Armscye

In sewing, the armscye is the armhole, the fabric edge to which the sleeve is sewn. The length of the armscye is the total length of this edge; the width is the distance across the hole at the widest point.

Etymology

Multiple theories for the etymology of "armscye" have been proposed.

The scholarly etymology has the origin as "arm" + "scye." The first documented use of "scye" in print is by Jamieson (1825) Suppl.: "sey," a Scots and Ulster dialect word (written also scy, sci, si, sie, sy in glossaries) meaning ‘the opening of a gown, etc., into which the sleeve is inserted;^[1]^[2] the part of the dress between the armpit and the chest (of obscure etymology, and sometimes confused with "scythe" due to similarly curved shapes).

A more fanciful folk etymology is as follows. Because the expression "arm's eye" was used in some older sewing texts (e.g. "Gynametry," published in 1887^[3]) it is conjectured that in poor prints the apostrophe and the crossbar of the lower case "e" were indistinct, and the neologism "armscye" was created by readers who concatenated the orphaned fragments "arm" and "s" with the corrupt "cye". According to this undocumented theory, until the beginning of the 20th century writers favoured the original term or at least a more logical variation (e.g. "armeye" in The Perfect Dressmaking System," published in 1914^[4]), but as self-proclaimed experts copied each other, the term "armscye" eventually became widely enough used by home sewers to gain general acceptance.

The latter theory clearly contradicts evidence (discussed above) that the term "scye" was already in use at least as early as 1825. Therefore, the erroneous folk analysis was not in the direction from "arm's eye" to "armcye", but rather from the original "armcye" to "arm's eye" (which made more sense to modern English speakers, with a later adjustment more recently back to the correct "armscye").

References

↑ Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. 2014.
↑ Jamieson, John (1825). Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language.
↑ Coleman, Mary Virginia (1887). The Science of Gynametry. Byrd & Pattillo. p. 40.
↑ Bennett, Ella Alvira (1914). The Perfect Dressmaking System. Library of Congress. p. 24.

Sewopaedia entry for armscye

Sewing

Techniques	Basting Cut Darning Ease Embellishment Fabric tube turning Floating canvas Gather Godet Gusset Heirloom sewing Shirring

Stitches	List of sewing stitches Backstitch Bar tack Blanket Blind stitch Buttonhole Catch stitch Chain stitch Cross-stitch Embroidery stitch Hemstitch Lockstitch Overlock Pad stitch Pick stitch Rantering Running Sashiko Stoating Tack Topstitch Zigzag

Seams	Felled seam Seam allowance Style line

Notions Trims	Bias tape Collar stays Elastic Grommet / Eyelet Interfacing Passementerie Piping Ruffle Rickrack Self-fabric Soutache Trim Twill tape Wrights

Closures	Buckle Button Buttonhole Frog Hook-and-eye Hook and loop fastener Shank Snap Zipper

Materials	Bias Yarn / Thread Selvage Textiles / Fabrics

Tools	Bobbin Dress form Needle threader Pattern notcher Pin Pincushion Pinking shears Scissors Seam ripper Sewing needle Stitching awl Tailor's ham Tape measure Thimble Tracing paper Tracing wheel

Trades Suppliers	Cloth merchant Draper Dressmaker Haberdasher Mercer Sewing occupations Tailor

Sewing machine manufacturers	Barthélemy Thimonnier Bernina Brother Industries Elias Howe Feiyue Frister & Rossmann Janome Jones Sewing Machine Company Juki Merrow New Home Pfaff Sewmor Singer Tapemaster Viking / Husqvarna White

Pattern Manufacturers	Butterick Clothkits McCall's Simplicity

Glossary of sewing terms

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, November 30, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.

Armscye

Etymology

References

Further reading