集 BeinGeneration学徒手记：裁衣（一）（附英文翻译）
春子
学徒手记是关于“手艺”的实践和观察。裁衣系列图文由springzi提供(并由林飚杰译成英文）。
springzi，北京大妞一枚，爱手绘爱手工爱裁衣，和网页设计工作爱恨纠缠的同时，在学习裁缝手艺中收获平静。
我之前一直爱好做各种手工，自己琢磨着做，今年在各种机缘下，开始拜师学习缝纫。虽然我每周只有休息日去学习一天，但也不是抱着玩玩的心态，所以虽然有时很忙很累，我也都一直坚持没有偷懒。叔叔说他们之前学徒要三年零一节——也就是一年三个月的时间——才能出师，我这样每周一天，一年加起来也没有多少天，出师还早着呢。另外呢，叔叔说教我不是为了让我以后把它做主业，只是做个爱好，学门手艺，有什么喜欢的衣服自己可以琢磨着做出来，或是衣服不合身了可以自己改改，图个自己高兴，穿着得体就好了。如果我要把裁缝作为职业，他是不会教我的，因为裁缝是个非常辛苦又孤独的职业。
远处看缝缝剪剪不过是个技术活，可是走近了才发现处处是门道。几个月下来，发现从裁剪缝纫到一件衣服做好可是一门艺术，并且需要非常严谨的态度。
首先，做一件衣服，先要有一个构思，也就是需要设计，即便是照着一个样子模仿着做，也要根据个体的不同加入自己的完善，用师傅的话说就是“照猫画虎总不能画出个猫来”，做完的衣服应该比原本的样子更好才是。
有了样子，就要找一块适合又心仪的料子，“料子”算是个术语吧，所谓料子，也就是做东西的材料、原料，要是说布就显得外行了。
之后就是量体裁衣的“量体”了。现在的批量生产，是根据大多数人的一个大概尺寸去做衣服，所以存在着衣不合体的问题。量体裁衣的优势就在于它根据不同个体测量制作，做出的衣服合身，是完全属于自己的衣服。至于要量的尺寸，根据衣服的不同，要测量的地方、需要的数据多少都是不一样的。像最简单的裙子，量个腰围、臀围、裙长就够了，但是像一件好的旗袍据说要量上百个地方。
关于打版，有归版、定版、合版。版很重要，决定了一件衣服的好坏，不过有些简单的样子是不需要打版的。但不管打不打版，都是要在布料上画好要裁剪的部件——前身、后片、袖子、衣领……这画讲究圆顺二字，不能出直角、死角。道理很简单，因为人本身的构造决定了这一点。师傅总会说，对着镜子照照看，人身上肯定没有直角的。只有一些搭接的部分，会画出直角，但拼在一起也一定是圆顺的。现在虽然有很多新材料、新工具，例如气消笔、水消笔之类的，但师傅还是坚持用画粉画，原因就是画弧度的时候，一转动手腕就可以画出一条漂亮的弧线，方法和绘画有神奇的相似之处。
裁剪前铺料子的学问不能小视，首先要好好看料子，分清正反面，很多料子的正反面并不好区分，纹路比较整齐漂亮，颜色较艳丽的一面是正。然后就要看倒顺，比如有些花料子，花就要正着，让花朵朝上。另外一些素色布料，顺着和倒着的光泽会不同，所以做衣服时要注意，整件衣服倒顺要保持统一，不然做出的衣服就是花的。如果是格子、条纹料子，就比较费事了，需要对好格子、条纹。倒顺分好了，就要铺丝道了，每块布料有横丝、竖丝和斜丝，这是织布时形成的。铺料子时一定要横平竖直地铺好，通常在料子够的情况下，都是用竖丝做衣服的。料子要对折铺好，因为都是对称着剪裁的。料子对称折的时候一定记得是反面在外的，画的时候都是画在背面，这样不会把料子正面弄脏。另外要铺好料子，底下的案子也得平整不能过软或过硬。
铺好料子，要熨烫平整，这道工序也没有想像中那么轻巧，一丝马虎不得。烫的时候不能赶料子，也就是不能让铺好的丝道被推跑了。另外有些布料不规矩，这一步的时候就要靠这道工序把它规整好，手的力道很重要也很讲究，熨斗向内走时，熨斗的内侧是虚的，外侧是实的，反之则是相反的做法，光是烫布料这一步就要学很久才行。
