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For
centuries a simple drawstring or shoestring was used by people to tie
or tighten together their clothes, shoes, and bags. While newer and
more complex rubber band and zipper is gradually replacing the drawstring
in the 21st century, the string is still widely used in clothes manufacturing.
Perhaps it is the drawstring’s simplicity and durability that
won the hearts of designers and their loyal customers for centuries.
Today drawstring is used in multitude of clothes available in retail stores
such as bathing suits, sweat pants, pajamas, hoodies, and summer shorts.
With the coming of the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S. it is certain that
summer will take place in retail stores during the break.
The principle of the drawstring is very simple and easy to use – the
idea is to unite two opposite ends of the material by means of holes, a
string, and sometimes a safety pin, bodkin, or crochet hook. The shoes
can be tightened closer to one’s feet by drawing a shoestring through
the holes, specifically made on the opposite sides of each shoe. The more
holes the shoe has along the feet, the tighter the shoe is promising to
be. Shoe designers have even invented different styles of shoe lacing,
thanks to drawstring, including criss cross, over under, straight, display,
hiking, ladder, spider web and many others.
The drawstring works a little differently on clothes and bags. To make
shorts with an adjustable waist, for example, without the use of rubber
band or zipper, a drawstring can be inserted in the shorts’ belt.
For this purpose the belt of the shorts must be two-layered, creating a
hollow space through which a drawstring can be dragged along. The belt
must be a little wider than the drawstring that it carries for the ease
of placing and later using the drawstring for waist tightening. Besides
the two-layered belt, two proximate small holes must be made on the front,
side, or back of the shorts, through which a drawstring can be entered
and exited. The idea is to insert the drawstring along the shorts’ waist
through the first hole and take it out through the other hole and connect
the two ends in a tight knot or bow.
Placing the drawstring in the newly sewn shorts could be a quite challenging
operation for the sewing beginners.
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