Terms & glossary

A sewing pattern sold as a digital file, printed at home across multiple sheets of paper or sent to a copy shop for large-format printing.

A joking acronym for 'project half done,' describing the pile of unfinished sewing projects that many sewists accumulate over time.

Stopping with the sewing machine needle down at a corner, lifting the presser foot, and turning the fabric to continue stitching in a new direction.

A finished, reinforced opening in a garment, strengthened with an extra strip of fabric, that allows buttons, a zipper, or the head to pass through.

A section of fabric folded back on itself and pressed or stitched in place, adding controlled fullness or decorative shaping to a garment.

A leftover end-of-bolt piece of fabric, usually smaller and sold at a discount compared to fabric cut fresh from a full bolt.

The finished, face side of a piece of fabric that is meant to show on the outside of a finished garment.

Positioning two layers of fabric so their finished, face sides touch each other, leaving the wrong sides visible, before stitching a seam.

Short for 'ready-to-wear,' mass-produced clothing manufactured in standard sizes and sold off the rack, as opposed to custom-made or handmade garments.

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.

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.

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

The task of trimming and taping together the individual letter or A4 sized pages of a home-printed PDF pattern into one complete, full-size sheet.

A 'tried and true' pattern that a sewist has made successfully before, knows fits well, and can sew again with confidence.

French for a test garment sewn up in inexpensive fabric to check a design's fit before cutting into the final fabric; used more often outside the US than the equivalent term muslin.

Short for 'unfinished object,' a sewing project that has been started but set aside or abandoned before it was ever completed.

Stitching worked close to a seam that secures a facing or lining to its seam allowance so it rolls neatly to the inside and stays hidden.

Short for 'work in progress,' a sewing project currently being made, often photographed and shared on social media before it is finished.

The reverse, less finished side of a piece of fabric that is meant to face inward and stay hidden from view.

The total amount of fabric, measured in yards or meters, that a project requires or that a particular piece of fabric contains.