Chinese idiom · 成语
天衣无缝
Meaning
Heavenly robe without seams; flawless work.
Character by character
Origin and story
legendAncient supernatural literature imagines heavenly clothing that needs no stitching. The Shenyi Jing (神異經), preserved in a quotation in Taiping Yulan, describes people in the distant west whose heaven-given garments have no seams. Another famous account, Niu Jiao’s Lingguai Lu (靈怪錄), survives in Taiping Guangji, volume 68. Guo Han receives a visit from a woman who identifies herself as the celestial Weaver Girl. Looking closely at her clothing, he notices no seams; she explains that heavenly garments are not made with needle and thread.
These are marvelous tales, not accounts of real textile manufacture. The seamless robe became an image for poetry that feels entirely natural, and then for workmanship, cooperation, or plans with no apparent flaws.
Sources and further reading
In everyday life
这段视频剪得天衣无缝，我完全看不出转场的痕迹。
The video is edited so seamlessly that I can't see any trace of the transitions.
For something apparently seamless or faultless; not necessarily morally good.