Fashion Apparel Analysis Review

Seam type choice is based on what?
- location of seam within garment
- end use
- fit
- fabric
- care of garment
- current fashion trends al balanced with cost limitations

Seams
Joints resulting when two or more fabric pieces are joined together

Seam line
Stitched line of a seam; usually parallel to and always specified distance from raw edge of fabric

Seam allowance (Seam margin)
- Narrow width of fabric between seam line and cut edge of fabric
- Affects strength, durability, appearance, comfort, cost
- 1/2' or wider for high quality RTW
- 1/8' reduces bulk and yields smooth, flat edge

Seam types
1. Superimposed (SS)
2. Lapped (LS)
3. Bound (BS)
4. Flat (FS)

Bound Seams (BS)
- Made by using fabric binding strips to encase raw edges
- Found only at edges
- Meant to cover and finish raw edges (i.e. necklines, armholes, waistlines, hems, and hem and seam allowance)
- Prevents raveling of edges exposed to wear, covers raw edge to make more comfortable
- Decorative AND functional
- Requires topstitching to a garment

Mitering
- Seaming or folding the binding diagonally to conform to corners, less bulky and more attractive
- Requires skilled operator
- Higher-priced garments

Flat Seams (FS)
- Joins fabric along the edges, butting them together, or overlapping slightly (a.k.a. butt seam/exposed seam)
- Has a low-profile, stretch, comfortable to wear
- Used in cut and sew and full-fashioned knit garments (i.e. underwear, foundation garments, sweatshirts, childrenswear)
- Disadvantages: cannot be let out
- No room for error, could separate and develop holes if not completely abutted
- Often paired with high stretch fabrics
- No seam allowances (fabric savings)
- Often made with 600 class stitch which uses lots of thread or zigzag or bottom cover (400 class stitch)
- Least bulky of all seams

Superimposed Seams (SS)
- Created by superimposing or stacking plies with edges even
- sewing plies together near edge
- Majority of seams are SS

Plain Seam
- Most common
- Side, waist, sleeve
- Butterflied or busted; seam is pressed open, reduces bulk
- Advantages: inconspicuous, non-bulky, easy to alter, inexpensive to produce
- Disadvantages: not especially strong, greater tendency to grin

Enclosed (SSe)
- Plies sewn together face to face
- Plies open, turned back, seam allowance enclosed
- Occur only at edges, stitches NOT visible
- Necklines, collars, cuffs
- 2nd most common seam type

French (SSae)
- Advantages: prevents raveling, stronger than plain seam in non-slick fabric, adds elegance, suitable for short, fairly straight seams
- Disadvantages: difficult to alter, costly

Lapped Seams (LS)
- Constructed by joining all thickness from face side
- Uses: patch pockets, decorative lapped seams
- Overlapping seam allowances of two or more plies
- Plies extending in opposite directions
- ALWAYS topstitched; looks more casual
- Special purpose seams (e.g. raingear, waistline of underwear/sportswear)
- Less bulky; good for non-raveling materials (e.g. Leather & Vinyl)

Flat-felled (LSc)
- Most common type of lapped seam
- Strong and durable (e.g. jeans, work clothes)
- Prevents raveling, raw edges enclosed
- Bulky and rigid in heavy fabric
- Difficult to alter
- Only used on straight or fairly straight edges

Decorative Details
- Topstitching
- Edgestitching
- Monogram
- Embroidery
- Cutwork
- Trapunto
- Lace, ribbon, braid
- Appliques
- Beads, sequins

Adding decorative details
- Increases manufacturing costs
- Increases salability
- Must be chosen based on: Style of garment, weight and type of fabric, wear and care

Tagless Labels
- Transfer printed, digital printed, or thermo printed to center of garment
- Smoother feel
- Care instruction may be printed on label

Four-Side Sew Labels
- Used primarily on shirts and outerwear
- Applied by sewing all 4 sides

Mitered Labels
- Used primarily on tops and outerwear
- Sewn into seam
- Ends folded with mitered corner

Loop & Single Labels
- Used on tops and bottoms of garments
- Sewn into seam as seam sewn
- Loop = folded into loop
- Single = no fold

