Abstract
The most difficult part in the process of dress making is fixing sleeves. The final aim of our research is to evaluate the properties of cloth numerically so that we can decide the proper size of sleeve armhole in connection with a given body armhole, and make the diagram which shows the relation between the numerical values of cloth and the difference in size of both armholes.
We have found that the difference, which we call margin amount of sleeve, depends entirely on how much the cloth can shrink.
Cloth cannot shrink in the warp and weft directions, but can shrink in the 45° or 135° bias direction.
Bias cloth, 2 centimeters wide and 10 centimeters long, was used for our experiment and was pulled by various test loads. For each pull the elongation and the width reduction were measured.
We have come to the conclusion that there is very close interrelation between the proper margin amount and the contraction or elongation of cloth in the bias direction. Especially the elongation is a kind of the parameter which shows the exact numerical value of not only the margin amount but the flexibility of material which is useful for three dimensional clothing construction.
Accordingly, as one of the most effective pieces of information about the properties of cloth, we propose that this bias elongation should be indicated as well as the quality of the fiber.
