Marking Tools for Clothing Construction

MARKING TOOLS

Marking tools are items, which are used for drawing the pat-terns on paper or on fabrics. These tools are used for marking the cutting lines, darts, tucks, neck curves, connecting lines and shapes. The tools include colour pencils (Red and Blue), Marking chalk, tracing wheel, tailor’s square and French curve (Figure 6.3).

Colour Pencils (Red and Blue)

Colour pencils are ordinary pencils which is available in the market. It is used for drawing the patterns on paper. Red colour is used for marking the cutting lines and the blue colour is used for marking tucks, darts and seam.

Marking Chalk

Marking chalk is a hard chalk used for marking patterns. It is also called as Tailor’s chalk. It is used to draw the outline of the garment on the fabric. It is available in three colours (red, blue and yellow) and two shapes namely triangle and square. With the help of these chalks, curved parts can be drawn easily on the fabric.

Tracing Wheel

Tracing wheel is a small circular metal wheel attached to a metal or wooden handle. The disc has sharp teeth. This helps to create per-forations, which indicate the cutting lines. It is used for transferring very small pat-tern details on the fabric (Examples: Darts, notches). It is used for marking more num-ber of fabrics at the same time.

Tailor’s Square

Tailor’s square is a ‘L’ shaped scale. It is also known as ‘L’ scale. It is used for drawing typ-ical squares or rectangles. It has both inches and centimeters marked. It is available in wood, steel and plastics.

French Curves

French curve is a flat template made out of wood, plastic or metal. It is composed of many curves. It is used for drawing curved lines like necklines and armscye lines in dress making. It helps in marking scalloped designs.