布料整理好了，之后就可以裁剪了，在裁剪时也要时刻注意丝道不能歪；另外，画的尺寸都是净尺寸，所以裁剪时一定要注意留出拔缝，一般留二分或三分。裁剪时剪子基本持平，剪子尖微微向下，不要抬剪子尖把布料挑起来，会导致上下两层布料剪出来尺寸不同。还要注意剪子要垂直，不然上下两层布料也会不一样大。
之后就是按照顺序一步步缝纫了。像我之前总说“砸衣服”，师傅就会纠正说又不是砸核桃，也没用锤子的。裁缝们说“车衣”，也会用缉（qī）、勾、合、连等字，但是不会用砸这个字。在手活里还有扦、拱、绷、挑、扎、㩟（zhài）、扳等各种针法，听起来很像国画中皴、擦、点、染各种笔法一般。此外，在每缉一个部分时，都要注意合版，规整整齐再缉。师娘说以前他们做工很讲究，每缉一趟线，都要用熨斗熨平再缉下一趟，现在工厂做工已经不会这样了。
以上基本就是做一件衣服的基础过程了，衣服做出来后的喜悦是和买一件喜欢的衣服的喜悦完全不同的。当然，自己做的衣服也难免有瑕疵失误，但自己做给自己穿，也大抵就宽恕自己了，终究还是开心的。例如我和师傅一起做的风衣，最后锁扣眼——人家讲究越做越好，可我偏偏袖口上练习得不错，可一到大身就怎么都锁不好了，于是一气之下就针脚疏疏密密、参差不齐的全锁上了，几个扣眼像开了的大口子似的。我这就犯了个做活儿的大忌——急躁。做活儿一定要有耐性，不能怕麻烦，急躁做出的活一定不好。后来师娘看到扣眼惨不忍睹的样子，实在大煞风景，于是用手针重新锁了一遍，衣服一时间好看了很多。都做好了，这衣服还是看着很别扭，这才发现扣眼被我开错了。一边两个的扣眼被我全开在了一边。把这次失误当做经验教训，我自己就记得清楚了。师傅说就当个“乐儿”吧，本身的目的也是娱乐，不能忘了初衷。况且懊恼也于事无补，剪刀下去了就改不了了。
在锁扣眼时师娘说，过去做衣服有许多规矩——单排扣不开四个六个，都是单数扣眼，因为老理讲四六不成材；衣服一定要锁下摆边，现在很多衣服下摆不上边，这叫做“做人没边没行”；料子用竖丝不用横丝，尤其以前的女式衣服，用横丝做等于说这人横生倒养。听着这些老规矩很有意思，这些老理最根本的其实是古人一直遵循的礼义廉耻。在工厂批量生产的今天，很多东西已经被遗忘、被抛弃了。
今天所说的只是一个粗劣的过程，今后会更加深入的讲述裁剪缝纫中的细节，希望慢慢的，您也可以自己裁件衣。
（非专业人士，错误之处请见谅）
翻译：
Notes of Apprentices: Tailoring (1)
Notes of Apprentices is practice and observation about "craftsmanship". Pictures and words in the Tailoring series is provided by springzi and translated by Lin Biaojie
springzi, a Beijing girl who is taking great interests in hand drawing, handicraft and tailoring. She harvests calmness in the process of learning tailoring skills, while in the meantime maintaining a bittersweet relationship with her career as a web page designer.
