This page explains how to name and locate three components every knit garment has, for anyone who reads a tech pack, checks a sample against it, or approves bulk production: a buyer, a merchandiser, a quality team, or a new entrant. This lesson teaches information flow: a tech pack's words only work if the person reading them, and the person checking a sample against them, mean the same construction by each word.
Lesson 1 of this course named the parts of a woven garment: collar, cuff, yoke, placket. A knit garment such as a T-shirt has a different set of components, because it has no woven collar or cuff in the same sense. A new entrant can assume that naming a component's general shape, such as "crew neck," is enough. It is not. The same shape can be built more than one way, and a tech pack has to say which one.
Without knowing this, a buyer can approve a sample that looks right at a glance and still be approving a different construction from the one the tech pack specified. The mismatch is only caught, if at all, once the bulk order has already been made the same way.
You need: nothing but this page. Lesson 1 of this course (naming a woven garment's parts) is useful background but not required.
By the end of this lesson you can:
Not covered here: denim-specific components such as the waistband, belt loops, rivets and pockets (lesson T05-C01-L03); closures and trims such as zippers, buttons, elastic and drawcords (lesson T05-C01-L04); building a full garment anatomy worksheet for a new style (lesson T05-C01-L05).
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Neckline | The finished edge of a garment around the neck opening. |
| Hem | The finished edge at the bottom of a garment or sleeve, folded and stitched to prevent fraying. |
| Sleeve type | How a sleeve is constructed and attached to the body of a garment. |
| Set-in sleeve | A sleeve attached to the body of a garment at a seam around the armhole. |
| Raglan sleeve | A sleeve that extends in one piece to the neckline, with no separate armhole seam. |
| Ribbed crew neckline | A close-fitting ribbed neckline sitting at the base of the neck. |
A neckline is the finished edge around the neck opening. Order A's T-shirt uses a ribbed crew neckline: a close-fitting ribbed neckline sitting at the base of the neck. A hem is the finished edge at the bottom of a garment or sleeve, folded and stitched to prevent fraying. A sleeve type describes how the sleeve is constructed and attached: a set-in sleeve is attached at a seam around the armhole, and Order A's T-shirt uses this type, while a raglan sleeve extends in one piece to the neckline instead. Each of these terms names one exact construction, not a general description a person might use casually on the factory floor. A garment that looks right in general shape can still be built the wrong way underneath, and only the exact construction name, matched against the tech pack, actually proves whether it is right.
These three components exist on every knit garment a buyer or a factory will ever discuss, whatever the style. A T-shirt, a sweatshirt, and a knit polo each have their own neckline, their own sleeve type, and their own hem, even though the exact shapes chosen can differ from style to style. Learning the names once means a person can describe, and check, any knit garment's construction precisely, not only Order A's own T-shirt.
A knit garment's neckline and sleeve can take more than one shape, and more than one construction can produce what looks, at a glance, like the same general shape. This is why a tech pack has to name the exact construction, not only the general look.
| What can differ | The shapes you meet | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Neckline construction | Ribbed crew neckline: a close-fitting ribbed neckline at the base of the neck; Order A's T-shirt uses this exact type | Ribbed fabric stretches and recovers differently from the body fabric, so a tech pack must say "ribbed," not just "crew" |
| Neckline shape | V-neckline: a neckline shaped into a V at the front; not used on Order A's T-shirt, but a common alternative | A different shape at the front changes the pattern and the cutting, so the shape itself must be named, separately from the construction |
| Sleeve attachment | Set-in sleeve: attached at a seam around the armhole; Order A's T-shirt uses this type | A visible armhole seam and a distinct sleeve panel change the fit across the shoulder |
| Sleeve attachment | Raglan sleeve: extends diagonally to the neckline in one piece, no separate armhole seam; not used on Order A's T-shirt, but common on athletic-style knitwear | No armhole seam changes the shoulder's fit and range of movement, and changes how the pattern is cut |
Sara, the buyer at Northline Apparel, is reviewing a sample of Order A's T-shirt ahead of bulk approval. Order A's tech pack, agreed with Delta Garments at sampling, fixes the T-shirt's neckline as a ribbed crew neckline and its sleeve type as set-in sleeves. Before Sara can approve the bulk run of 15,000 pieces, she needs to confirm that the sample Delta Garments has sent actually matches those two named constructions, using the same standard component names the tech pack uses, not a general description of what the sample looks like.
This lesson needs no calculation. Order A's own fixed facts, already set in this academy, are what Sara is checking: a basic cotton T-shirt, single jersey, 15,000 pieces, with a ribbed crew neckline and set-in sleeves fixed in its tech pack. The check is a count of two named constructions against the sample in front of her, not a number to calculate.
A common mistake is assuming that "crew neck" always means the same neckline construction. A ribbed crew neckline and a self-fabric crew neckline, cut from the same fabric as the body, both fit the general crew shape, but they are different constructions with different hand-feel and different stretch recovery. A tech pack must specify which one. Approving a sample on general shape alone, without checking the exact construction named in the tech pack, risks a bulk order that matches an unapproved construction.
