GARMENT CONSTRUCTION

Sarwat Halima

Saima Habib

Sadia Amin

QUOTATION

What I do is restricted by the cloth and the human body.

My job is to make that cloth give expression to the body.’

(Vivienne Westwood)  April 1941 is an English fashion designer

and businesswoman, largely responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave fashions into the mainstream.

INTRODUCTION Garment making is a technical

accomplishment that requires knowledge of fabrics, principles of clothing construction and skills involved in it.

This depends on the ability to select the correct fabric, color, design and accessories to suit an individual occasion.

A garment that is made will be attractive if it fits well and proper attention is paid to its finer details.

It is necessary to know the techniques of sewing for producing attractive garments with good fit.

THE NATURE AND PURPOSES OF DRESS

Perhaps the most obvious function of dress is to provide warmth and protection.

Other basic functions of dress include identifying the wearer and making the wearer appear more attractive.

Clothes that are deemed handsome in one period are declared downright ugly in the next and even uniforms—the simplest and most easily identified costume—are subject to change.

THEORIES OF CLOTHINGBY SCOTTY HENDERSON

 One of the earliest theories which formed the hypotheses of wearing clothes was the modesty/shame theory.

This theory is also known as the fig leaf theory which is based on the story in the Bible. Genesis states that Adam and Eve realize that their state of being naked

when they consume a fruit from the knowledge tree. And in shame they

both stitched clothes out of fig leaves, hence the name fig leaf theory.

THEORIES OF CLOTHING Arguments said that clothing was merely

because of protection of one's body from the threats in the environment.

Clothing was discovered eons ago. A discovery of a 500-year old male on a glacier on the Austrian-Italian border revealed such. The body was clad in a fur cap, a leather cape, a loincloth, and leather shoes. These clothes were possibly there toprovide protection against the harsh winds.

THEORIES OF CLOTHINGBY SCOTTY HENDERSON

Other arguments stated that clothing was created to create sexual attraction or to display beauty of one's body.

It is discovered that people began decorating themselves much before they started clothing. Early age signs of decoration included painting and tattoos and even jewelry.

THEORIES OF CLOTHING

Recent scholars now state that clothing represents one's identity and communicates nonverbally.

Clothing in some societies is as functional as language. It represents a person's age, gender, marital status, ethnicity, social status and occupation.

HISTORY OF GARMENT CONSTRUCTION

It is not certain when people first started wearing clothes however, anthropologists give estimates that range between 100,000 to 500,000 years ago. The first clothes were made from natural elements: animal skin and furs, grasses and leaves, and bones and shells.

HISTORY OF GARMENT CONSTRUCTION

Clothing was often draped or tied however, simple needles made out of animal bone provide evidence of sewn leather and fur garments from at least 30,000 years ago.

HISTORY OF GARMENT CONSTRUCTION

Before sewing machines, nearly all clothing was local and hand-sewn, there were tailors and seamstresses in most towns that could make individual items of clothing for customers. After the sewing machine was invented, the ready-made clothing industry took off.

SEWING MACHINE Before the invention

of the sewing machine, most sewing was done by individuals in their homes, however, many people offered services as tailors or seamstresses in small shops where wages were very low.

THE SONG OF THE SHIRT Thomas Hood's ballad The

Song of the Shirt, published in 1843, depicts the hardships of the English seamstress:

With fingers weary and worn,With eyelids heavy and red,A woman sat in unwomanly rags,Plying her needle and thread Stitch! Stitch! Stitch!In poverty, hunger, and dirt,And still with a voice of dolorous pitchShe sang ‘The Song of the Shirt!’

BIRTH OF MECHANICAL SEWING

The first possible patent connected to mechanical sewing was a 1755 British patent issued to German, Charles Weisenthal.

Charles Weisenthal took out a patent for a needle to be used for mechanical sewing. Unfortunately, what sort of mechanical sewing we do not know for a description of the machine was not properly mentioned in the patent.

SEVERAL INVENTORS ATTEMPT TO IMPROVE SEWING

The English inventor and cabinet maker, Thomas Saint was issued the first patent for a complete machine for sewing in 1790.

The patent describes an awl that punched a hole in leather and passed a needle through the hole. Later reproduction of Saint's invention based on his patent drawings did not work.

BARTHELEMY THIMONNIER - FIRST FUNCTIONAL MACHINE & A RIOT

The first functional sewing machine was invented by the French tailor, Barthelemy Thimonnier, in 1830.

Thimonnier's machine used

only one thread and a hooked needle that made the same chain stitch used with embroidery.

The inventor was almost killed by an enraged group of French tailors who burnt down his garment factory because they feared unemployment as a result of his new invention.

