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TERMINOLOGY & DEFINITIONS

A. Sewing Room Terms & Definitions

Back Tacking Reverse sewing at the beginning or end of a seam for

reinforcement.

Bar Tacking A reinforcement by means of repeated stitching. Used

in clothing at points of strain (e.g. buttonholes.pocket
corners, seam ends and belt loops)
Bias An oblique direction to warp and weft True bias is at
an angle of 45 degrees from both warp and weft also
known as cutting on the cross.

Blind Stitch A stitch (either by hand or machine) which does not

go right through the cloth.

Box Pleat A form of enclosed pleats achieved by double folding

cloth alternately in opposite directions.
Bundle A number of similar garment parts temporarily kept
Together for convenience of handling.

C.M.T An abbreviation of "Cut Make and trim” branch of

the trade in which a contractor is supplied with materiel
only to produce garments for a principal.

Crutch (also Crotch) The region between the legs at which inside leg seam
are joined Also know as the fork of trousers.
Dart A wedge shape removed from the surface area of a
Garment by stitching or alternatively by cutting and
Stitching.

Hem A folding edge produced by turning the raw edge

and securing it.

Inlay An extra seam allowance inside the garment for letting

out if required or for strength at a given position.
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Jet or Jetting A narrow strip of material, usually biased cut

sewn parallel to the pocket opening and turned over the
pocket mouth edge.

Lap felled seam A seam formed with the edges of both plies of fabric
concealed by inter-lapping. Two or more rows of
stitches secure the turned pieces of fabric.

Ligne A standard measure, equal to one fortieth of an inch, by

which buttons and ribbons are measured. E.g. a 10 ligne
button is one quarter of an inch in diameter.

Lock Stitch A stitch formed by an upper or needle thread or threads

and a lower bobbin thread interlaced together. In a
correctly balanced stitch the threads usually interlace
midway between the top and bottom surfaces of the
material being stitched.

Making Up Converting material into garments.

Nap A fibrous surface produced on a fabric or felt in which

part of the fiber is raised from the basic structure.

Neatening Finishing a cut edge to prevent fraying. Various methods

include: turning in the edge, over-edge, taping etc.

Notches Small cuts made in the edges of garment parts which are
used as guides during garment assembly.

Off shade A variation from an established consistent colour

normally arising from a defect in dyeing either yarns
or fabrics.

Easing-in The manipulation of an additional amount of one of the

materials into a seam In order to create fullness.

Fabric An alternative name for clothe in the broad general

sense, but in the trade normally limited to cotton
and silk materials. A material which can be knitted.
Woven or of bonded fiber, made from the combination of
manufactured textile, fibers and yarns.
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Face Side The side of the fabric intended to be shown whilst in

wear.

Felling The operation of over-sewing a piece of material by its

edge (raw or turned in) upon the body material.
Blind stitch machines are used for many felling
operations.

Fly A cloth covered opening to conceal a fastening (e.g.

buttons, zip) A blind fly is fastened instead of left open
along the finished edge.

Fork The point of a pair of trousers at which the legs join (see
also Crutch)

French Seam A seam within a seam. Two pieces of fabric sewn

together, folded over and sewn again so that the edges
are concealed.

Fusible Interlining An interlining which has been treated so that it adheres to

other fabrics by the application of heat and pressure.

Fusing The action of bonding a fusible interlining to a garment

piece by the action of heat and pressure.

Grain The direction of the warp of the fabric

Cutting straight grain-cutting with the grain.
Cross grain – across the grain. Off grain – See bias.

Gusset A piece of fabric inserted to strengthen or enlarge a

garment.

Handle The feeling of a fabric to the hand.

Over edging The use of the overedge stitch either by hand or machine
which binds the edge to avoid fraying can also be used as
a decoration.

Over lock Seam A seam in which two or more edges of fabric are joined
together, over sewn and edge-trimmed in one operation,
with over edge stitches having two or more threads
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Pile A surface effect on a fabric formed by tufts or loops of

yarn, introduced into the fabric for the purpose, that stand
up from the body of the cloth.

Pleat Material folds introduced to allow for expansion or to

provide style features.

Pocket A bag inserted into or attached to a garment for practical

or decorative use Pockets may have flaps, jetting or
welts.
Cross Pocket: A pocket, which lies horizontally. In the
case of a trouser the pocket mouth can run from the
waistband on the front to a point approximately 10cm
down the side seam from the waistband.
Frog Pocket: A trouser pocket opening approximately
12cm across the waistband from the side seam and about
12cm down the side seam from the waistband seam
which is fastened in the corner with a hole and button
and when opened folds down to form a triangular flap.

Profile Stitching Automatic sewing following a pre-determined profile

e.g. by a jig or cams. Usually applied to the automatic
stitching of small parts.

Progressive Bundle A production system in which bundles pass from one

System operator to the next with some work in hand at each
operation. The operations are laid out in sequence with
the required number of machines for approximate
balance allocated to each.

Seam Line of junction between two or more pieces of fabric.

Plain Seam: A seam formed by a row of stitching joining
together two pieces of material their face sides together.

Seam Allowance A pre-determined amount of material between the edge

of component parts of the garment and the seam line;
usually between 1 and 2cm. Also called Seam Margin.

