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French designer who founded her fashion house around 1910 and popularized relaxed, jersey-based women's wear, the little black dress, and the collarless tweed Chanel suit from the 1920s onward.

The process of constructing a collar pattern shaped to fit a garment's neckline, determining the collar's stand height, fall, and roll line based on the desired style.

A narrow band that attaches the collar to the neckline, allowing the collar to sit upright before folding over on a shirt.

A collar that rolls or buckles instead of sitting smoothly comes from insufficient understitching, poorly graded seam allowance, or interfacing too stiff or too soft. Grade the allowances and match interfacing weight to the fabric.

One of the specific color or print combinations that a single garment design is offered in across a collection.

Fabric looking dull or washed-out after repeated laundering comes from dye breaking down under heat, sunlight, and detergent brighteners. Wash in cold water, turn garments inside out, and use a detergent made for colors.

A fabric's resistance to fading or bleeding dye during washing, light exposure or rubbing, tested before combining contrasting fabrics in one garment.

A close-fitting activewear piece made from firm stretch fabric engineered to apply graduated pressure to muscles during exercise or recovery.

A machine controlled by an onboard computer that stores stitch patterns and adjusts tension and length automatically, typically operated through a digital screen or touchpad.

A dart that curves inward at the middle and points at both ends, shaping fabric closely to the body at the waist without a horizontal seam.

A shaped, curved waistband cut to follow the body's natural waist curve rather than a straight strip, giving a closer fit without a separate casing.

A collar designed to be worn open, exposing a notch-like opening at the top button, or closed at the neck like a mandarin collar.

The practice of drafting or tracing a sewing pattern directly from an existing ready-to-wear garment, used to reproduce or reverse-engineer its fit and construction.

A thin, twisted or braided cord used inside piping, as a drawstring, or couched onto fabric for decorative surface texture.

A durable cotton fabric woven with extra weft yarns cut to form vertical ridges, or wales, of pile; sewn with the nap running consistently in one direction.

A close-fitting, boned undergarment or outer garment that shapes and supports the torso, traditionally laced or hooked to control the waist and bust.

Small lined pouch, typically zippered, sized and shaped to hold makeup or toiletries, often made with a wipeable or laminated fabric lining.

Practice of constructing and wearing costumes that recreate characters from anime, comics, games, and film, often combining sewing, foam work, and prop-making.

Lightweight costume armour built from heat-formed EVA foam sheets, shaped, sealed, and painted to mimic metal or hard plating, then attached to a fabric base or harness.

Process of drafting or adapting patterns for fantasy, sci-fi, or stylised character costumes, often exaggerating proportions or silhouettes beyond conventional garment fit.

A natural cellulose fibre harvested from the cotton plant's seed pods, valued for softness, breathability and absorbency; used in wovens and knits from quilting cotton to denim.

A machine patented by Eli Whitney in 1794 that mechanically separated cotton fibers from seeds, dramatically increasing cotton production and, in the American South, entrenching slave labor on plantations.

A natural-fibre sewing thread with a matte finish and low stretch, well suited to natural woven fabrics such as quilting cotton and linen.

A technique in which a decorative thread or cord is laid on the fabric surface and secured in place with small stitches worked over it.

French for 'sewing' or 'dressmaking,' used in English to describe fine, skillfully constructed garment sewing in general.

A stitch made on a coverstitch machine that forms parallel rows of stitching on top and interlocked loops beneath, used for stretchy, professional-looking knit hems and seams.

A machine that sews two or three parallel rows of straight stitching on top with interlocking looper threads underneath, used for hems and flat seams on knits.

Skipped stitches on a coverstitch hem, especially at the seam start, usually come from an unstabilized layer or fabric not feeding evenly under both needles. Use a stabilizer strip and start on a fabric leader.

A neckline formed from bias-cut fabric that drapes into soft, loose folds below the collarbone rather than lying flat.

A fabric with a crimped, pebbly surface produced by high-twist yarns, heat-setting or a crepe weave, giving good drape and a matte finish.

A stiffened or hooped petticoat used to hold out a wide skirt; the cage crinoline of steel hoops, introduced around 1856, replaced heavy layered petticoats and dominated 1860s fashion.

Spanish couturier who opened his Paris house in 1937, renowned for sculptural, architectural silhouettes such as the sack dress and balloon skirt built through precise draping and construction.

A fitted or loose upper-body garment cut to end above the natural waistline, exposing part of the midriff.

A simplified, elongated figure template used by fashion designers to sketch clothing designs quickly onto a consistent body proportion.

The width measured straight across the upper back from one armhole seam to the other, used to check the fit of a garment's shoulders and back.

X-shaped hand embroidery stitch formed by two crossing diagonal stitches, traditionally worked on even-weave fabric using a grid to build geometric or pictorial motifs.

The direction fabric threads run from one selvedge to the other, perpendicular to the lengthwise grain and usually with a bit more give.

The curved seam line of a trouser pattern that shapes the crotch area between the front and back leg pieces, critical to comfort and the elimination of crotch wrinkles.

The vertical distance from the waist to the seat while seated, used in trouser drafting to position the crotch line and set the rise of the pattern.

Fabric pulling tight and creasing across the crotch of trousers usually comes from a crotch curve too shallow or a rise too short for the wearer. Lower the curve or lengthen the rise in a future muslin.