I have always been fond of all kinds of handicrafts and trying to DIY on a self-taught basis. This year, given certain opportunities, I started to be an apprentice of tailoring. Although I only spend one day of my weekend every week to learn the skill, yet I’m not doing it just for fun. I persevere regardless of any tiredness. My teacher said that in the past, apprentices could only finish their course after a year and 3 months. Yet given that I only take one class a week, I can’t have enough before it’s for a year. It is still far away from graduating. Moreover, my teacher also said that he taught me not because he wanted me to become a tailor, but because he wanted me to let tailoring become one of my habits and an addition to my skill set; to enable me to make some clothes that I like by my own; to alter not-fitting clothes so that I can take joys in it and dress decently. He would not have started to teach me if I chose to make tailoring my career, because that is an extremely tiresome and lonely occupation.
When seen from afar, stitching or cutting is no more than a collection of techniques, yet if you take a closer look, all details matter in fact. After several months, I realize that the transformation that a piece of clothes undergoes from simple cutting and stitching is justifying the fact that making clothes is a domain of art, and it demands a high level of scrupulousness.
First of all, to make a piece of clothes you have to develop an idea. In other words, design is a necessity. Even if you are copying or emulating, you have to incorporate improvements made by your own into the piece. To quote my teacher, "you shouldn't draw a cat even if you are actually drawing a tiger with a cat as a model." The final piece should look better than what it emulates.
With the design in mind, you have to then find a "Liao Zi" that is suitable and adorable. "Liao Zi" is somewhat a special term. "Liao Zi"(which equals "material" in Chinese), is a more professional term than the word "garment".
Then it comes to the "measuring" part. Mass production nowadays is making clothes according to the average sizes of the majority of people. Therefore, there must be cases where clothes don't fit certain individuals. The advantage of measuring in the tailoring process is that it makes clothes according to the specifics of individuals. The final piece will fit perfectly and it’s a piece of one’s own. Body parts that need to be measured, the accuracy of measurement that need to be done varies according to the kinds of clothes. For example, a simple dress only requires figures of waistline, hipline and length; yet a fine cheongsam may require figures of hundreds of places of one’s body.
Patterning includes registering, confirming and combining. Patterns are of crucial importance, they determine the quality of clothes. Also there are simple silhouettes that can be made without patterning. However, pattern or not, you need to draw out different parts, front, back, sleeve, collar and others on the garment. Being rounded and smooth is important while drawing. Right angles, dead ends are not acceptable in the drawing. It is so simple in accordance with the formation of human bodies. My teacher is used to saying that one can always look into the mirror and find no right angles on one’s body. 90 degrees are only used in certain joints, yet when put together, the whole piece should be smooth and rounded. Though nowadays there are many new materials, tools like air erasable pens or water erasable pens, my teacher still sticks to chalks, just because that a turn of wrist can draw out a beautiful curve, which is surprisingly similar to painting.
Before the cutting, laying out the garment is not a negligible process. First of all you need to take a closer look at the garment, identify the exterior and interior. It is not easy to identify in the cases of many garments. The one with neater and clearer patterns, more outstanding colors is the exterior. Then you have to check the top and the bottom of the garment. For example, in the case of garments with flower patterns, the side that the flowers face tends to be the up side. For garments with plain colors, the gloss can be different when looked at from different directions. So it should be borne in mind that when making clothes, the direction that the garments are laid out should be consistent in one piece of clothes, otherwise the final outcome could be messy. Garments with check or stripe patterns can be quite tricky, you have to match each and every check and stripe. When the sides are set, you need to then match the track of threads. Every garment has horizontal, vertical and slope threads they are formed as the garment is woven. When laying the garment, you have to follow the direction of the threads. Normally when you have enough garments at disposal, those with vertical threads are preferable. The garments should be folded and laid perfectly for symmetrical cuts. When folding the garments you have to remember that the interior must face out. The drawing is also done in the interior to prevent smearing the exterior of the garment. Moreover, for the garments to be evenly laid, the platform should also be even and neither too hard or too soft.
