We love sewing and designing lingerie. We create top-notch lingerie patterns.
We love sewing and designing lingerie. We create top-notch lingerie patterns.
What are they?
DOGS – Direction of greatest stretch for a fabric piece. Usually, it corresponds to the fabric width.
Grainline – is precisely the opposite of DOGS. This line shows the direction in the fabric is least stretchy or not stretching at all. The grainline is perpendicular to DOGS. Usually, it corresponds to the fabric length and/or the direction the fabric was woven, but not necessarily.
Why do we need to know about them?
Each sewing pattern must have one of these three lines shown on each piece. It tells you how to arrange the piece(s) on the fabric and then cut, and sew the garment. For a successful result, you must always look for these lines and consult sewing instructions; also, you have to identify correctly DOGS and grain-line line on your fabric otherwise, you may end with an undesired result – the garment does not fit, the garment shape is different than the one presented in the pattern, etc.
How to identify DOGS and grain-line on knit / jersey fabric
I think, knit fabric is the easiest one. Knit fabric is made of loops. The direction of the flow of the loops is the grain line. The other one is DOGS. Here are two examples of rather big loops:
Knit fabric is used for T-shirts, a lot of underwear, and tops. Of course, the loops are tiny on those fabrics but don’t worry, you’ll manage to distinguish them.
How to identify DOGS and grain-line on other types of fabric
When you buy fabric:
- you ask the seller for the length you need. The seller measures that amount and cuts the fabric along the width;
- you by a piece that is already cut – a coupon;
Most of the fabrics have a border alongside the length. On some fabrics, it is less visible. Among fabrics that may not have borders are lace and a lot of synthetics. Anyway, not having a border is not a bad thing. You just have to remember what side is the length and what side of the fabric is the width.
Now, there are a few cases to determine DOGS and grain-line. The primary step is to stretch the fabric on its length and then, on its width.
- case 1: if the fabric stretches in one direction – that direction is DOGS, and the other one is grain-line;
- case 2: if the fabric stretches in both directions – the direction that stretches most is DOGS, and the other one (perpendicular to DOGS) is grain-line;
- case 3: the fabric doesn’t stretch in any direction – the best rule here is: to take as grain-line the length of the fabric. We do not use DOGS here, since there is nothing stretchy!
But I’ve had fabrics with patterns (like stripes or other repetitive patterns) that are not aligned with grainline as we want the garment grainline to be. Only for this type of fabric – the one that stretches neither on the length of the fabric nor the width of the fabric – we can choose the grainline as we want our pattern to lay.
DOGS and Grainline on my patterns
In my patterns, one of these lines will always be present. DOGS line will always be in blue color and grain-line in gray color. The line width will vary. Also, the line will have a label attached, with “DOGS” or “Grainline”, in case you print the pattern in black-and-white.