Cut and Fold Labels
- Often used on center back
- Stitched on 2 ends to facing or back panel
- Ends one folded and caught securely in stitching (back-tacking)

Labels
- Branding opportunity
- Position and attachment method specified by specification technician
- Early operation performed
- 6 Label Types: Cut and Fold, Single, Four-side Sew, Loop & Single, Mitered, Tagless

Preliminary assembly steps in garment production
- Serging raw edges of parts on panels
- Attaching labels
- Applying decorative stitchings such as embroidery
- Attaching trims
- Partially making zippers
- Constructing pockets
- Making belt loops and other misc. loops
- Applying interfacing and underlining

3 Main Pocket Types
1. Patch Pockets
2. In-Seam Pockets
3. Slashed Pockets

Patch Pockets
- Made and applied in preliminary stage
- Outer edges turned under and stitch (no raw edge exposed)
- Rounder pockets harder to make than square pockets
- Facing adds time and expense
- Commonly lined up to pocket hem
- Topstitched to garment
- Rivets, bar tacks, back stitching, or stitches in shape of triangle or rectangle commonly secure corner edges of patch pockets

Slashed Pockets
- Bound or faced slits within body of garment
- Pocket bag sewn behind slit, inside garment
- Most difficult to construct
- In RTW, produced partially or fully in preliminary stage
- Perfect triangle
- Even lips
- Lips do not sag or gape
- Single welt pocket
- Double welt pocket
- Double welt w/ tab and button

Hemstitching vs. Fagoting
Hemstitching:
- Removing a group of parallel yarns from a fabric and tying the remaining perpendicular yarns together with decorative stitches
- Integral part of fabric
Fagoting:
- Decorative stitching that holds 2 closely spaced folded edges of fabric together with ornamental stitches
- Joins two separate plies of fabric with seam allowances visible inside the garment
- 'clip to fit' slips

Applying Zippers
- Can be applied partially assembled or fully assembled in RTW
- Applied with 300 class or 400 class stitch

Hand-picked Zipper
- Used in couture/ high-price lines
- Advantage is aesthetic as it is NOT durable

Slot Zipper
- Centered application
- 2 visible rows of top-stitching on outside of garment
- One on either side of zipper chain (1/4' from seam line)

Lapped Zipper
- One line of visible stitching on outside of garment (1/2' from seam line)
- Used on center front and center back and most side openings

Fly Zippers
- Topstitching on one side of opening, 1 1/2' from folded seam line
- One side of zipper stitched to facing and facing topstitched to garment
- Wide topstitching
- Jeans and casual skirts, jackets and sportswear
- More fabric
- More labor intensive
- More $$$
- Overlap

French Fly Zipper
- High quality pants
- Has tab or extension or underlap which buttons on inside of pants near waist, keeps front smooth and neat, overlap with shaped facing and lined fly shield
- May add bulk
- Increases cost

Invisible Zipper
- No lines of stitching visible on outside of garment
- Looks like plain seam
- Only part of tab is visible
- Specially designed machine attachment
- Uncommon in low-price, mass produced goods

In-Seam Pockets
- Opening of pocket occurs where the garment seam is left partially un-sewn
- Ends of opening reinforced with bar tacks
- Can also be inserted in side seam of skirts or pants

Pocket bags (In-Seam)
- Functional part of pocket
- Can be made in during preliminary assembly
- Generous pocket bags indicate high quality
- May be double-stitched and edge stitched for security, prevents raveling and holes

Concealed Pocket (In-Seam)
- Less conspicuous when opening edges of pockets are abutted
- Pocket bag stitched to seam allowances

Exposed Pocket (In-Seam)
- Underlay forms the pocket bag
- If garment fabric is lightweight fabric, pocket bag will be made from it
- If garment fabric is too bulky or scratchy, pocket bag fabric will be used

Reinforcements: Rivets
- Made of copper, brass, or non rust material, reinforce pocket corners or seams
- Forced through fabric into metal burns
- Functional AND aesthetic

Reinforcements: Tacks
- Several adjacent or overlapping single thread chainstitch (101) or zigzag lockstitch (304) sew labels
- Secure facing and shoulder pads