In order to evenly lay the garments, they should be ironed first. The ironing is not as easy as it sounds, you should be very careful. When ironing, you shouldn't be pushing the garments too hard in case that the threads are deformed. Moreover, some garments are irregularly formed, you then need to fix that in this process. You should also be really careful with how hard you iron the garments. When the iron is moving inwards, you shouldn't push the inner side of the iron too hard, yet the opposite for the outer side, vice versa. The ironing alone may take a long time for one to master.
When the garments are sorted, they are ready to be cut. When cutting you should also follow closely the tracks of the threads. Moreover, because the lines drawn on the garments are all indicating the lean sizes, therefore, when cutting you should leave ample space for joints. Normally the portion is 20-30%. When cutting, the scissors should be held horizontally, with the tip of the scissors slightly facing downwards, the garment should be prevented from being lifted up by the tip of the scissors. The scissors also need to be held evenly, otherwise the upper and lower layers of the garments may be of different shapes.
Then it comes to the step-by-step sewing. I was used to using the term "hammering the clothes". My teacher will correct me by saying that it is not the same as breaking walnuts, and hammers are also not needed. In the vocabulary of handmade clothes, there are also technical terms in stitching like "qian"(sticking), "gong"(humping), "tiao"(picking), "zha"(punching), "zhai(sewing)" and "ban"(pulling). These terms sound very much like "cun"(shading), "ca"(rubbing), "dian"(dotting) and "ran"(dyeing), which belong to the realm of Traditional Chinese Painting techniques. What’s more, crosschecking with the sketched blueprint is important throughout the process of stitching. You shouldn't proceed without matching the material with the drawing. My teacher’s wife told me that in the past they work conscientiously by ironing after every stitch. Yet that can no longer be expected in factories nowadays.
Above is, in general, the process of making a piece of clothes. The pleasant feeling of making a piece on your own is stark different from that you have from buying one. Of course there is likely to be mistakes and imperfections in the clothes you made on your own. Yet given the fact that you are only making clothes for your own, you can more or less be excused. After all it should be a pleasant journey. For instance, when I was making a trench coat with my teacher, I could never done well on buttonholing in the final process; not like others who progress after practicing, I was the exact opposite. At that time I was overwhelmed with impatience, which is also the taboo in handicraft. Being irritated, I messed with the stitching and unevenly buttonholed all of them. At last, some of the buttonholes are just like being torn massively. It is said that when doing handicraft, patient is always a necessity and you shouldn't attempt to shun troubles. Impatience always begets lousy works. My teacher’s wife thought that the buttonholes on my trench coat are really annoying and therefore hand-stitched them all over again. Miraculously, the coat looked much better immediately. When all was done, the coat yet still looked weird for that I located the buttons wrong. The original 2-on-one-side buttonholing plan was mistaken into 4-on-only-one-side. I took the failure that time as a lesson that helps me to remember the quintessential. Just make it a "fun" only, my teacher said. After all, the intention in the very first beginning was for entertainment and this original purpose of learning shouldn't be forgotten. Despite the fact that feeling sorry was not going to mend anything, nothing can be changed after the scissors made their way in.
When buttonholing, my teacher’s wife said that in the past, there are a lot of ground rules for making clothes ---- 4-button design or 6-button design are not allowed in single breasts, only odd numbers are allowed, because of the old saying that says 4 and 6 mean not useful; bottom finish has to be done at anytime (not like practices nowadays) because "in that case, this person would be living without boundaries and rules"; only garments with vertical threads are acceptable instead of those with horizontal ones (especially in the case of women clothes), otherwise "this person is not raised decently". It is really interesting hearing about all these old rules, which are basically also the mannerism and ethic rules followed and practiced by the ancestors. In the days of factory mass production, many things are already been forgotten and tossed away.
What I write today is only about a general process (in clothes making). Hereafter I would write in greater lengths about the details in cutting and stitching. Sincerely hope that as time goes by, readers like you can also make a piece of clothes by your own.
