Unit 2 Garments and garments parts

Generally speaking, the parts of a dress are as follows: bodice, skirt, sleeves, hemline, neckline, train, and straps. Not all dresses necessarily have to be composed of all these parts. For instance, not all dresses have straps. Some have sleeves, and others leave your shoulders bare.

• Sleeves

A sleeve is the part of a dress that covers your arm. Sleeves can be short, mid-length, or long. Besides, sleeves can be tight or loose depending on the style. Sleeves have an opening at the end so that your hand and arm can pass through.

There exist lots of different types of sleeves. Yet, they’re mainly classified into two groups: set-in sleeves and non-set-in sleeves.

The former refers to those sleeves that join the side seams of the bodice at the underarm. Examples of set-in sleeves are bishop sleeves, peasant sleeves, angel sleeves, Juliet sleeves, and puff sleeves, among others.

Non-set-in sleeves are sleeves that form part of the bodice. For instance: kimono sleeves, raglan sleeves, and dolman sleeves. As you may well have already noticed, there’s quite a lot of variety as regards sleeves.

• Bodice

The bodice refers to the part of a woman’s dress above the waist. In other words, the bodice is the part of a woman’s dress that covers your body from your neck or shoulders to your waist.

Historically, this term refers to a tight-fitting sleeveless garment for the torso and bust, which was common in Europe during the 16th to the 18th century. These days, it just refers to the upper portion of a dress to set it apart from the skirt and sleeves.

• Skirt

The skirt is the bottom part of a dress. It covers your body from the waist downwards. Its hemline can vary from micro to floor-length. A dress skirt can be above knee length, knee length, floor length, mini, ankle-length, etc.

Besides, a dress skirt can be of many types to suit your body shape and fashion style. It can be asymmetrical, straight, A-line, pencil/tube, mini, layered, godet, wrap, high-low, tulip, bubble, etc.

• Waistline

The waistline of a dress is what joins the bodice and the skirt. The waistline is responsible for the dress shape. It is generally used to accentuate different features. The waistline sets how a dress works on your figure.

Not surprisingly, there exist different types of waistlines. The empire waistline is the one that is placed just below the bust of a dress. The natural waistline sits at your natural waist. The dropped waistline sits at the top of your hips.

V and U shaped waistlines are not straight, but they have V or U form in the front or back of a dress. Finally, if a dress has no waist seam, it’s called princess seam.

• Necklin

The neckline is the top edge of a dress. A dress neckline is the part people notice first. It adds a bit of character to your dress. There are several types of necklines. For instance, jewel, asymmetric, halter, U and V necklines, boat, round, strapless, high neck, etc.

• Hemline

The hemline refers to the line that is formed by the lower edge of a dress. It matters since you must know the ideal dress length for specific events. Hemlines have dramatically changed over the years.

The appropriate dress hemline has to do with factors such as your age, the occasion, fashion styles, and your own choice. There exist many types of hemlines. For example, floor-length, ankle, midcalf, below-knee, above-knee, handkerchief, asymmetrical, high- low, etc.

Besides, a dress can be classified according to its hemline as a mini dress, midi dress, maxi dress, tea-length dress, floor-length dress, and calf-length dress. I’ll explain dress types more in detail later on in this post.

• Train

The dress train is the long back portion of a dress that falls behind the wearer. These days, trains are only common in pretty formal evening gowns and wedding dresses. There are several types of wedding dress trains.

For example, cathedral train, chapel train, court train, royal train, sweep train, and Watteau train. Trains can either be long or short. Trains are meant to trail behind the dress wearer. There are many styles available, which option to opt for depends on the event, place, and the preferences of who’s wearing it.

• Straps

Straps consist of a length of fabric that sits over your shoulders and is used to support your dress weight. Shoulder straps are generally made of the same material as the dress. Straps can be quite thin, in which case they are referred to as spaghetti straps.