10 unusual sewing terms you’ve probably never heard of

Whether you’re a sewing expert or a novice, there’s always something new to learn about your craft. Today we have for you a selection of names for sewing techniques that you might very well be familiar with, but never realised that there was a fun, quirky and very official term for that.

Let’s get started!

1. Armscye:

The hole you made in that top, to which you are planning to attach a sleeve, it’s called an armscye.

2. Basting:

Ever tried holding pieces of fabric together with long, temporary stitches? Well, that’s what basting is. FYI, basting is also a cooking term, so don’t confuse the two.

ALSO READ: How to wash silk sarees and clothes in a washing machine?

3. Couture:

We’ve all heard the term ‘haute couture’ bandied about during Paris Fashion Week and the like, but did you know that these aren’t just random French words and in fact refer to the use of expensive fabrics and exquisitely detailed stitching to make custom-fit clothing

4. Ease:

Whether you’re making tight-fitted clothes or loose and flowing ones, your design likely includes some extra fabric in certain areas for ease of movement and comfort. As you no doubt have guessed by now, the term for that extra fabric is ‘ease’!

5. Felling:

This is the name of the technique you’d use to sew a seam where you fold one edge of a fabric inside another similarly folded edge to prevent fraying. This is a technique commonly used to stitch the seams of jeans.

6. Godet:

Sometimes a tailor might add a piece of triangular fabric to, say, the hem of a skirt to add some volume or flare to it. That triangular fabric is called a godet.

7. Pinking:

This is an easy one. Have you ever used a zigzag knife aka a pinking knife to cut fabric? The process of doing so is called pinking!

8. Presser foot:

You know that little foot-shaped contraption on your sewing machine that holds fabrics down while you run the machine? It has a name, and that name is presser foot!

9. Rouleau:

You’ve heard of spaghetti straps, but did you know that the technique you use to make them – by rolling fabric strips into thin tubes – is called rouleau?

ALSO READ: All you need to know about the symbols on your washing machine

10. Selvedge:

When you buy a raw fabric roll, you might have noticed that the edge is more tightly woven than the rest of the fabric, usually against the grain. This edge is called a self-finished edge or selvedge.

You might be an expert at sewing, but are you an expert on sewing terms as well? How many were you already familiar with? Do let us know.