Sewing Definitions — stitches, seams, quilting and sewing terms from Apparel Search
Sewing is an ancient craft involving the stitching of cloth, animal skins, furs or other materials, using needle and thread. Its use is nearly universal among human populations and it dates back to Paleolithic times, around 30,000 BC; sewing predates the weaving of cloth. Sewing is used primarily to produce clothing and household furnishings such as curtains, bedclothes, upholstery and table linens, and also for sails, bellows, skin boats and other items shaped from flexible materials such as canvas and leather. Most sewing in the industrial world is done by machines.
Sewing is used primarily to produce clothing and household furnishings as curtains, bedclothes, upholstery, and table linens. It is also used for sails, bellows, skin boats, and other items shaped out of flexible materials such as canvas and leather.
Most sewing in the industrial world is done by machines. Pieces of a garment or the edge of a cloth are firstly tacked together. Some people sew clothes for themselves and their families. More often home sewers sew to repair clothes, such as mending a torn seam or replacing a loose button. A person who sews for a living is known as a seamstress, dressmaker, tailor, or garment worker.
"Plain" sewing is done for functional reasons: making or mending clothing or household linens. "Fancy" sewing is primarily decorative, including techniques such as shirring, embroidery, or quilting.
Sewing is the foundation for many needle arts and crafts, such as applique, canvas work, and patchwork.
Pin
Pincushion
Scissors
Wax
Heading
Hook
Snap
Toggle
back tack
backstitch - for imitating machine stitches
basting stitch (or tacking) - for temporary fixing
blanket stitch
blind stitch (or hem stitch)
buttonhole stitch
feather stitch
hemming stitch
padding stitch
running stitch - for seams and gathering
slip stitch - for fastening a folded edge to a flat piece of fabric, or to another folded edge
straight stitch
topstitch
whipstitch (or oversewing stitch) - for protecting edges
zig-zag stitch
| The above article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/sewing). Modified by Apparel Search 10/19/04. |
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Older Than Woven ClothSewing came before weaving. Paleolithic people joined animal skins and furs with needles of bone and thread of sinew long before looms existed, because shaped coverings cannot be made from flat skins without cutting and joining them. That priority explains sewing's universality: every culture that wears fitted clothing or uses sewn containers, sails, tents or upholstery practises some form of it. The materials change, cloth, leather, canvas, modern technical fabrics, and the tools evolve from bone needles to steel to computerised machines, but the operation is constant: a flexible thread is passed through flexible material in a pattern of stitches that holds the pieces together. The stitch is sewing's vocabulary. The pages in this section define its main words: running stitch, the foundation; backstitch for strong hand seams; chain stitch and lockstitch, the looped and locked machine stitches; overlock for finishing edges; satin stitch for covering fabric with thread; and the temporary tacking or basting stitch that holds work for its permanent stitching. Around the stitches sit the tools and accessories: bobbin, pin and pincushion, scissors, seam ripper, thimble, wax for strengthening thread, and the sewing needle itself, together with the notions sewn into garments, buttons, eyes, hooks, snaps, toggles, zippers and interfacing. Hand, Home and FactoryMost sewing in the industrial world is done by machines, in factories where each worker performs a small number of operations at speed. Before a garment reaches the machine it is prepared in ways hand sewers recognise: pieces are firstly tacked together, seams are matched and marked, and the permanent stitching follows. Home sewing occupies the middle ground between craft and necessity. Some people sew clothes for themselves and their families; more often home sewers sew to repair clothes, mending a torn seam or replacing a loose button, and to alter, adapt and maintain what factories made. The hand skills persist because machines are poor at judgement: fitting a garment to one body, easing a sleeve, or sewing a difficult corner still rewards a needle in a human hand. Sewing is also the foundation for many needle arts and crafts, such as applique, canvas work and patchwork, and its decorative branch, fancy sewing, includes shirring, embroidery and quilting, techniques that begin as stitching and end as ornament. The sewing machine section traces how the craft was mechanised, from hand cranks to the lockstitch factories of the garment industry. Whether the product is a couture gown, a repaired pair of jeans, a sail or a skin boat, sewing remains what it was in the Paleolithic: the joining of flexible materials with needle and thread, and one of the oldest continuous technologies in human use. Common QuestionsWhat is sewing?Sewing is the craft of stitching cloth, animal skins, furs or other materials using needle and thread. It is used primarily to produce clothing and household furnishings, and dates back to Paleolithic times. What is the difference between plain and fancy sewing?Plain sewing is done for functional reasons: making or mending clothing or household linens. Fancy sewing is primarily decorative, including techniques such as shirring, embroidery and quilting. What is a person who sews for a living called?A person who sews for a living is known as a seamstress, dressmaker, tailor or garment worker, depending on the work and tradition. Home sewers more often sew to repair clothes, mending a torn seam or replacing a loose button. More to Explore
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