3 July 2026
How to stop visible lines under clothes
Lines are made by seam placement, fabric weight and how the edge is finished. A seam or a hem edge sits proud of the skin, and thin cloth over it prints the step. This is not a size problem, so going up a size will not remove it.
What is happening
Every line you see is a change in thickness. A seam is three or four layers where the garment is otherwise one, and a folded hem is two.
Light woven cloth drapes over that step and reveals it. The thinner and flatter the outer fabric, the more faithfully it prints what is underneath.
Elastic makes a second kind of line. A band that grips tighter than the fabric around it compresses the skin, and the dent shows even when the seam does not.
How to check it on yourself
Put on the garment you actually wear, stand side-on to a window, and run a flat palm across the seam line.
If you can feel a ridge under your hand, the camera and the daylight will find it too.
What to change
Choose laser-cut or bonded edges. A raw-cut microfibre edge has no hem, so there is no step for the fabric to print.
Move the seam out of the sightline. A knicker cut on the diagonal puts its leg edge along the crease of your thigh, where the shadow already is.
Match the weight. A moulded, seam-free cup under a fine jersey; a seamed cup only under something with body to it.
What will not fix it
Going up a size. A larger garment has the same seams and the same hems, only further out.
Nude colour. Colour does not change thickness, and the ridge is thickness. Skin-matching only helps where the cloth is sheer.
Shapewear over the top. That adds two more hems, and the top hem is the one that shows most.