Resources

An all-in-one facing (also known as a combined neck and armhole facing) is a clean and simple finish for a sleeveless garment. It creates a neat and supportive finish at the neckline and the armhole edges.

Bar tacks are a small row of high-density stitches found on the edges of pockets or belt loops. These small stitches are often used in high-stress points like pocket openings, bottom of a fly or around buttonholes to reinforce the areas that are prone to tearing or coming apart over time.

Belt loops, sometimes called belt carriers are a construction detail that helps you keep a detachable belt for pants or a dress in place.

Bias tape is something that is often used in sewing for binding necklines and armholes or finishing raw edges. As its name suggests, bias tape is a long strip of fabric that’s been cut on the bias of fabric (diagonally across the grain of the fabric). Because it is cut on the bias, it’s stretchier and more flexible, which makes it really easy to sew around curves and irregularly shaped edges. Plus, it allows to enclose all raw edges for a neat and clean finish.

Box pleats are made up of two knife pleats facing away from each other or, in other words, they are formed when two folds of fabric are folded away from each other giving a wide vertical pleat. They are often used as stand-alone pleats on the back of a shirt or as a series of pleats on skirts or dresses.

Cargo patch pockets are external pockets that are topstitched onto a garment.

A concealed button band is a type of placket where the buttons are hidden by the top layer of the placket and are invisible when it’s buttoned up.

A continuous bound placket is a placket made from one piece of fabric that is used to bind a slash opening in the sleeve.

Darts are one of the most basic structural elements in dressmaking and garment construction. They are folds of fabric used for shaping and removing excess volume for a better fit.

The female body is not a simple flat cylinder, it has all kinds of curves, dipping valleys and rising hills. In order to make a fitted garment, you need darts to sculpt your fabric around the contours of your body. In other words, darts transform a flat pattern into a three dimensional shape that hugs your curves in all the right places.

Most commonly seen on skirts, pants and dresses, a garment with elasticized waist is easy to pull on, will stay in place all day and live with your body. Elastic waistbands also allow for small variations in fit and work great for most body types.

A flat-felled seam is an easy and useful technique to master if you are looking for a sturdy seam finish and a neat, professional look. Just like with French seams, the raw edges are completely enclosed within the seam with the wrong side looking as good as the right side.

French seams are a great way to finish raw edges and to give your garment a clean, professional appearance. In essence, the French seam completely encloses raw edges of the seam allowance within a stitched little pocket making your seams neat and more durable. They are perfectly suited for lightweight and medium weight linen that is prone to fraying. It’s better not to use this finish on heavy linen as it may create bulky seams.

Gathering is the process of drawing fullness into a much smaller area to create soft, even folds. Just like with darts, tucks, pintucks, elastics, and pleats, gathering is a way of controlling fullness in a garment. It is most often used at waistline, yokes, sleeves, cuffs or when adding ruffles.

One way of adding fullness to a particular area of your garment, for example, a hemline on a skirt or a back of a dress or even the bottom of a sleeve, is by inserting panels of fabric which are commonly known as godets.

A godet is usually triangular in shape (but not necessarily).

Hemstitching is an heirloom technique also known as “Drawn” or “Pulled” threadwork embroidery. This type of embroidery is achieved by gently pulling out individual threads along the grain line to create a small gap in the fabric. A combination of hand stitches is then used to create simple to elaborate designs within that gap.

Inseam pockets are hidden in a seam of your garment and are entirely enclosed by the outer layers, leaving no visible edges, stitching lines etc. They are primarily, though not exclusively, used on dresses, skirts and some pants.

An invisible zipper is a zipper that lies hidden in the seam with no machine stitching visible from the right side of the garment. So you don’t need to worry about perfect topstitching as all the action is happening behind the scenes. This is one of the primary reasons why invisible zippers are so popular and look so professional.

Knife pleats are folds of fabric that are pressed in one direction on the right side of the fabric. They may be used in small numbers as a style effect or for an entire part of a garment. They may be soft or pressed crisp, depending on the style required, and may be stitched down or hang free. They can also be spaced further apart or go in two directions.

A Mandarin collar, standing collar, or choke collar is a short unfolded stand-up collar with Asian influence that is often used in shirt or dress making.

A mitered corner is a neat way of finishing the corner of a fabric edge in such a way that there is no bulk when the hem is turned under.

A notched collar (or tailored collar) is mainly used on tailored jackets and coats. A notched collar is composed of an upper collar, an under collar and two lapels. It gets its name from a little notch that is formed between the collar and the lapel.

The partial placket, also known as a button placket, is basically an opening in clothes that allows you to easily put and remove your clothes and is a great design feature. As its name suggests, the partial placket will only go down a short distance instead of the full length of the garment.

Patch pockets are shaped pieces of fabric that are finished on all sides and then attached on the right side of the garment.

Peter Pan collar is a flat collar with rounded ends that meet at the front.

Pintucks are a decorative element that can be added to your garments: tops, dresses, skirts etc. They are formed by folding and stitching the fabric on the right side (much like a pleat) and are typically created in a group and are parallel to each other. This succession of folds creates sublime volume and gives decorative effect.

Piping (sometimes referred to as cording or welting) is a strip of bias-cut fabric folded over a cord.  It is found in all sorts of projects and is often applied to trim the seams of upholstery projects and tailored garments.

Pleats are folds of fabric that are made to add volume, take in fullness and add interest to the silhouette of a garment. They can be used as decorative features on sleeves and blouses as well as in home decor. However, pleats are most commonly seen on skirts and dresses to take in a full skirt to fit at the waist.

There are different types of pleats, including box pleats, knife pleats, inverted pleats, accordion pleats and kick pleats, which are formed using different methods but sewn in the same manner.

Elastic shirring should not be confused with smocking, even though they look very similar. Smocking is created by hand using embroidery stitches and pleats to gather fabric and create some stretch. As for shirring, it is created by machine sewing parallel rows of straight stitching using elastic thread in the bobbin and regular all-purpose thread in the needle to evenly gather the fabric and produce some elasticity.

The shirt collar is the most traditional type of collar mostly found on shirts, dresses and jackets. It consists of the collar fall and the collar stand, which is a separate piece of fabric that raises the collar fall off the neckline.

A sleeve placket is an opening at the end of a sleeve that allows your hand to fit through a narrow space easily. It’s most often seen on shirts or blouses and is generally finished with a cuff. Not only it is functional, it can also be used as a design detail.

Spaghetti straps (also referred to as rouleau straps) are those narrow fabric straps that you often see in lingerie, camisole tops and dresses. They look delicate and feminine, keep the shoulders bare but have a bad reputation for being difficult to sew.

A vent (sometimes called a split) is a part of functional design that allows for the ease of movement (walking or sitting) within a garment.

All vents are positioned in the seams and are most commonly seen at the back of classic style skirts, coats and tailored jackets. Often, these slits are secured at the top (also called the release point) with decorative reinforcement stitching to prevent the fabric from tearing up with time.

In a welt pocket, the actual pocket is on the inside of the garment, with a strip of fabric on the outside of your garment used to cover the pocket opening.

A yoke is the upper part of a garment that fits the shoulder area. It consists of two separate pieces of fabric (an inside and an outside yoke) that are attached to the front and the back of the garment. Since all the raw edges are concealed within the two yoke pieces, you get a clean finish and a garment that looks nice inside and out.