Glossary

The point of a dart — the end furthest from the seam line, where the wedge closes to nothing. It should stop short of the fullest part of the body, not on it.

See also Dart

Distance measured along an edge from its start, in millimetres, following the curve rather than cutting across it. It is how a notch records where it sits, so that the position survives the edge being reshaped around it.

Where Notch positions

See also Notch, Edge

The printed mat with four markers at its corners that a piece is photographed on. The markers are a known size, which is what converts a photograph into millimetres — without all four in frame there is no scale, and the scan cannot be measured.

Where The guided scan

See also Scan

The direction running across the fabric from selvage to selvage, at right angles to the straight grain. It has a little more give than the straight grain and much less than the bias.

See also Grainline, True bias

An instruction to place the marked edge of a piece against a folded edge of fabric rather than cutting along it, so that one cut yields a symmetrical piece twice the width of the pattern. A back bodice cut on fold has no centre-back seam.

See also Grainline, Fold

A folded and stitched wedge that removes width from a flat piece of cloth so it can cup a curve of the body. Darts are how a two-dimensional pattern becomes a three-dimensional garment.

Where Tap an edge in the editor to open one

See also Dart intake, Apex, Press side

How much width a dart removes, measured across its opening at the seam line, in millimetres. A larger intake takes out more cloth and produces a deeper curve. An intake of zero is not a shallow dart; it is no dart at all, which is why the editor will not let one go there.

Where The inspector, when a dart is selected

See also Dart, Seam line

The ease a design calls for beyond what the body needs — the volume of a gathered sleeve, the drape of an oversized shirt. It is a style decision rather than a physical requirement, and it is the ease a parameter usually exposes.

See also Ease, Wearing ease

The workspace holding every piece of a pattern at once, rather than one piece on its own. Some acts only make sense in a single piece — folding it into a 3D preview, for instance — and those are offered only when a piece is open.

See also Piece, Pattern

The difference between a body measurement and the garment measurement at the same place. All ease is either the room needed to move or the room the design wants; a garment with none of the first is unwearable, and one with none of the second is a swimsuit.

Where Pattern parameters

See also Wearing ease, Design ease

One bounded run of a piece’s outline, between two corners — the line a seam allowance is added to and a notch is placed along. An edge may be straight or curved, and is made of one or more segments.

See also Arc length, Segment

The folded edge of the fabric, and by extension the line a piece is placed against to be cut symmetrically. A fold line is never cut.

See also Cut on fold

Producing the other sizes of a pattern from the one it was drafted in, by moving each point by a worked-out amount rather than scaling the whole piece — a neckline and a hem do not grow at the same rate.

See also Nest

The arrow marked on a pattern piece showing how it must be laid on the fabric. Getting it wrong is not a small error: the same piece cut off-grain hangs differently, twists as it is worn, and cannot be corrected afterwards. In this app 0° is the straight grain, 90° the cross grain and 45° the true bias, and the mark is undirected — an arrow drawn upward and the same arrow drawn downward are the same grain.

Where The grain tool in the editor

See also Straight grain, Cross grain, True bias

The extra cloth left below the finished edge to be turned up and stitched. It is a seam allowance that only has one side to join to.

See also Seam allowance

The app’s reading of what a scanned edge was meant to be, rather than what the scissors did: cutting wobble removed, and edges believed straight snapped onto true lines. The observed outline stays drawn underneath it, and the app reports how many edges were changed and by how far — comparing the two is the whole point, because it shows you exactly what was assumed away.

Where Shown after a scan, in bold over the observed line

See also Observed outline, Scan

A direction in the fabric itself — the lie of a pile, like velvet or corduroy, or a one-way print. Fabric with nap must have every piece laid the same way up, which uses more of it.

See also Notch, Grainline

A drawing of several graded sizes laid over one another, so the way a line shifts from size to size can be read at a glance.

See also Grading

A small mark cut into the seam allowance to say which point on one edge meets which point on another. Notches are how a long curved seam gets sewn without one side creeping ahead of the other. They are cut about 5 mm deep and are placed here by distance along the edge rather than by eye.

Where The notch tool in the editor

See also Arc length, Walk the seam

The outline as actually measured from your photographs, before any interpretation. It is the evidence; the idealised line is the claim.

See also Idealisation

A named measurement a pattern is drafted from — a waist, a length, an amount of ease — which can be changed after the fact, with every line that depends on it redrawn. This is what makes a scanned pattern adjustable rather than merely copied.

Where The parameters sheet in the editor

See also Ease

A complete set of pieces making one garment, together with its parameters and history.

See also Piece, Version

One shape to be cut from cloth — a front bodice, a sleeve, a facing. A pattern is a set of pieces, and measuring, drafting and folding all happen a piece at a time.

See also Pattern, Edge

Which way a sewn dart is folded flat once stitched. It matters because it decides which side of the garment carries the extra thickness, and it is recorded on the dart rather than left to the sewer to guess.

See also Dart

The guided sequence of four photographs of one piece, taken from different angles. Four are needed, not one: a mark that appears in the same place in every shot is cut into the paper, while one that moves between shots is the lens. No single photograph can tell those apart.

Where The + button

See also Calibration marker, Idealisation

The margin of cloth between the seam line and the cut edge, added so there is something to sew through. Add it to every edge that joins another; do not add it to a fold.

Where The seams sheet in the editor

See also Seam line, Hem allowance

The line the sewing machine actually follows, one seam allowance in from the cut edge. Every measurement the app reports is taken at the seam line rather than the cut edge, because that is the line that determines how the finished garment fits.

Where Every measurement in the app

See also Seam allowance

A single straight or curved span within an edge. Segments are what the geometry is actually made of; edges are what you work with.

See also Edge

The finished lengthwise edges of a bolt of fabric, which do not fray. They run parallel to the straight grain, which is why the grainline is described as running along the selvage.

See also Cross grain, Grainline

A piece folded up into three dimensions on screen, so its darts and seams can be seen doing their work before any cloth is cut. Available with a single piece open, since it is a fact about one piece rather than the whole pattern.

Where The 3D icon in the editor

See also Piece

A row of stitching worked just inside the seam line on a curved or bias edge, before the piece is handled, to stop it stretching out of shape.

See also Toile

The direction running the length of the fabric, parallel to the selvage. It is the most stable direction in the cloth and the one most garments are cut along. 0° here.

See also Grainline, Selvage

A test garment, sewn in cheap cloth to check the fit and the shape before cutting the fabric you actually care about. Also called a muslin. It is the step that makes a measurement error cost an afternoon instead of three metres of silk.

The 45° diagonal, exactly between the straight and cross grains — the direction in which woven cloth stretches most and drapes best. Bias-cut garments skim the body without darts, and they are also the least forgiving to cut and sew.

Where The grain tool snaps to it

See also Grainline, Cross grain

A saved state of a pattern that can be returned to. Every change is recorded, so nothing you do in the editor is unrecoverable.

Where The history icon in the editor

See also Pattern

Checking two edges that will be sewn together by stepping one along the other, a short span at a time, to confirm they are the same length and that their notches land opposite one another. Do it before cutting, not after.

See also Notch

The minimum ease a body needs in order to move, breathe and sit down in the garment. It is not a style choice, and taking it out is how a beautiful drawing becomes unwearable.

See also Ease, Design ease