WALTER HUNT & ELIAS HOWE

In 1834,Walter Hunt America's first (somewhat) successful sewing machine.

He later lost interest in patenting because he believed his invention would cause unemployment.

(Hunt's machine could only sew straight steams.) Hunt never patented and in 1846, the first American patent was issued to Elias Howe for "a process that used thread from two different sources.“

ISAAC SINGER VS ELIAS HOWE - PATENT WARS

Sewing machines did not go into mass production until the 1850's, when Isaac Singer built the first commercially successful machine. Singer built the first sewing machine where the needle moved up and down rather than the side-to-side and the needle was powered by a foot treadle.

READY-MADE CLOTHING About 1831, George Opdyke

began the small-scale manufacture of ready-made clothing, which he stocked and sold largely through a store in New Orleans.

Opdyke was one of the first American merchants to do so.

But it was not until after the power-driven sewing machine was invented, that factory production of clothes on a large scale occurred. Since then the clothing industry has grown.

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION GARMENT CONSTRUCTION During the industrial revolution, both men's

and women's dress becomes more complex during this era due to the invention of the Sewing Machine, and the popular dissemination of pattern books and systems for garment cutting.

Men's clothing, while outwardly simple, begins to acquire the internal padding, interfacings and complex structure that makes modern men's suits fall so smoothly even over an object as lumpy and mobile as the human form.

while women's dress continues to balloon out with ruffles, decorations and petticoats.

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION GARMENT CONSTRUCTION Elias Howe, the inventor of

the first mass produced, practical sewing machine, originally demonstrated its utility to a group of prospective investors by holding a sewing race between himself and his machine, and ten professional hand stitchers.

He easily won, and the economic situation of stitchers (mostly female) declined as a consequence of the adoption of the invention.

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION GARMENT CONSTRUCTION Industrialists would invest in the

machines, hire the stitchers cheaply, and then take the profits for themselves that their increased output produced.

With profits so high, soon competition between manufacturers of clothes got fierce, and so producers tried to "improve" their product by adding more sewing decoration, such as ruffles, pleats, and top stitching, to lure customers.

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION GARMENT CONSTRUCTION The end result was that fashionable

Women's dress became incredibly over decorated in the 19th Century.

Another result of this was that poor people's clothing got better, and the rags of earlier eras were replaced by cheaply made mass manufactured work clothes. The middle classes were able to afford more than clean simple clothes, and began to actively indulge in fashion for its own sake.

TYPES OF FABRIC CONSTRUCTION

There are 2 types of garments.1. One is Woven garments.

2. Another is Knitted garments.

Woven fabrics are made in hand looms, power looms and mill made. Making woven fabrics is simple. But yarn counts, reed & picks (warp & weft), width should be considered with more care. The fabric quality is made differently by various methods of finishing and treating.

  Knit fabrics are made in different kinds of knitting

machines. According to the structure of fabrics, they are called by different names. The mainly used fabrics are Jersey, Pique, Interlock, Rib, French Rib, Flat back rib, Loop knit, Fleece, Polar fleece and Jacquards. The knit garments can be made in solid dyed or all over printed or yarn striped or jacquard fabrics.

GARMENT CONSTRUCTION SPECIALIZED AREAS.

Garment construction can be divided into different specialized areas. At the top of the manufacturing chain are

Haute couture and The tailoring crafts,

which involve working with individual customers.

At the lower ends of the manufacturing chain are

Industrially produced garments.

WHAT IS HAUTE COUTURE?

The term Haute couture is French.  Haute means "high“ or "elegant.“

 Couture literally means "sewing," but has come to indicate the business of designing, creating, and selling custom-made, high fashion women's clothes.

It refers to the creation of exclusive custom-fitted clothing.

WHAT IS HAUTE COUTURE?

A haute couture garment is often made for a client, tailored specifically for the wearer’s measurements and body stance.

Haute couture garments are also described as having no price tag - in other words, budget is not relevant.

THE TAILORING CRAFTS this reveals with

one person individual dress making by a tailor.

INDUSTRIALLY PRODUCED GARMENTS

Ready-to-wear or Industrially produced garments is the term for factory made clothing, sold in finished condition, in standardized sizes, as distinct from made to measure or bespoke clothing tailored to a particular person's frame.

TOOLS FOR THE GARMENT CONSTRUCTION Besides a sewing machine in good

condition, well selected sewing equipment are essential for making garments of good quality and appearance.  

