Glossary
Surface Design Methods

Burnout This technique involves the use of a chemical to dissolve the silk fibers from the surface of a fabric. Usually, the base of the fabric is rayon and sheer. The resulting fabric, with both sheer and opaque areas is dyed to enhance the burnout areas.

Batik A method of dyeing fabric using beeswax to keep dye from certain parts of the cloth. The wax may be deliberately cracked prior to immersion in the dye. Multiple layers of way can be applied to a piece to maintain one color as another color is being applied.

Shibori An ancient Japanese technique of stitching, tying and/or folding fabric to resist the penetration of dye. There are many types of Shibori: Typically used in wearable art clothing and accessories. It may look like tie-dye because tie-dye is a shibori technique!

Hand Painted This term is used to describe fabrics which have had dye applied by hand either using a resist or not. Dyes applied without resist have few defined edges, whereas artists who use resist have crisp edges to the colors on their pieces. Hand painting is sometimes used in addition to techniques like shibori.

Resist Resists prevent dye from being absorbed by fibers. There are chemical resists and others are natural. An example of this is beeswax used in Batik techniques.

Applique A technique of sewing a shape onto another fabric, called the base fabric. Applique can be invisibly stitched or visibly stitched so the stitching and thread become a design element. 

Clothing Construction methods

Hand Loomed A term given to knitwear that has been knitted using a hand operated knitting machine. Generally hand loomed garments are shaped by hand as opposed to shaping by cutting the fabric and sewing the pieces together.

Fully Fashioned This term refers to knitwear that is shaped as it is knit. You could find the last stitch of a piece and literally unravel the whole item. This manufacturing method is generally more expensive than cut and sew.

Cut and Sew A term used when fabric is knitted into a long piece, then “Cut and Sewn” into a garment. Some Cut and Sew garments are made from expensive yarns and are hard to determine if they have been cut and sewn. Usually, this is not the case.

French Seam A seam is sewn once, then trimmed and turned so the raw edges are encased by a second row of stitching. Usually results in a narrow seam. It is found on transparent fabrics and higher priced clothing and accessories.

Flat Felled Seam Sewing technique used on bulky fabrics to reduce the bulk of a seam, resulting in no raw fabric edges being visible. Hand woven fabrics, loosely woven fabrics and jeans use this seaming method.

Merrow Seam Merrow machines sew over the cut edges of fabric to prevent fraying as they seam two pieces of fabric together. Named for its inventor, Joseph Merrow. The machines are also known by a generic name: serger.

Fabric Terms

Charmeuse Silk fabric that has a very soft hand and has a sheen on one side. Used for blouses, tops, skirts and pants. Considered a luxury fabric, silk charmeuse is not for everyday wear.

Georgette Silk fabric that is fairly transparent. Used for evening and special occasion wear. Can be hand dyed, digitally printed or commercially dyed. It has a soft hand.

Gazar Transparent silk fabric similar to silk georgette except has a crisp hand. It is hand woven and should never be steamed.

Crepe This fabric has a textured surface upon close inspection. It generally resists wrinkling better than flat surfaced fabrics like charmeuse.

Hand Woven Fabric created using a hand weaving loom. The fabric is created by threading or “dressing” a loom with a warp, the lengthwise threads. The warp is woven crosswise with fibers, yarns, threads or other materials called a weft.

Hand This term refers to the feel of fabric in the ‘hand’. A soft hand indicates softness, etc. Sometimes the ‘hand’ changes with repeated washing; linen is a good example of this.

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