(Written by non-professional, please excuse me should there be any mistake)
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学徒手记是关于“手艺”的实践和观察。裁衣系列图文由springzi提供(并由林飚杰译成英文）。
springzi，北京大妞一枚，爱手绘爱手工爱裁衣，和网页设计工作爱恨纠缠的同时，在学习裁缝手艺中收获平静。
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我之前一直爱好做各种手工，自己琢磨着做，今年在各种机缘下，开始拜师学习缝纫。虽然我每周只有休息日去学习一天，但也不是抱着玩玩的心态，所以虽然有时很忙很累，我也都一直坚持没有偷懒。叔叔说他们之前学徒要三年零一节——也就是一年三个月的时间——才能出师，我这样每周一天，一年加起来也没有多少天，出师还早着呢。另外呢，叔叔说教我不是为了让我以后把它做主业，只是做个爱好，学门手艺，有什么喜欢的衣服自己可以琢磨着做出来，或是衣服不合身了可以自己改改，图个自己高兴，穿着得体就好了。如果我要把裁缝作为职业，他是不会教我的，因为裁缝是个非常辛苦又孤独的职业。
远处看缝缝剪剪不过是个技术活，可是走近了才发现处处是门道。几个月下来，发现从裁剪缝纫到一件衣服做好可是一门艺术，并且需要非常严谨的态度。
首先，做一件衣服，先要有一个构思，也就是需要设计，即便是照着一个样子模仿着做，也要根据个体的不同加入自己的完善，用师傅的话说就是“照猫画虎总不能画出个猫来”，做完的衣服应该比原本的样子更好才是。
有了样子，就要找一块适合又心仪的料子，“料子”算是个术语吧，所谓料子，也就是做东西的材料、原料，要是说布就显得外行了。
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之后就是量体裁衣的“量体”了。现在的批量生产，是根据大多数人的一个大概尺寸去做衣服，所以存在着衣不合体的问题。量体裁衣的优势就在于它根据不同个体测量制作，做出的衣服合身，是完全属于自己的衣服。至于要量的尺寸，根据衣服的不同，要测量的地方、需要的数据多少都是不一样的。像最简单的裙子，量个腰围、臀围、裙长就够了，但是像一件好的旗袍据说要量上百个地方。
关于打版，有归版、定版、合版。版很重要，决定了一件衣服的好坏，不过有些简单的样子是不需要打版的。但不管打不打版，都是要在布料上画好要裁剪的部件——前身、后片、袖子、衣领……这画讲究圆顺二字，不能出直角、死角。道理很简单，因为人本身的构造决定了这一点。师傅总会说，对着镜子照照看，人身上肯定没有直角的。只有一些搭接的部分，会画出直角，但拼在一起也一定是圆顺的。现在虽然有很多新材料、新工具，例如气消笔、水消笔之类的，但师傅还是坚持用画粉画，原因就是画弧度的时候，一转动手腕就可以画出一条漂亮的弧线，方法和绘画有神奇的相似之处。
 |
裁剪前铺料子的学问不能小视，首先要好好看料子，分清正反面，很多料子的正反面并不好区分，纹路比较整齐漂亮，颜色较艳丽的一面是正。然后就要看倒顺，比如有些花料子，花就要正着，让花朵朝上。另外一些素色布料，顺着和倒着的光泽会不同，所以做衣服时要注意，整件衣服倒顺要保持统一，不然做出的衣服就是花的。如果是格子、条纹料子，就比较费事了，需要对好格子、条纹。倒顺分好了，就要铺丝道了，每块布料有横丝、竖丝和斜丝，这是织布时形成的。铺料子时一定要横平竖直地铺好，通常在料子够的情况下，都是用竖丝做衣服的。料子要对折铺好，因为都是对称着剪裁的。料子对称折的时候一定记得是反面在外的，画的时候都是画在背面，这样不会把料子正面弄脏。另外要铺好料子，底下的案子也得平整不能过软或过硬。
 |
铺好料子，要熨烫平整，这道工序也没有想像中那么轻巧，一丝马虎不得。烫的时候不能赶料子，也就是不能让铺好的丝道被推跑了。另外有些布料不规矩，这一步的时候就要靠这道工序把它规整好，手的力道很重要也很讲究，熨斗向内走时，熨斗的内侧是虚的，外侧是实的，反之则是相反的做法，光是烫布料这一步就要学很久才行。
