I'm translating a set of sewing instructions from German to English. I don't know a lot of sewing vocabulary, and I'm having trouble finding some of it in dictionaries, Wikipedia and so on. The term I'm asking for here is Wendeöffnung - literally "turn opening" - the hole you leave unstitched when sewing something inside-out so that you can turn it right-side-out. What is that usually called in English?
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1I don't think there is a one-word term for this. This may be an example of how the two languages differ in structure, it's my understanding that German often uses long composite words, whereas English uses several separate words, to describe the same thing, (But I am not a linguist!) Here is an example of sewing instructions for how to make a pillow, wikihow.com/Make-a-Throw-Pillow, "Stitch the fabrics together along the 4 edges, .5 inch (1.27 cm) from the edge. Leave a 5-inch (12.7 cm) gap on 1 side ... for turning it right-side out and stuffing it."– user1798Aug 21, 2017 at 1:47
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1I agree--I don't think there is a specific word for this. You could use the term "gap" like in @abbie's comment, or you could use "opening," or "unsewn section." I think any of these would work.– magerberAug 21, 2017 at 23:43
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2 Answers
From experience I know that when translating it is sometimes better to go the long way around a term to make it understandable rather than provide an "exact" word-to-word translation which will not help at all.
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Yes, it seems there is no simple word, so I'll make sure I explain it clearly with several. Thanks.– y6nHAug 25, 2017 at 23:41
I agree with the comments. "Leave a gap or space" would work, instead of a trying to use a single specific word.