SEWING  TOOLS CUTTING TOOLS MEASURING TOOLS  MARKING TOOLS PRESSING TOOLS MISCELLANEOUS TOOLS

SEWING  TOOLS

Hand Sewing Needles  Sewing Machine Needles Sewing thread Pins Thimbles Embroidery Frame Embroidery Threads Bobbin

CUTTING TOOLS Bent-Handle Shears Scissors Pinking Shears  Button Hole Scissors Electric Scissors 

MEASURING TOOLS Measuring Tape Rulers Yardstick or meter scale L Square Skirt Marker

MARKING TOOLS

Tracing Wheel Tracing Paper Tailors Chalk

PRESSING TOOLS

Iron Steam Iron Ironing Board Sleeve Board Press cloth

MISCELLANEOUS TOOLS

Awl Seam Ripper Loop Turner Dress Form Paper Three-Way Mirror Orange-stick Cutting board or table

CHARACTERISTICS OF WELL FINISHED GARMENTS Five basic factors present in every fitting

decides whether a garment fits well or not. These five are interrelated.

Ease Line Grain Set Balance

EASE The garment, which seems to be right

size is neither too loose not too tight. Ease is also the difference between the

actual body measurements and the garment measurements.

This amount varies with the fashion, type of garment and personal taste. A garment constructed with optimum ease would be the right size.

LINE Lines should be smooth without folds

and neat. There should be smoothly graded curves in back and front. Armhole should be oval, but not pointed or round in shape.

The curve lines should not be too low which will hinder the movements of the hand.

The lines obtained by darts, pleats and yokes are with in the garment and they should be graceful and smooth.

GRAIN The placement of warp and weft yarns

form grain. Heavier threads tend to drape well on the figure with graceful folds, when gathers, pleats and ruffles occur on the straight grain.

If the grain line is not corrected, wrinkles or sagging occur. Some times the grain line is off, when the material is not cut carefully.

SET A well-fitted garment has a smooth set

without any wrinkles. A smoothness of "set" or freedom from

wrinkles is required for a good-looking fit.

Graceful folds created by gathers or un pressed pleats or draped features are style lines not to be confused with wrinkles, those slanting triangles straining from some curve or bulge of the body

BALANCE The garment should look balanced from

left to right and front to back. The skirt should hang so that it extends

the same distance from the center to the right and left sides.

The necklines should fit neck snugly at all points. If the shoulder seam stands away from shoulder at neck point and fits tightly at armhole point, the garment will look out of balance.

REASONS FOR POOR FITTING

1. When the garments are carelessly cut and if stitching is not done properly then the garment will have poor fitting.

2. If the basic patterns are not of the right size or if they are not altered according to the body measurement then poor fitting occurs.

3. Poor posture might be the reason for differences in the bodice blocks.

REASONS FOR POOR FITTING

1. The human body has numerous curves of which the basic ones are bust, end of shoulder, shoulder blade, elbow, abdomen, side and hip. The garment should be cut and stitched accurately to fit on the curves of the body.

2. The straight material should be folded into darts are cut into seam to allow enough ease over the curves.

TO SEE THE FITTING OF A GARMENT

The garment should be tacked and tried on.

The openings are pinned together accurately, properly and securely. The basting line that marks centre front, and back helps in giving a good fitting.

The garment should be worn right side out to check the fitting on the body. The garment is thoroughly inspected and carefully analyzed for fitting.

TO SEE THE FITTING OF A GARMENT

It should be comfortable while walking or working.

If any alterations are to be made on the garment then Mark the correct line with tailors chalk and tack the corrected seam line or dart line from the inside of the garment.

The paper patterns should also be altered on the basis of changes made in the garment.

TO SEE THE FITTING OF A GARMENT

Until a satisfactory fitting is achieved, repining and alterations for fitting is done.

In the second round of checking the fitting, concentration must be on the sleeves and arms cycle, Necklines, waistlines should be curved to fit comfortably and naturally.

TO SEE THE FITTING OF A GARMENT

The patterns which are altered for good fitting should be preserved.

A dress should look nice from the back as it is from the front.

The back should be more carefully fitted since there is a strain. A dress with a back too wide, too narrow or too short can be uncomfortable and it is unbecoming.

CONCLUSION Human beings start to wear clothes for

many reasons i.e modesty, protection, identification & wearer appear more attractive.

Garment construction is very old. People wear leaves, fur and animals skin as clothes.

Initially people used to sew cloths from their hands which is very time consuming n difficult job but after the invention of sewing machine the whole scenario has been changed n garment has been start constructed on mass level.

CONCLUSION Five basic factors present in every fitting

decides whether a garment fits well or not. These five are interrelated. These are Ease, Line, Grain, Set, Balance.

A good fitted garment always gives pleaser to the wearer and gives good name to the brand or tailor. The most important factor of garment construction is “ it should be comfortable”

? THANK YOU NOW SAIMA HABBIB WILL

CONTINOU………………………