布料整理好了，之后就可以裁剪了，在裁剪时也要时刻注意丝道不能歪；另外，画的尺寸都是净尺寸，所以裁剪时一定要注意留出拔缝，一般留二分或三分。裁剪时剪子基本持平，剪子尖微微向下，不要抬剪子尖把布料挑起来，会导致上下两层布料剪出来尺寸不同。还要注意剪子要垂直，不然上下两层布料也会不一样大。
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之后就是按照顺序一步步缝纫了。像我之前总说“砸衣服”，师傅就会纠正说又不是砸核桃，也没用锤子的。裁缝们说“车衣”，也会用缉（qī）、勾、合、连等字，但是不会用砸这个字。在手活里还有扦、拱、绷、挑、扎、㩟（zhài）、扳等各种针法，听起来很像国画中皴、擦、点、染各种笔法一般。此外，在每缉一个部分时，都要注意合版，规整整齐再缉。师娘说以前他们做工很讲究，每缉一趟线，都要用熨斗熨平再缉下一趟，现在工厂做工已经不会这样了。
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以上基本就是做一件衣服的基础过程了，衣服做出来后的喜悦是和买一件喜欢的衣服的喜悦完全不同的。当然，自己做的衣服也难免有瑕疵失误，但自己做给自己穿，也大抵就宽恕自己了，终究还是开心的。例如我和师傅一起做的风衣，最后锁扣眼——人家讲究越做越好，可我偏偏袖口上练习得不错，可一到大身就怎么都锁不好了，于是一气之下就针脚疏疏密密、参差不齐的全锁上了，几个扣眼像开了的大口子似的。我这就犯了个做活儿的大忌——急躁。做活儿一定要有耐性，不能怕麻烦，急躁做出的活一定不好。后来师娘看到扣眼惨不忍睹的样子，实在大煞风景，于是用手针重新锁了一遍，衣服一时间好看了很多。都做好了，这衣服还是看着很别扭，这才发现扣眼被我开错了。一边两个的扣眼被我全开在了一边。把这次失误当做经验教训，我自己就记得清楚了。师傅说就当个“乐儿”吧，本身的目的也是娱乐，不能忘了初衷。况且懊恼也于事无补，剪刀下去了就改不了了。
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在锁扣眼时师娘说，过去做衣服有许多规矩——单排扣不开四个六个，都是单数扣眼，因为老理讲四六不成材；衣服一定要锁下摆边，现在很多衣服下摆不上边，这叫做“做人没边没行”；料子用竖丝不用横丝，尤其以前的女式衣服，用横丝做等于说这人横生倒养。听着这些老规矩很有意思，这些老理最根本的其实是古人一直遵循的礼义廉耻。在工厂批量生产的今天，很多东西已经被遗忘、被抛弃了。
今天所说的只是一个粗劣的过程，今后会更加深入的讲述裁剪缝纫中的细节，希望慢慢的，您也可以自己裁件衣。
（非专业人士，错误之处请见谅）
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翻译：
Notes of Apprentices: Tailoring (1)
Notes of Apprentices is practice and observation about "craftsmanship". Pictures and words in the Tailoring series is provided by springzi and translated by Lin Biaojie
springzi, a Beijing girl who is taking great interests in hand drawing, handicraft and tailoring. She harvests calmness in the process of learning tailoring skills, while in the meantime maintaining a bittersweet relationship with her career as a web page designer.
