sewing

1. 1
   the craftnoununcountable

   The act or activity of joining fabric or other material by stitching it with a needle and thread.

   Sewing by hand takes far longer than working on a machine.

   The community center offers evening classes in sewing and knitting.

   Similarneedlework, stitching

2. 2
   stitchingverb

   Present participle and gerund of sew.

   He spent the evening sewing patches onto his old denim jacket.

   Sewing a straight seam takes more patience than most beginners expect.

   Note

   The -ing form does two jobs. After be it makes the progressive (he was sewing patches onto his jacket); at the head of a phrase it names the activity and still takes an object (sewing a straight seam takes patience). The verb's into pattern carries over as well: sewing a letter into the lining hides one thing inside another.

3. 3
   the itemnoununcountable

   Something that is in the process of being sewn, or that has already been sewn.

   She set her sewing aside when the phone rang.

   The kitchen table was covered with half-finished sewing: cushion covers, a torn sleeve, a skirt waiting for its hem.

   Similarneedlework

   Note

   Here the word names the work in hand rather than the act, and it usually comes with a possessive: you put down your sewing, as Mrs. Flanders leaves her sewing on the table in Virginia Woolf's Jacob's Room (1922), among reels of white cotton and a needle-case. It can also mean the stitches themselves, as when the sewing has come undone.

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