Garments & patterns

A collective term for the four major North American commercial pattern publishers—Simplicity, McCall's, Butterick, and Vogue—known for tissue-paper multi-size patterns sold in retail envelopes.

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.

The difference between a garment's finished measurements and the body measurements it is intended to fit, allowing for movement, comfort, or a specific silhouette.

A sewing pattern produced by a small, independent design company rather than a major commercial publisher, typically sold as a PDF or printed copy-shop format.

The printed packaging of a commercial sewing pattern, listing fabric requirements, finished garment measurements, suggested fabrics, and a cutting layout diagram.

The system of body measurements and size labels a pattern company uses to grade its patterns, which varies between companies and does not correspond directly to ready-to-wear sizing.

A sewing pattern distributed as a digital file, printed at home on standard paper and assembled by taping numbered pages together, or sent to a copy shop for full-size printing.

A method of tracing sewing patterns directly onto fabric by projecting a digital pattern file onto a cutting surface using a video projector and calibration software.