I have always been fond of all kinds of handicrafts and trying to DIY on a self-taught basis. This year, given certain opportunities, I started to be an apprentice of tailoring. Although I only spend one day of my weekend every week to learn the skill, yet I’m not doing it just for fun. I persevere regardless of any tiredness. My teacher said that in the past, apprentices could only finish their course after a year and 3 months. Yet given that I only take one class a week, I can’t have enough before it’s for a year. It is still far away from graduating. Moreover, my teacher also said that he taught me not because he wanted me to become a tailor, but because he wanted me to let tailoring become one of my habits and an addition to my skill set; to enable me to make some clothes that I like by my own; to alter not-fitting clothes so that I can take joys in it and dress decently. He would not have started to teach me if I chose to make tailoring my career, because that is an extremely tiresome and lonely occupation.
When seen from afar, stitching or cutting is no more than a collection of techniques, yet if you take a closer look, all details matter in fact. After several months, I realize that the transformation that a piece of clothes undergoes from simple cutting and stitching is justifying the fact that making clothes is a domain of art, and it demands a high level of scrupulousness.
First of all, to make a piece of clothes you have to develop an idea. In other words, design is a necessity. Even if you are copying or emulating, you have to incorporate improvements made by your own into the piece. To quote my teacher, "you shouldn't draw a cat even if you are actually drawing a tiger with a cat as a model." The final piece should look better than what it emulates.
With the design in mind, you have to then find a "Liao Zi" that is suitable and adorable. "Liao Zi" is somewhat a special term. "Liao Zi"(which equals "material" in Chinese), is a more professional term than the word "garment".
Then it comes to the "measuring" part. Mass production nowadays is making clothes according to the average sizes of the majority of people. Therefore, there must be cases where clothes don't fit certain individuals. The advantage of measuring in the tailoring process is that it makes clothes according to the specifics of individuals. The final piece will fit perfectly and it’s a piece of one’s own. Body parts that need to be measured, the accuracy of measurement that need to be done varies according to the kinds of clothes. For example, a simple dress only requires figures of waistline, hipline and length; yet a fine cheongsam may require figures of hundreds of places of one’s body.
Patterning includes registering, confirming and combining. Patterns are of crucial importance, they determine the quality of clothes. Also there are simple silhouettes that can be made without patterning. However, pattern or not, you need to draw out different parts, front, back, sleeve, collar and others on the garment. Being rounded and smooth is important while drawing. Right angles, dead ends are not acceptable in the drawing. It is so simple in accordance with the formation of human bodies. My teacher is used to saying that one can always look into the mirror and find no right angles on one’s body. 90 degrees are only used in certain joints, yet when put together, the whole piece should be smooth and rounded. Though nowadays there are many new materials, tools like air erasable pens or water erasable pens, my teacher still sticks to chalks, just because that a turn of wrist can draw out a beautiful curve, which is surprisingly similar to painting.
Before the cutting, laying out the garment is not a negligible process. First of all you need to take a closer look at the garment, identify the exterior and interior. It is not easy to identify in the cases of many garments. The one with neater and clearer patterns, more outstanding colors is the exterior. Then you have to check the top and the bottom of the garment. For example, in the case of garments with flower patterns, the side that the flowers face tends to be the up side. For garments with plain colors, the gloss can be different when looked at from different directions. So it should be borne in mind that when making clothes, the direction that the garments are laid out should be consistent in one piece of clothes, otherwise the final outcome could be messy. Garments with check or stripe patterns can be quite tricky, you have to match each and every check and stripe. When the sides are set, you need to then match the track of threads. Every garment has horizontal, vertical and slope threads they are formed as the garment is woven. When laying the garment, you have to follow the direction of the threads. Normally when you have enough garments at disposal, those with vertical threads are preferable. The garments should be folded and laid perfectly for symmetrical cuts. When folding the garments you have to remember that the interior must face out. The drawing is also done in the interior to prevent smearing the exterior of the garment. Moreover, for the garments to be evenly laid, the platform should also be even and neither too hard or too soft.
