Terms & glossary

The single sample size, usually a small one, in which a garment is first produced for photography, fit sessions, and buyer showings.

The common abbreviation for 'small bust adjustment,' a pattern alteration used to reduce the amount of room built into a bodice pattern.

Sewing small projects specifically designed to use up leftover fabric scraps that are too small to cut a full garment from.

The strip of fabric lying between the stitching line and the raw cut edge, commonly five eighths of an inch or one and a half centimeters.

Any treatment applied to a raw seam allowance edge, such as overlocking, pinking, or zigzagging, to keep the fabric from fraying over time.

The line printed or drafted on a pattern piece marking precisely where the stitching should go, set in from the cutting line by the seam allowance.

A woman who sews, especially as a paid occupation, a historical term that is still used today to describe skilled hand and machine sewing work.

Sewing a project purely for oneself to wear, as opposed to sewing gifts or clothing intended for other people.

The tightly woven, self-finished edge that runs along both lengthwise sides of a fabric bolt and will not fray or unravel like a cut edge.

A structured, often online group event in which many sewists work through the same pattern together over a set period, following shared guidance.

A trip or retreat taken specifically to sew, whether at an organized workshop or informally alongside a group of fellow sewists.

A playful blend of 'sewing' and 'social,' describing the wider online community of sewists who share their projects and connect across social media.

Sewing motivation or enthusiasm; a sewist who has 'lost their sewjo' feels uninspired and unmotivated to get to their machine, playing on the word 'mojo'.

A table listing body measurements matched against pattern sizes, used by a sewist to decide which size to cut for the best fit.

Short for 'stock keeping unit,' a unique code identifying one specific product variation, such as a particular size and color of a garment.

A pattern alteration method that involves cutting a pattern piece apart along marked lines and spreading the resulting pieces to add fullness or length.

The American term for a basic, made-to-fit pattern with no seam allowances or style lines, used as a foundation when drafting new pattern designs; called a block in British usage.

A document listing a garment's precise measurements at every key point, used by a manufacturer to keep sizing consistent across a production run.

A generalized set of body measurements assigned to numbered sizes by a particular pattern company, which can vary noticeably from one brand to another.

A sewist's personal accumulated collection of fabric, patterns, or notions, kept on hand for future projects rather than used immediately.

Deliberately choosing to sew projects using fabric or patterns already owned, specifically to reduce an accumulated stash rather than buying anything new.

A line of regular straight stitching sewn just inside the seamline through a single layer, to keep curved or bias edges from stretching out of shape while handling.

Another name for the lengthwise grain, marked with an arrow on pattern pieces to show how they should align on the fabric.

A seam or design line on a pattern that also performs a shaping function, such as a princess seam that both fits and decorates.

A small sample cut of fabric, kept for reference or used to test stitches, tension, or shrinkage before a full project is cut.