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Sewing or stitching is the fastening of cloth, leather, furs, bark, or other flexible materials, using needle and thread. Its use is nearly universal among human populations and dates back to Paleolithic times (30,000 BC). Sewing predates the weaving of cloth.
Sewing is used primarily to produce clothing and household furnishings such as curtains, bedclothes, upholstery, and table linens. It is also used for sails, bellows, skin boats, banners, and other items shaped out of flexible materials such as canvas and leather.
Most sewing in the industrial world is done by machines. Pieces of a garment are often first tacked together. The machine has a complex set of gears and arms that pierces thread through the layers of the cloth and semi-securely interlocks the thread.
Some people sew clothes for themselves and their families. More often home sewers sew to repair clothes, such as mending a torn seam or replacing a loose button. A person who sews for a living is known as a seamstress (from seams-mistress) or seamster (from seams-master), dressmaker, tailor, or garment worker.
"Plain" sewing is done for functional reasons: making or mending clothing or household linens. "Fancy" sewing is primarily decorative, including techniques such as shirring, smocking, embroidery, or quilting.
Sewing is the foundation for many needle arts and crafts, such as applique, canvas work, and patchwork.
While sewing is often seen as a low-skill job, the task of designing good-looking three-dimensional shapes from non-stretching two-dimensional fabric generally requires extensive hands-on knowledge of the design and principles of mathematical manifolds. Flat sheets of fabric with holes and slits cut into the fabric can curve and fold in 3D space in extensively complex ways that require a high level of skill and experience to manipulate into a smooth, ripple-free design. Aligning and orienting patterns printed or woven into the fabric further complicates the design process. Once a clothing designer with these skills has created the initial product, the fabric can then be cut using templates and sewn by manual laborers or machines.
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Seam allowance
Seam allowance is the area between the edge of the fabric and the line of stitching. It is usually 1.5 cm away from the edge of the fabric. For the seam allowance is usually 2.5 cm or more. This is often the case for standard home dressmaking. Industry seam allowances vary but are usually 0.6 cm.
Occupations requiring sewing
- Bookbinding\Bookbinder
- Shoemaking\Cobbler
- Corsetier
- Draper
- Dressmaker
- Glove\Glover
- Hatter
- Milliner
- Parachute rigger
- Quilting\Quilter
- Sailmaker
- Seamstress
- Tailor
- Taxidermist
- Upholsterer
Sewing tools and accessories
- stitching awl
- bobbin
- bodkin
- dress form
- dressmaker's or tailor's shears
- measuring tape
- needle
- pattern
- pattern weights
- pin
- pincushion
- rotary cutter
- scissors
- seam ripper
- sewing table
- tailor's chalk
- thimble
- thread/yarn
- tracing paper
- tracing wheel
- wax, often beeswax
- sewing box
Notions (objects sewn into garments or soft goods)
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Finishing and embellishment
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List of stitches
The two main stitches that sewing machines make of which the others are derivatives are lockstitch and chain stitch.
- back tack
- backstitch - a sturdy hand stitch for seams and decoration
- basting stitch (or tacking) - for reinforcement
- blanket stitch
- blind stitch (or hem stitch) - a type of slip stitch used for inconspicuous hems
- buttonhole stitch
- chain stitch - hand or machine stitch for seams or decoration
- cross-stitch - usually used for decoration, but may also be used for seams
- darning stitch
- embroidery stitch
- hemming stitch
- lockstitch - machine stitch, also called straight stitch
- overhand stitch
- overlock
- pad stitch
- padding stitch
- running stitch - a hand stitch for seams and gathering
- sailmakers stitch
- slip stitch - a hand stitch for fastening two pieces of fabric together from the right side without the thread showing
- stretch stitch
- topstitch
- whipstitch (or oversewing or overcast stitch) - for protecting edges
- zig-zag stitch
See also
References
- Elissa Meyrich (2006). RIP IT!: How to Deconstruct and Reconstruct the Clothes of Your Dreams. New York: Fireside.
- Elissa Meyrich (2002). Sew Fast Sew Easy: All You Need to Know When You Start to Sew. New York: St. Martin's Griffin.
- Susan Huxley (1999). Sewing Secrets from the Fashion Industry: Proven Methods to Help You Sew Like the Pros. New York: Rodale Publishing.
- Singer: The New Sewing Essentials by The Editors of Creative Publishing International ISBN 0-86573-308-2
External links
- Vintage Sewing Reference Library (free online access to public domain sewing books)
- History of Industrial Sewing
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Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 1 December 2008, at 15:51.
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