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Fabric gathering into folds right at the needle instead of feeding smoothly usually means too much foot pressure, a dull needle, or bulky layers meeting at once. Reduce foot pressure and pivot slowly over intersections.

Standardised symbols printed on fabric bolts or garment labels indicating washing, bleaching, drying, ironing and dry-cleaning instructions for a textile.

Process of applying colour to fibre, yarn, or finished fabric using dye baths, which may be immersion, hand-painted, or resist-based, altering or refreshing a textile's colour.

A pen filled with ink or dye designed to mark fabric temporarily, with the mark later removed by water, heat, or exposure to air.

Fabric that stalls under the presser foot is typically caused by dropped feed dogs, too-light foot pressure, or lint packed under the plate. Check the feed dog setting, raise foot pressure, and clean out lint.

Pattern pieces ending up slightly distorted despite careful layout often come from fabric sliding under the pattern weights or shears as you cut. Use a rotary cutter with a mat, or weight the pattern heavily.

The reduction in a fabric's dimensions after washing or steaming, caused by relaxation of finishing tension or fibre swelling, addressed by pre-washing before cutting.

Layers shifting out of alignment as they're stitched, common with silky fabrics, comes from insufficient friction between layers and the feed dogs. Pin generously, hand-baste, or use tissue paper and a walking foot.

A home sewist's personal accumulated collection of fabric purchased for future projects, a common feature of hobbyist sewing culture often documented and discussed in sewing communities online.

A seam that ends up longer than the fabric it was cut from, common on knits and bias cuts, comes from the foot or hands pulling fabric taut while sewing. Support the fabric's weight instead of pulling it.

A fabric's mass per unit area, commonly measured in grams per square metre, used to judge suitability for a garment and to match pattern recommendations.

A hem finished by attaching a separate shaped facing strip to the raw edge instead of turning up fabric, used when the garment lacks allowance for a folded hem.

A shaped piece of fabric sewn to an edge such as a neckline, armhole, or hem and turned to the inside to finish the raw edge cleanly.

A decorative technique that joins two finished edges with an open, ladder-like pattern of stitches across a visible gap, rather than a closed seam.

Third-party certification schemes that verify garment supply chains meet standards for fair wages, safe working conditions, and environmental practices, developed largely from the 1990s onward in response to sweatshop scandals.

A hooped or padded understructure worn beneath skirts from the 15th to early 17th centuries to create a rigid conical or wheel-shaped silhouette, first developed in Spain.

A retail business model built on rapidly translating runway and trend ideas into cheap, mass-produced clothing with quick turnaround, expanding globally from the 1990s alongside globalized garment manufacturing.

A quarter-yard cut of fabric shaped as a roughly square piece rather than a long narrow strip, popular for quilting and small projects.

A pile fabric with a knitted or woven backing and a long synthetic pile that mimics animal fur, cut from the backing only to avoid shearing the pile.

A synthetic fabric, usually polyurethane-coated woven or knit backing, designed to imitate leather's look and hand at lower cost and with more stretch.

The common abbreviation for 'full bust adjustment,' a pattern alteration frequently discussed by name in sewing forums and pattern instructions.

Openwork hand embroidery stitch made of alternating angled loops branching from a central line, producing a feathery, vine-like border often used on smocked or heirloom garments.

Metal teeth beneath the needle plate that rise, move forward, and drop in a rotating motion to grip and advance fabric through the machine with each stitch.

A small, slanted hand stitch used to permanently secure a folded edge flat against another layer, such as a facing or waistband lining, common in couture finishing.

A hand-finishing technique in tailoring where a folded edge, such as a lining or facing, is secured invisibly with small slanted stitches.

The actual dimensions of a completed garment as it lies flat, distinct from the body measurements it is intended to fit, showing the ease built into the design.

The actual dimensions of a completed garment, including all built-in ease, as opposed to the raw body measurements the pattern was originally drafted around.

A person with standardized body measurements who tries on sample garments during development so a design house can check and refine the fit.

A dress fitted through the bodice and waist that flares dramatically outward at the hip, often using a circle or gored skirt.

A second person who helps assess and pin fit corrections on a garment being fitted, since many fitting problems are difficult to see or reach alone.

A structured process of trying on a toile or garment in progress, observing wrinkles and balance, and marking or pinning changes to correct the fit.

A simplified test garment, usually a bodice or trouser front and back with minimal design details, sewn specifically to evaluate and correct fit before developing a full pattern block.

A loop of thread pulled from a knit's surface, leaving a puckered dot, should never be cut. Use a small crochet hook or needle to work the slack back to the fabric's wrong side.

A soft, loosely woven fabric, traditionally wool and later cotton, brushed to raise a light nap for warmth; associated with Welsh textile production from at least the 17th century.

A pocket, often welt or patch style, covered by a shaped flap of fabric that hangs down over the opening.

A loose, straight-cut dress with a dropped waist and hemline typically at or above the knee, worn by young women of the 1920s who embraced a modern, active lifestyle.

Attaching a lining piece to a garment piece by stitching around the edges of each cut piece before assembly, treating the two layers as one from then on.

A pattern drafted using measurements, rulers, and math directly on paper, as opposed to draping fabric on a body or dress form.

A seat shape flatter than the standard pattern block assumes, commonly causing excess fabric to sag and fold vertically below the waistband at the back of trousers or a skirt.

A pattern alteration that removes excess width and length from the back of a trouser or skirt pattern below the waist to fit a seat flatter than the block assumes.