collar should be cut from its own pattern piece. These should be drafted to be slightly smaller than the upper collar and preferably cut in two pieces and seamed at the center. The reason for this center seam is that it will allow each under collar piece to be cut on the bias, keeping it supple.
Under stitching:
An essential technique to prevent the wrong side of a facing, or similar detail, from rolling to the right side and showing. To under stitch, sew the seam, trim, grade, clip, and press. Then, stitch the seam allowance to the facing, placing the stitches as close as you can to the seam. Attaching the facing or under piece to the seam allowances will pull them slightly to the wrong side of the garment and keep them there.
Under lining:
A layer of fabric attached by hand or machine stitches at the seam edges of the fashion fabric, intended to change that fabric’s characteristics but substantially not its hand. A silk organza underlining, for example, is often added to a loosely woven fabric to add stability but not bulk.
Vent:
An opening at the bottom of a garment made either for movement, as in the back vent of a straight skirt, or at the bottom of a sleeve before it is closed with a cuff.
Wadder:
Any garment project that doesn’t turn out as expected, as in you roll it into a ball and throw it across the room. We all have them; I certainly do.
Waist stay:
A fabulous support around the waistline of very fitted dresses, often formal, to take the strain off the zipper. The stay is usually made of a sturdy grosgrain ribbon and is tacked to the inside of the garment at all seams at waist level except the center back. The ends of the stay are then closed with a hook and eye. When dressing, the waist stay is hooked closed and then the zipper zipped up.
Wearable muslin:
A trial garment made usually to try out a new pattern or to fine-tune fit, but sewn in a fashion fabric rather than the traditional muslin. These are the experimental garments of optimists who hope they will get lucky and that their practice garments turn out to be entirely wearable.
Well of the seam:
A term used to describe a seamline as seen from the outside of a garment. You will run across this in instructions that tell you to stitch-in-the-ditch a detail in place, “… laying the stitches directly in the well of the seam.”
Welt pocket, single and double welt:
Inset pockets in which the pocket bag is hidden behind the garment and accessed by a faced slot in the fabric. The welts, or lips, around the pocket opening can either be single or double. Welt pockets are most often seen in tailored jackets and coats and the back of pants. They are basically large, bound buttonholes with a pocket behind them. If you can make one you can make the other.
Whipstitch:
The over and over stitch you probably already do but don’t know what it is called. Whipstitching is most often used along a raw edge to finish. Couture garments frequently make use of beautiful, neat whip-stitch seam finishing.
With nap layout:
Because so many fabrics have a definite shade difference running up or down the fabric—velvets, velveteen, corduroy, suede, and so on—it is important that the pattern pieces are all laid out in the same direction. Nap layouts require more fabric be purchased, too, which is why they have separate fabric requirements listed on the back of the pattern envelope. Sometimes nap layouts are also referred to as directional layouts.
Woof:
The crosswise fibers in a woven fabric. Also called the weft, the woof runs perpendicular to the lengthwise warp threads. It interlaces with the warp to create the fabric structure, influencing drape, stretch, and overall stability of the textile.
Yoke:
A single pattern piece that covers the shoulders and attaches to both the front bodice or shirt front pattern piece and to the back. It provides a smooth and comfortable fit over the shoulders while leaving an opportunity for useful details in the garment body. For example, shirts often have a box pleat at the center back under the yoke to add extra shoulder-moving room, and many women’s blouses have shirring under the front yoke to make room for a bust. Note that many skirt patterns also have fitted yokes, again providing a smooth fit over the hips and often releasing into pleats for movement.
Zigzag:
The ability of a sewing machine to have a needle swing side to side in addition to just up and down when it makes a stitch. In addition to introducing a multitude of zigzag and even multi-directional stitches to home sewing, this function also means that machines that do a zigzag also have a wider needle hole in the throat plate. This wider hole can mean more jamming if you are not careful—the raw edge of the beginning of a seam can be pushed down into the machine when you start sewing.
Zipper:
Fastening widely used on garments consisting of two strips of fabric tape, carrying specially shaped metal or plastic teeth that lock together by means of a pull or slider. Zippers are available in different colors and weights.
Zipper foot:
Narrow machine foot with a single toe that can be positioned on either side of the needle.
Conclusion
Learning the basic sewing terms is an important first step for any beginner. These sewing glossary will help you read patterns confidently and complete projects with success. Sewing is a wonderful skill that grows with practice, and knowing the language of sewing is your first step toward becoming a confident creator.
Founder & Editor of Textile Learner. He is a Textile Consultant, Blogger & Entrepreneur. Mr. Kiron is working as a textile consultant in several local and international companies. He is also a contributor of Wikipedia.
