Sewing (functional) questions

[dianec42]

I've been sewing off and on (mostly off) for lo unto 40+ years now. I was taught by my mom and a little bit by my grandmothers, but I definitely have ADHD and I'm pretty sure my mom does too so the process was a bit hit or miss.

I want to sew my own clothes for lots of reasons. I'd love things to be the right length, to have lots of pockets, to be purple, to be what I want rather than what happens to be in stores at the moment.

It's a bit frustrating though because despite having worn clothes for over half a century, I don't have a good understanding of how clothes *work*.

There are so many mysteries! Most of these are inspired by clothes I've bought, but I have the same questions about things I want to make. because I want to make them work well and there are some things I want to optimize for.

A few examples off the top of my head:

• What's the purpose of all these seams on my cargo pants? Which ones are functional and which ones are just there because REI feel the need to change things up every 6 months?
  
• Why does some terrycloth survive the dryer just fine, while other terrycloth gets snags and loose threads if I just look at it funny?
  
• How come I can carry a smartphone in the pocket of my fishing shirts just fine, but the same smartphone in my bathrobe pocket makes the whole bathrobe slouch and migrate southwest?
  
• What would happen if I put cargo pockets on jeans? What would be the best placement and optimal construction?
  
• Why do shirt patterns call for the yoke to be cut at 90 degrees to the rest of the garment? My whimsical cats will be sideways!
  
• Why do hoodies all have drawstrings? Do fashion designers not have cats?
  

I'm sure I have others. And yes, I could google any or all of these. But what about the questions I don't even know to ask?

I wonder if there's like a "fashion engineering" course I could take...

Comments

[a_cubed]

https://www.bitdegree.org/tutorials/online-fashion-design-courses/

[deguspice]

* How come I can carry a smartphone in the pocket of my fishing shirts just fine, but the same smartphone in my bathrobe pocket makes the whole bathrobe slouch and migrate southwest?

It's probably how the weight is distributed by the fabric to the shoulders. I usually carry a spare power brick in my coat. For a while, I had it in the slash pocket where I also keep my gloves (and sometimes my hands), but I hated the weight in the pocket. I moved it to the inside breast pocket of the coat and I no longer notice it.

* Why do hoodies all have drawstrings? Do fashion designers not have cats?

I never wear anything with drawstrings near cats, but I've used the draw string on the above coat's hood to keep it tight to my head when I'm using the hood to limit how it blocks my peripheral vision.

[mesozoic]

I have hunches but not authoritative answers. Good luck finding the fashion engineering class!

[siderea]

What's the purpose of all these seams on my cargo pants? Which ones are functional and which ones are just there because REI feel the need to change things up every 6 months?

Pix pls.

Why does some terrycloth survive the dryer just fine, while other terrycloth gets snags and loose threads if I just look at it funny?

Not sure, but I like to keep the venerable traditions of my foremothers alive and reflexively blame synthetic fibers. Some terrycloth is 100% cotton, and some is a blend with synthetics or all synthetic. And it might make sense that synthetic is more likely to get snags and loose threads, because the attraction of synthetics in that application is a silkier feel, but if you make terrycloth silky, the loops are more likely to slide if snagged.

How come I can carry a smartphone in the pocket of my fishing shirts just fine, but the same smartphone in my bathrobe pocket makes the whole bathrobe slouch and migrate southwest?

I'm guessing your fishing shirts are weaves and your bathrobe is a knit. Knits stretch; it's what's they do.

What would happen if I put cargo pockets on jeans?

Jeans are made out of denim, which is typically very thick – thicker than the cotton twill in cargo pants. When you make the kinds of pockets of cargo pants, it involves folding over and sewing together many layers of fabric, which gets bulkier and harder to do the thicker the fabric is. This is, as a side note, what makes assembling jeans challenging, to start with.

Other than that, I don't know there's any further issues with it.

Anyways, the name for the technical domain all these questions fall under is "clothing construction".