The
Importance
of
NOTCHES
In the Industry, notches are used as a form of communication between the pattern maker,
cutter and sewing machinist and are created by making small indents on the outside edges of
the seam allowance on the pattern, which are then transferred onto the cut fabric pieces of
the garment so that they can be sewn together correctly.
BUT this is also the best way for any seamstress to transfer the information from commercial
patterns to the cut pattern pieces. See lesson ESS. 005 TRANSFERRING MARKINGS
The notches when transferred or marked correctly will ensure that the two-pattern piece to be
sewn together will match up. This is done by making very small nicks in the fabric, only about
2-3mm in length. This is enough of an indication to easily tell where the fabric pattern pieces
needs to line up, and how much seam allowance has been allowed by the pattern maker.
For an industrial machinist to sew two pieces of fabric together effectively they need to know:
How much seam allowance has been allocated to these pattern pieces?
How and where the two seams match to each other?
Dart starting width on the outer seam?
On industry pattern, they look like
small indents around the outside
edge of the seam allowance.
On commercial patterns they are V
shaped, and you could get 1,2 or 3 to
indicate the number on the
corresponding pattern piece.
This image shows a garment by the designer Naoki Takizawa
that was part of his Spring-Summer 2011 collection.
The image provides a good example of how pattern notches are
used to join different shapes of fabric together to ensure that the
garment puzzle pieces will join together correctly when sewn.
In the case of this image, the notches are seen as small red
lines, which illustrate where the seams needed to meet each
other.
This complex design illustrates how essential pattern notches
would be to ensuring that one panel or pattern piece will correctly
line-up with an adjacent panel/pattern piece.
Correct use of pattern notches are essential to ensure that the
tension along a seam remains even and that fabric is not
stretched out of proportion as it is sewn.
NOTE: When pattern drafting always add the notches to the
pattern pieces on the master pattern before separating them and
adding the seam allowances.
2014
Sewing
With
Confidence
Ltd.
If you find that you reach the end of sewing a seam with extra fabric on
one of the pieces of fabric, this could be caused by one of these
problems:
You did not line up your notches correctly
You did not have enough notches to guide you
DRILL HOLES: are internal marks used in industry; they are placed on
the body of the cut pattern, and are used for aligning and positioning
pockets, overlays, trims, buttons, and buttonholes. On darts the DRILL
HOLE is placed 1cm before the end of the dart.
On commercial patterns we dont have drill holes, the internal markings
are usually indicated with a black dots
and indicate the actual position
of the end of the dart, or the actual position of adding a patch pocket etc. See lesson ESS.
005 TRANSFERRING MARKINGS
Centre
Front
Notches
Side
Front
To facilitate in the correct construction of the garment, it is very important to have notches on
concave and convex curves as on a Princess styled seam.
To recap:
1. When transferring the markings on a pattern onto the cut fabric the notches are very
important.
2. Only use 2-3mm cuts into the seam allowance so that the garment will not be
damaged or weakened in anyway.
2014
Sewing
With
Confidence
Ltd.