In order to evenly lay the garments, they should be ironed first. The ironing is not as easy as it sounds, you should be very careful. When ironing, you shouldn't be pushing the garments too hard in case that the threads are deformed. Moreover, some garments are irregularly formed, you then need to fix that in this process. You should also be really careful with how hard you iron the garments. When the iron is moving inwards, you shouldn't push the inner side of the iron too hard, yet the opposite for the outer side, vice versa. The ironing alone may take a long time for one to master.
When the garments are sorted, they are ready to be cut. When cutting you should also follow closely the tracks of the threads. Moreover, because the lines drawn on the garments are all indicating the lean sizes, therefore, when cutting you should leave ample space for joints. Normally the portion is 20-30%. When cutting, the scissors should be held horizontally, with the tip of the scissors slightly facing downwards, the garment should be prevented from being lifted up by the tip of the scissors. The scissors also need to be held evenly, otherwise the upper and lower layers of the garments may be of different shapes.
Then it comes to the step-by-step sewing. I was used to using the term "hammering the clothes". My teacher will correct me by saying that it is not the same as breaking walnuts, and hammers are also not needed. In the vocabulary of handmade clothes, there are also technical terms in stitching like "qian"(sticking), "gong"(humping), "tiao"(picking), "zha"(punching), "zhai(sewing)" and "ban"(pulling). These terms sound very much like "cun"(shading), "ca"(rubbing), "dian"(dotting) and "ran"(dyeing), which belong to the realm of Traditional Chinese Painting techniques. What’s more, crosschecking with the sketched blueprint is important throughout the process of stitching. You shouldn't proceed without matching the material with the drawing. My teacher’s wife told me that in the past they work conscientiously by ironing after every stitch. Yet that can no longer be expected in factories nowadays.
Above is, in general, the process of making a piece of clothes. The pleasant feeling of making a piece on your own is stark different from that you have from buying one. Of course there is likely to be mistakes and imperfections in the clothes you made on your own. Yet given the fact that you are only making clothes for your own, you can more or less be excused. After all it should be a pleasant journey. For instance, when I was making a trench coat with my teacher, I could never done well on buttonholing in the final process; not like others who progress after practicing, I was the exact opposite. At that time I was overwhelmed with impatience, which is also the taboo in handicraft. Being irritated, I messed with the stitching and unevenly buttonholed all of them. At last, some of the buttonholes are just like being torn massively. It is said that when doing handicraft, patient is always a necessity and you shouldn't attempt to shun troubles. Impatience always begets lousy works. My teacher’s wife thought that the buttonholes on my trench coat are really annoying and therefore hand-stitched them all over again. Miraculously, the coat looked much better immediately. When all was done, the coat yet still looked weird for that I located the buttons wrong. The original 2-on-one-side buttonholing plan was mistaken into 4-on-only-one-side. I took the failure that time as a lesson that helps me to remember the quintessential. Just make it a "fun" only, my teacher said. After all, the intention in the very first beginning was for entertainment and this original purpose of learning shouldn't be forgotten. Despite the fact that feeling sorry was not going to mend anything, nothing can be changed after the scissors made their way in.
When buttonholing, my teacher’s wife said that in the past, there are a lot of ground rules for making clothes ---- 4-button design or 6-button design are not allowed in single breasts, only odd numbers are allowed, because of the old saying that says 4 and 6 mean not useful; bottom finish has to be done at anytime (not like practices nowadays) because "in that case, this person would be living without boundaries and rules"; only garments with vertical threads are acceptable instead of those with horizontal ones (especially in the case of women clothes), otherwise "this person is not raised decently". It is really interesting hearing about all these old rules, which are basically also the mannerism and ethic rules followed and practiced by the ancestors. In the days of factory mass production, many things are already been forgotten and tossed away.
What I write today is only about a general process (in clothes making). Hereafter I would write in greater lengths about the details in cutting and stitching. Sincerely hope that as time goes by, readers like you can also make a piece of clothes by your own.
(Written by non-professional, please excuse me should there be any mistake)
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