- Abdomen – area between the waist and hips around the belly button area
- Abdomen arc – 1/4 of the total circumference of the fattest part
- Apex – the doll’s nipple if she has one or the tip of her breast
- Arc – 1/4 of complete circumference measurement
- Banana dart – a dart that looks like a straight up and down banana
- Basic block – your pattern that you drafted from your measurements it has no design to it
- Bias grain – the diagonal of the fabric and your grain line is lined up with it for a different drape
- Blend – making separate lines look like 1 continuous one
- Bust – chest level on a child or man or the breasts of a lady doll
- Bust arc – the distance from the flat ribs below the bust to the apex
- Bust bridge – distance between apexes
- Cap ease – difference between cap and armhole measurement
- Cap – height distance from biceps to cap at center
- Center back – center of the back usually where there would be a spine
- Center front – center of the front of a doll where there would normally be a breast bone
- Circumference – distance around somewhere
- Cloth body – the body is made of cloth and is very soft and huggable.
- Composition body – the body I made of a plastic substance and does not squish when you hug your doll
- Cross grain – grain running from selvage to selvage
- Crotch – area where a drink and wet doll wets and where panties would normally go
- Dart intake – the extra added to a pattern so that when you sew the dart it doesn’t end up too small
- Dart leg – one of the lines that makes up a dart
- Dart point – the tip of the dart
- Darts – used to fit a garment close to the body primarily for lady dolls but can be used on children or men but never on a baby.
- Drape – holding and pinning a piece of fabric up to a doll and pinching the material until it fits then marking where darts are and making a basic pattern from the fabric markings in a connect-the-dots style.
- Ease – the extra bit of room that allows you to dress the doll without breaking her
- Elbow level – elbow of doll
- Finger span – the distance around all the fingers at the largest point
- French curve – plastic tool used to draw curves various sizes are available including ones specifically for dolls
- Grade – to enlarge or shrink an current pattern
- Grading – the act of enlarging or shrinking a pattern
- Grain line – center of garment running normally from top to bottom of piece
- Hip arc – 1/4 of the total hip measurement
- Horizontal balance lines or HBL – horizontal lines used as a basis of where the bust waist and hip lie so that measuring is more accurate and easier
- Notches – used at the armhole and top of sleeve to ensure that the sleeve doesn’t end up crooked when sewn
- Porcelain body – made of porcelain doesn’t squish and is very hard similar to a composition body only very fragile
- Princess line – the style of a pattern where the bodice or skirt has been split into 2 pieces for each quarter of the body
- Raglan – a style where the sleeve doesn’t come from the shoulder tip but from the neck/shoulder junction as in a sweatshirt
- Right angle or RT angle – a 90-degree angle commonly found at necklines centers side seams and armhole bottoms
- Rulers – measuring tool
- Seam – sewn together pieces of fabric to form 1 piece this can be done by hand or machine
- Seam allowance or S/A – allowance of extra fabric so that your sewing machine has a little extra to grab on to when it tries to feed your fabric through.
- Sleeve cap -the curved top section of the sleeve from the front to the back
- Sleeve ease – the added room needed to allow the arm to move if necessary
- Straight grain – the vertical grain of the fabric
- Style lines – various lines made on patterns to create a new look or design
- Torso – the body part of a doll without the head, arms, or legs.
- Truing the pattern – checking to be sure that all areas match up side seams are the same length, shoulder seams are the same etc.
- Waist arc – 1/4 of the total waist circumference measurement
- Wrist level – the bottom hemline area of a sleeve, level with the wrist of the arm