Reinforcements: Bar Tacks
- Consist of a number of straight lockstitch (301) that are oversewn with zigzag lockstitch (304)
- Reinforces high areas of stress (i.e. pocket corners, base of zippers, attachment of belt loops, can be decorative)

Reinforcements: Ticket Tacks
- Version of bar tacks used to attach paper labels to apparel, generally on completed garment

Reinforcements: Arrowhead Tacks
- Stitches in shape of arrowheads are used mainly as decorative reinforcements at pocket corners and yoke edges on Western-style clothing
- On custom-tailored apparel, usually made by hand, sign of exceptional quality

Setting Sleeves and Sleeve Types
- Sleeveless garments require a finish to arm hole edge:
- Faced
- Bound
- Banded
- Edge-finish stitched
- Sleeve types:
1. Set-in
2. Raglan
3. Kimono (Dolman is variation)

Set-in Sleeve
- Fits body more closely than other sleeve types
- Set-in round: comfortable, more expertise needed and costly
- Set-in Flat: less expensive, one continuous seam used to join sleeve and side seams
- Two-piece sleeve: 2 portions, main sleeve and a narrow, shaped piece, costly and improved fit

Kimono Sleeve
- Simplest to construct because cut as one with body of garment
- Labor costs minimized
- Less effective use of fabric; more waste possible
- A gusset may be added to underarm
- Gusset increases roominess and comfort
- Requires extra material and skilled labor to set into seam
- Gusset considered mark of quality

Raglan Sleeve
- Diagonal seam from underarm to neckline of garment
- Diagonal seam attaches tapered sleeve panel to body of garment
- Can be set in round or flat
- Most common and cheapest method in flat assembly
- Setting in round requires sewing side seams of garment, sewing sleeve into tube, sewing tube to garment
- Setting in round is costly application
- Exception tubular knits without side seam (e.g. T-shirts) are all set in round, no other option

Straight vs. Contour Waistbands
Straight:
- Usually 1-1/2' in width
- Wider than 2' stand away from body; detracts from appearance, tend to roll up, feel uncomfortable
- Cut from lengthwise grain of fabric going around body
- Constructed from 1 or 2 pieces
Contour:
- Shaped to fit contours of body
- Generally required when waistband is lower than natural waistline
- More material is needed
- More labor needed to construct
- Need stabilizer as bias-cut

Lining
- Garments can be lined-to-the-edge or attached at garment's hem and facings
- Lined-to-the-edge (LTTE) lining on exact duplicate of garment
- LTTE's are bound or finished with an enclosed seam joining garment to lining
- Ease pleats should be added to linings of jackets and coats
- Vertical ease pleats provide adequate room for movement across back and shoulders

Button Application and Position
- Should be positioned at each horizontal stress point: bust/chest, waist, and hip levels
- Usually sewn to garment with machine stitch similar to ticket tack
- Cross-stitching is strongest method for sewing eyed button
- Eyed buttons on garments made from heavy or bulky fabric, can be sewn with thread shank
- Must be in registration or properly oriented

Finish Pressing or Off-Pressing
- Off-pressing or finish pressing: marks of quality are overall smoothness, absence of shine, melting, clamp marks and water marks

Underpressing
- Pressing during construction
- Costly but necessary

Single Layer Collars
- Must have adequate body to lie smoothly (i.e. lace or knit collars on polo style shirts)
- Low production cost

One-Piece Collar Folded
- Operator folds single piece of fabric in half lengthwise and sews ends together
- Simple, inexpensive (e.g. sportswear and sleepwear in low-price lines)
- Uncommon because outer edge is folded and cannot be shaped
- Trims (i.e. lace, piping) cannot be inserted into folded edge

Two-Piece Collar
- Most are two piece -Two layers of shell fabric with interfacing between the plies (upper and under collar) -2 piece more fabric efficient (2 small vs. 1 large)

Bluff Edge Collar
- Used on men's suit jackets and sports jackets -Under collar made of felt -Pad-stitching also used to shape collar

Melton Undercollar
Fulled fabric

Three-Piece Collar
- Upper collar, under collar made of 2 halves with a seam in center -Under collar pieces cut on bias, interfacing if woven cut in 2 pieces and on bias -Require more fabric and labor = higher end garments

Types of Collars
1. Flat 2. Standing 3. Rolled (Partial or Full)