Word for "sewing clothing" that isn't gender-specific
I'm looking for a single word or a short (fewer than 25 character) phrase that means "sewing that is specific to clothing" but isn't gender-specific like "dressmaking".
Options that I have considered and dismissed include
- "tailoring" - too specific as it relates directly to the act of making clothing fit a person rather than the simple act of making the clothing.
- "dressmaking" - gender-specific issues.
- "sewing" - too broad as it does not relate strictly to clothes.
For use, this will be used as a tag on another SE site so it will not be in a sentence but should follow the SE tagging style. Generally, our activity tags use the gerund form (crocheting, sewing, painting, etc).
The only restriction is that the word/phrase be shorter than 25 characters including spaces (hyphens). Because this would be a tag, it's important that the term be commonly-used so that it's something a user would try to tag a question with rather than being obscure.
I've been looking around online and thinking it over but I can't seem to find any good options and since I don't sew/make clothes myself, I don't know what other options are out there.
The term garment making has some usage:
From Thesaurus.com:
garment making as in rag trade
Synonyms for garment making
noun clothing industry
- dressmaking
- garment industry
- Seventh Avenue
- fashion design
- haute couture
- tailoring
HOME SEWING AND SIMPLE GARMENT MAKING (London College of Fashion course)
Garment Making Sew cute outfits for kids, whip up a sleek skirt for yourself or create a playful costume — homemade clothes have unbeatable charm and personality. (Fiskars website "Crafting and Sewing" category)
{Sew} Get Started: Garment Making Basics (Blog tutorial)
SEWU and SEWA are women's unions that organise and mobilise 'workers' in informal trades, including, in both cases, garment making. (Globalisation and New Identities: A View from the Middle By Peter Alexander & Marcelle C. Dawson, 2006)
Garment making industries (2012 publication by Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce)
The phrases making garments and garment construction might also be options.