The same trap applies to sleeve type. A set-in sleeve and a raglan sleeve can both sit at roughly the same length and width once sewn, so a quick glance at the finished garment does not always show which one was used, especially under a loose fit. The seam around the armhole is the detail that proves it: present, it is a set-in sleeve; absent, with the seam running instead from underarm to neckline, it is a raglan sleeve. Checking that one seam, not the sleeve's general outline, is what actually confirms the construction named in the tech pack.
Every knit garment has a neckline, a sleeve type, and a hem. The neckline is the finished edge around the neck; Order A's T-shirt uses a ribbed neckline shaped like a crew, sitting close at the base of the neck. The sleeve type is how the sleeve is built and attached; Order A's T-shirt uses a set-in sleeve, attached at a seam around the armhole, unlike a raglan sleeve, which reaches the neckline in one piece with no armhole seam. The hem is the finished, stitched edge at the bottom. A crew-shaped neckline can still be built two different ways, ribbed or cut from the body fabric itself, and these two feel and stretch differently, so naming the shape alone is never enough. A buyer checking a sample has to compare its exact neckline and sleeve construction to the tech pack's own words, not to a general impression of the garment's shape.
Sara, reviewing Order A's tech pack ahead of bulk approval, receives the sample Delta Garments has sent. The facts in front of her:
The document Sara reads, the tech pack's specification, exactly as quoted:
Does this sample match the tech pack? Decide before you open the answer.
No. The tech pack specifies a ribbed crew neckline, and the sample's neckline is self-fabric, not ribbed.
Two facts, together, decide this. First, the tech pack names the construction exactly: "ribbed crew neckline," not just "crew neck." Second, this lesson's own trap: a ribbed crew neckline and a self-fabric crew neckline share the same general crew shape, matching it is not enough, since the two constructions have different stretch recovery and durability at the neck opening.
The sample should be rejected, or the tech pack's exact requirement should be re-confirmed with Delta Garments, before Sara signs off bulk approval. Approving this sample on shape alone risks a bulk run of 15,000 pieces built to a construction nobody actually agreed at sampling.
This lesson's cost is framed qualitatively, since no separate cost figure for a neckline mismatch is fixed elsewhere in this academy. Order A's tech pack fixes its neckline and sleeve type before bulk cutting starts, and its bulk run is 15,000 pieces, all cut and sewn to whatever construction the approved sample shows.
Approving a sample with the wrong neckline construction because the general shape "looked right" risks the entire 15,000-piece bulk run matching an unapproved construction, not just the one sample piece. Catching the mismatch after bulk cutting has started costs far more than catching it now: refitting or reworking ribbing onto a self-fabric neckline is not a small fix, and a rejected bulk shipment risks the whole order's delivery date, not only the neckline. Checking the exact construction now costs only the time to compare the sample to the tech pack's own words.
Copy this table into the garment anatomy worksheet's Anatomy sheet. Fill each row from what you actually checked on the sample, not from the tech pack alone.
| Component | Found on which garment | Where it is (your answer) | Self-check |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neckline (ribbed crew) | Order A's T-shirt | The finished edge around the neck opening, ribbed, sitting close at the base of the neck | |
| Sleeve (set-in) | Order A's T-shirt | Attached at a seam around the armhole, covering the upper arm | |
| Hem | Order A's T-shirt | The finished, stitched edge at the bottom of the garment |
Download the full working sheet, with a column for your own notes, from the link on this course's page.
1. What is the difference between a set-in sleeve and a raglan sleeve?
2. What neckline and sleeve type does Order A's T-shirt use?
3. A different order's tech pack specifies a self-fabric crew neckline, and its sample arrives with a ribbed crew neckline instead. Does the sample match the tech pack?
| EN | AR | FR | TR | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Neckline | خط الرقبة | Encolure | Yaka çizgisi | The finished edge of a garment around the neck opening. |
| Hem | الحاشية | Ourlet | Etek payı | The finished edge at the bottom of a garment or sleeve, folded and stitched to prevent fraying. |
| Sleeve type | نوع الكم | Type de manche | Kol tipi | How a sleeve is constructed and attached to the body of a garment. |
| Set-in sleeve | كم مثبت (سيت إن) | Manche montée | Set-in kol (klasik kol) | A sleeve attached to the body of a garment at a seam around the armhole. |
| Raglan sleeve | كم راجلان | Manche raglan | Raglan kol | A sleeve that extends in one piece to the neckline, with no separate armhole seam. |
| Ribbed crew neckline | خط رقبة كرو مضلع (ريب) | Encolure ras-du-cou côtelée | Fitilli (ribana) bisiklet yaka | A close-fitting ribbed neckline sitting at the base of the neck. |
You now know how to name and locate a knit garment's neckline, hem and sleeve type. The next lesson turns to denim: the components that are specific to five-pocket jeans, such as the waistband, the belt loops, the rivets and the pockets. Back to the course map