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French Sewing Vocabulary

French Sewing Vocabulary

On this page you’ll find a complete list of French sewing vocabulary words. You’ll notice that while most of these words are quite different from English the names of the different kinds of sewing arts are very similar. For example, “la broderie” is embroidery and “le crochet” is crochet. The word for needlepoint is “la tapisserie”, which resembles the English word, “tapestry”.

Image of woman sewing
  • coudre to sew
  • le coutre sewing
  • l’aiguille needle
  • la machine à coudre sewing machine
  • le guide de fil thread guide
  • la pelote à épingles pincushion
  • le centimètre tape measure
  • le dé à coudre thimble
  • couper to cut
  • le crochet crochet
  • le outage quilting
  • le tricot knitting
  • la pelote de laine ball of yarn
  • le polyester polyester
  • la fermature éclair zipper
  • la bobine de fil thread reel
  • les ciseaux scissors
  • l’épingle pin
  • la bobine bobbin
  • la craie de tailleur tailor’s chalk
  • repriser to darn
  • la tapisserie needlepoint
  • le macramé macramé
  • le dentelle lace-making
  • l’aiguille à tricoter knitting needle
  • le nylon nylon
  • le lin linen
  • défaire to uptick
  • la platine needle plate
  • le patron pattern
  • le tissu material
  • le fil thread
  • enfiler to thread
  • bâtir to tack
  • la broderie embroidery
  • le patchwork patchwork
  • le tissage weaving
  • la laine wool
  • la soie silk
  • le cotton cotton
  • le styliste styliste

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David Issokson

David Issokson is a lifelong language enthusiast. His head is swimming with words and sounds as he speaks over six languages. Of all the languages he speaks, he's the most passionate about French! David has helped hundreds of students to improve their French in his private online lessons. When procrastinating working on his site, FrenchLearner.com, David enjoys his time skiing and hiking in Teton Valley, Idaho.

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