Seam Slippage The pulling away of fabric from a seam under tension.

Seaming Joining together the component parts of a garment at a

given distance from the edge of the material.
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Seat Part of trousers covering the buttocks.

Selvedge When used without qualification this term refers to the

longitudinal edges of a textile fabric which are formed
during manufacture in such a way that the component
threads (yarns) are interlaced to prevent them from
raveling or fraying.

Sub-Assembly (Garment) A part of garment which is made separately as a unit

before it is joined to the main garment.

Top Stitching Exposed stitching normally sewn at a uniform distance

from a seam. Mainly used for style or decorative effect.

Trimmings A wide variety of garments components including such

item as canvas, linings, buttons, twist, silk, zips etc.

Under pressing The pressing operations carried out during manufacture

of the garment; usually seam opening but fusing is
included, as is first edge pressing.

Waistband A narrow piece of material or binding attached to the top

of trousers and skirts to achieve style and fit.
Grown on Waistband: A waistband is one piece with a
trouser or skirt.

Warp A series of longitudinal yarns (ends) in woven material.

Weft A series of yarns (Picks) woven across the warp from

one selvedge to the other.

Workplace Engineering Designing and making a workplace to enable an operator

to work more efficiently.

Work Study A generic term for the techniques used in study of

methods of manufacture.
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Sewing Machine Feed Mechanisms

Feed A mechanism for repeatedly moving material being stitched

from one stitch position to the next.
Feed Dog The toothed mechanism of a sewing machine which is moved
to convey the material being stitched the desired distance
between needle penetrations.
Arm A casing which houses and provides mounting points for the
moving parts inside. It includes the sewing head and parts
housing the mechanism for transferring mechanical motions to
the parts of the mechanism contained in the machine bed. The
arm is normally the upper visible part of the machine above the
material being sewn.
Bed The part of the sewing machine below the material being sewn.
It consists of a casing which houses and provides mounting
points for the moving parts inside.
Flat Bed A type of bed which provides a flat unbroken surface with the
table in which it is mounted.
Folder A sewing machine attachment which folds material as it is sewn
into the desired configuration.
Knee lifter A lever under the sewing machine table which when operated
by the machinist’s knee lifts the presser foot.

Looper A stitch-forming part which usually carries the under thread on

some types of sewing machines
.
Needle A thin shaft of drawn steel wire used for sewing pointed at one
end with an eye for thread.

Needle Positioner A device on a sewing machine which ensures that the needle
will stop automatically either in or out of the fabric as required.

Presser Foot A section of the pressure device on the sewing machine

which ensure in conjunction with the throat plate and feed-dog,
an even flow of material and correct loop formation
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which ensure in conjunction with the throat plate and feed-dog

Spool (Bobbin) A small tube with or without flanges on to which is wound the
under-thread of a lockstitch machine. The spool is held in the
spool case underneath the throat plate.

Throat Plate A platform for supporting the material being sewn with
openings for the needle and feed surfaces. Also called Needle
Plate.

Top and Bottom Thread Trimmer A device fitted to a sewing machine that cuts the
needle threads and under threads after sewing.
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TERMINOLOGY & DEFINITIONS

B. Cutting Room Terms & Definitions

Band knife An endless-blade vertical knife around which the work

is moved over a large working table

Bias To” cut on the bias” is to cut at an angle to both the warp
And weft of the cloth

Body Collective term for all the pattern pieces required to make
one garment (hence a 3 body marker contains all the pattern
pieces for three garments)

Buffering The space allowance made between parts in a CAD lay plan to
Accommodate cutting of adjacent pattern pieces

Cut planning The process of converting customer order into factory order or
cuts

Damage A cloth fault, usually denoted by a "string” inserted by the

Manufacturer

End Loss The cloth at the end of a lay not covered by the marker

One Way Spreading Spreading so the face side of each ply faces the same way.
This requires a cut across the cloth at the end of each ply.

Face-to-Face-Spreading Spreading so the cloth is alternately face up-face down

Grading The operation used to establish the dimensions of the pattern

Pieces for all sizes of garments in a model using one size as a
base.

Lay A completed set of fabric plies spread ready for cutting

Marker A complete layout of all the pattern pieces needed for a

specified number of garments (bodies)
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Marker Making The positioning of all the pattern pieces for a given
number of garments in the minimum lengths and width
(Process can be mutual interactive with a computer or
automatic using of computer)

Marker Making The positioning of all the pattern pieces for a given
number of garments in the minimum lengths and width
(Process can be mutual interactive with a computer or
automatic using of computer)

Notch A small cut into a fabric part to aid alignment of parts at the
sewing machine.

Pattern Piece Any screen image or paper or card representing a garment part
e.g. left front , top collar facing etc.

Piece A roll of fabric.

Ply One fabric layer.

Re cut A component part containing a damage which is cut manually

from spare fabric, shade matched to the original.

Remnant A leftover from spreading a roll.

Selvedge The outer edge of a piece of a woven cloth; usually of different

weave from the middle.

Shading The visible and unacceptable difference in colour between two

fabric pieces or component parts.

Splice The overlap of two layers of cloth in the same ply either at the
the start of a new piece or at the place where a damage has been
cut out.

Spreading The process of laying out fabric in plies ready for cutting.