Terms & glossary

The abbreviation marked on pattern pieces and fabric for the center back, the vertical line running down the exact middle of the back of a garment.

The abbreviation marked on pattern pieces and fabric for the center front, the vertical line running down the exact middle of the front of a garment.

The diagram included in pattern instructions showing exactly how to arrange all the pattern pieces on folded or open fabric before cutting.

The outer line marked on a pattern piece indicating exactly where to cut the fabric, positioned beyond the seam line by the width of the seam allowance.

A printed circular marking on a pattern piece indicating a pivot point, dart tip, or matching point that gets transferred onto the cut fabric.

The double-headed arrow printed on a pattern piece that shows how the piece should be aligned with the fabric's lengthwise grain when laid out.

A simple black-and-white technical sketch, shown on a pattern envelope or in the instructions, illustrating a garment's design without color or fabric texture.

A pattern printed with several nested cutting lines for different sizes on the same sheet, letting a sewist choose or blend sizes as needed.

A small triangular or single mark cut or printed along a pattern piece's edge, used to line pattern pieces up correctly with each other during sewing.

A modification made to an existing commercial or indie sewing pattern to change its style, features, or fit without drafting an entirely new pattern.

One individual printed or drafted shape from a sewing pattern, representing a single part of the finished garment to be cut from fabric.

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

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

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.