Textile Technology and Design: Personal Grooming, Equipment, Fibres, and Garment Construction

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering personal grooming, sewing tools and machinery, textile fibers, pattern drafting, construction processes, seams, pockets, waist finishes, embroidery, and dyeing.

Puberty

The period when the body changes from being a child to an adult, during which adolescents reach sexual maturity and become capable of reproduction.

Good Grooming

The act of taking care of oneself so as to look presentable and neat by keeping clean.

Culture

The totality of traits and characters distinct to a group of people that marks them out from other people or societies.

Personal Hygiene

The principle of maintaining cleanliness and grooming of the external body.

Manicure

The maintenance and hygienic care of the hands and fingernails.

Pedicure

The maintenance and hygienic care of the feet and toenails.

Inner Garments

Clothing items worn under other clothes close to the skin for warmth, comfort, hygiene, body shaping, and support.

Outer Garments

All clothing that is visible and worn over other garments, especially for formal or outdoor occasions.

Lingerie

Women's undergarments or inner garments, including brassieres and panties.

Cutting Shears

Cutting tools made of stainless steel or cast iron, $15\text{ to }20\,cm$ in size, featuring a bent handle with a small and large ring to prevent fabric from lifting off the cutting table.

Pinking Shears

Cutting shears with serrated or toothed blades used to neaten the edges of non-fraying fabric by cutting a zigzag pattern.

Seam Ripper

A stainless steel tool with a plastic handle, sharp point, and hook, used to unpick stitches and cut open buttonholes.

Sewing Gauge

A small metal or plastic ruler with a sliding tab used to measure short distances such as seam allowances, alterations, and buttonhole spacing.

Sleeve Board

A small padded pressing board with a wooden or metal base, used to press sleeves, sleeve caps, and narrow sections like trouser seams.

Pressing Cloth

A cotton or linen cloth placed over a garment during ironing to prevent scorching, shining, or fabric melting.

Pressing Ham

A tightly packed cushion made of wool and cotton used to press and shape curved garment sections such as cuffs, waistlines, and curved seams.

Bodkin

A thick, blunt-tipped tool made of metal or plastic with a large opening, used to thread tape, cords, or elastic through casings and hems.

Thimble

A protective cap made from metal or bone worn on the finger to push hand-sewing needles through fabric and prevent needle pricks.

Stiletto

A sharp, pointed tool used to pierce eyelet holes in fabric and unpick tucking.

Sewing Machine

A mechanically or electrically operated machine designed to stitch pieces of fabric together with thread to improve productivity.

Bobbin

A metal or plastic reel onto which lower thread is wound in preparation for machine sewing.

Bobbin Case

A component that holds the bobbin in the sewing machine, regulates lower thread tension, and catches the top needle thread to form stitches.

Feed Dogs

A set of metal bars with diagonal teeth under the presser foot that move back and forth to advance the fabric under the needle during stitching.

Presser Foot

A sewing machine attachment operated by a lifter that holds the fabric flat against the feed dogs during sewing.

Balance Wheel

A hand-operated wheel on the sewing machine used to manually raise and lower the needle when setting up or concluding stitching.

Overlocking Machine

A specialized sewing machine used by tailors and manufacturers to trim and overlock raw seam edges to give them a neat, fray-resistant finish.

Fibre

A fundamental hair-like thread or filament from vegetable, animal, mineral, or chemical sources capable of being spun into yarn or made into fabric.

Staple Fibres

Short fibres of limited length measured in centimetres or inches, including all natural fibres except silk, as well as cut synthetic fibres.

Filament Fibres

Long, continuous strands of indefinite length measured in metres or yards, including silk and all manufactured chemical fibres.

Yarn

A continuous strand of interlocked textile fibres constructed by spinning or twisting fibres together.

Fabric

A pliable, strong sheet of cloth produced from fibres or yarns through processes like weaving, knitting, bonding, or felting.

Kente

A Ghanaian woven textile featuring geometric patterns, where blue symbolizes peace and gold symbolizes wealth.

Bogolanfini

A traditional Malian fabric (also known as bogolan) decorated with geometric patterns using fermented mud and plant dyes, with brown representing African soil.

Block Pattern

A basic foundation pattern without style features or seam allowances, drafted to standard body dimensions and used as a base for creating garment patterns.

Commercial Patterns

Ready-to-use patterns printed or perforated on tissue paper, sold in envelopes containing instructions, yardage charts, and seam allowances.

Temporary Stitches

Stitches worked to hold fabric pieces in position that are removed as soon as permanent stitching has been completed.

Permanent Stitches

Stitches designed to remain permanently in the fabric, grouped into joining, neatening, and decorative stitches.

Neatening Stitches

Stitches applied to raw edges, hems, and seam turnings to secure them and prevent the fabric from fraying.

Disposal of Fullness

Sewing techniques used to eliminate excess fabric width in a garment to fit the body's curves and introduce style.

Dart

A tapered stitched fold that narrows from a wider base to a point, shaping flat fabric to fit body contours such as the bust, waist, and hips.

Gathers

Evenly distributed small folds created by pulling threads from two parallel rows of running or loose machine stitches worked above and below a seam line.

Seam

A method used to join two or more pieces of fabric together neatly and securely.

Seam Allowance

The extra fabric width left outside the fitting or stitching line, standardly measuring $1.5\,cm$.

French Seam

An enclosed, self-neatening seam with a finished width of $5\text{ to }6\,mm$, widely used on lightweight fabrics, underwear, and children's garments.

Patch Pocket

A pocket made from a separate piece of fabric that is top-stitched onto the exterior of a garment.

Waistband

A band of fabric, often stiffened with interfacing, attached to the waistline edge of skirts, shorts, or trousers to secure the fit.

Hem

A garment finishing method in which the bottom edge of fabric is folded to the wrong side and stitched down to prevent unravelling.

Embroidery

The decorative art of rendering designs and motifs onto fabric using decorative stitches, beads, or sequins.

French Knot

A decorative embroidery stitch produced by twisting thread around the needle before inserting it back into the fabric, used for fine accents like flower centres and eyes.

Batik

A traditional resist-dyeing technique where wax, mealie meal, or flour paste is applied to select fabric areas to block dye penetration and yield patterned designs.