What are Notches in garment making?

By using ready-to-wear tricks, like nips, notches, and tailor tacks for marking, you can make your sewing projects much easier to complete. There are two areas that must be marked when you transfer the pattern marking to the cloth: outside edges and the inside details.

There are two types of notches in sewing: pattern notches and center notches.

Pattern Notches

Pattern notches are the single or double notches printed on the pattern’s cutting edges.
These notches:

• Denote center front and center back pattern pieces
• Allow for easing and stretching
• Avoid confusion among a number of pieces that may look alike

Center Notches

Center notches are small V-shaped wedges of fabric removed from a seam allowance. They should be cut into all centers and folds to indicate center and grain.
For example, when matching the neckline to the facing, match the notches in the dress to the notches in the facing. The dress will be perfectly on grain.

Notches should be placed on the pattern edge in the following areas:

• All center dots in sleeve caps
• All centers of the neckline, front and back of the garment, facings, and the collars
• All centers in hems