Tailoring Terms
Understanding tailoring terms is crucial to ensuring your garments fit perfectly and reflect your personal style. Here, you will find essential tailoring terminology explained to help you communicate more effectively with your tailor.
Alterations
Alterations involve adjusting a garment to improve its fit, such as shortening sleeves, taking in sides, or hemming pants. It is a common practice to tailor ready-made clothing to suit individual measurements and preferences.
Bespoke
Bespoke tailoring refers to garments made-to-measure for a specific client. Unlike off-the-rack clothing, bespoke items are fully customised, allowing complete control over fabric, fit, and design details.
Bias Cut
A bias cut describes fabric cut diagonally across the grain, usually at a 45° angle. This technique allows the fabric to drape smoothly and stretch, providing a flattering fit for the body’s contours.
Basting
Basting involves temporary, long stitches to hold fabric pieces in place before the final stitching. These stitches can be easily removed and are essential for fittings and adjustments.
Binding
Binding is a finishing technique where fabric strips are sewn over the edges of garments or seams. This is often done to prevent fraying and to create a clean, decorative finish.
Darts
Darts are folds sewn into fabric to provide shape and structure, often used to contour the garment to the body. They are commonly found in areas like the bust, waist, and hips.
Double Breasted
A double-breasted garment features two parallel columns of buttons, allowing the front to overlap. This style is typically found in formal wear, such as suits and overcoats.
Interfacing
Interfacing is a material used to reinforce and add structure to parts of a garment like collars, cuffs, and waistbands. It is sewn or fused into the fabric to maintain the shape and rigidity.
Inseam
The inseam is the length of the inner leg seam on pants, measured from the crotch to the hem. This measurement is crucial for achieving the right pant length.
Hem
The hem is the edge of a fabric that has been folded over and sewn to prevent fraying. It is a finishing detail found on the bottom edges of garments like pants, skirts, and sleeves.
French Bearer
A French bearer is an additional piece of fabric behind the fly zipper or button placket on trousers. It provides support and prevents the front from gaping or pulling.
Interlining
Interlining involves adding an extra layer of fabric between the outer fabric and the lining. Typically used for warmth or to create a specific drape, it enhances the performance of the garment.
Lapel
The lapel is the folded flap of fabric on the front of a jacket or coat. Styles can vary, including notched, peaked, and shawl lapels, each suited to different garment types and formality levels.
Pique
Piqué is a weaving style that creates a textured surface with raised patterns, often used in dress shirts and polo shirts. It adds visual interest and can enhance the fabric’s durability.
Pleat
Pleats are folds sewn or pressed into fabric to add volume and movement. They are often used in skirts, trousers, and sleeves to enhance the garment’s structure and style.
Placket
A placket is an opening in a garment that fastens with buttons, zippers, or snaps. It is typically found at the front of shirts or at the waistband of skirts and pants.
Selvedge
The selvedge is the finished edge of fabric that prevents it from unravelling. Selvedge edges are often used in high-quality denim and other fabrics for added durability and visual interest.
Surgeon’s Cuffs
Surgeon’s cuffs feature functioning buttonholes on the sleeves of a suit jacket. Historically, this allowed surgeons to unbutton and roll up their sleeves but is now a mark of high-quality tailoring.
Yoke
A yoke is a piece of fabric fitted to the upper part of a garment, such as the back of a shirt or the waistband of trousers. It adds structure and allows for better fit and movement.
Vent
A vent is a slit in the back or sides of a jacket or coat. It provides ease of movement and adds a detail that enhances the garment’s silhouette.
Taper
Tapering refers to narrowing the width of a garment, usually trousers or sleeves, to create a slimmer, more fitted appearance. This can be gradual or sharp, depending on the desired style.
