Let's Talk Fabric

Are you new to the fabric world and need some help? Are you wondering why all those fun fabrics you keep seeing cost so much money? Maybe I can answer some questions....

First off, most clothing patterns are going to require knit fabric. This is because knits have some sort of stretch and are ideal for things that go over heads and arms etc. But not all knits are created equal. There's light weight, medium weight, heavy weight. There's varying degrees of stretch and recovery. It's all quite overwhelming really.

When I started sewing I walked into the fabric store and I had NO idea what to look for. So I went for the cheapest, prettiest fabric there was. Of course woven cotton and flannel come in pretty much any design you could want and you can usually find it on sale for a few bucks a yard/meter. The problem is, I couldn't make any clothes out of it (which I figured out after acquiring a pretty large collection). This fabric is good for a lot of things, but not so much for the majority of clothing patterns you will find out there. Think bibs, baby booties, reusable cloth...things like that. Keep in mind there ARE some clothing patterns that use woven (for example the New Horizons Bali Blouse), but I'm mostly talking about the majority of what you are seeing when you start out. Knits - These aren't as easy to find and definitely not as cheap as some other fabrics. And then there's all that fun custom printed cotton/lycra blends that you browse through, drool a little, check your bank account, and try to figure out how you could sell your first born to pay for.

First you have to figure out what kind of garment you want to make and how you want the fabric to hang (drape). If you want some that is going to drape nicely (say, for the Love Notions Laundry Day Tee which is free), you might look for a fabric blend with polyester in it. Right now the big thing is double brushed poly which is incredibly soft and amazing (although some, including myself, find it slightly less breathable and a little sweaty). Custom knits are mostly made with a blend of 95% cotton and 5% lycra(spandex). This combination has a great stretch, usually 4-way, and is perfect for clothing - but doesn't drape as nicely. My personal favorite is french terry. There are all sorts of variations of this fabric but usually you can find it in a 4-way stretch, soft, and not too thick - and in just about any color you could want. There's also amazing blends with polyester (see So Sew English) that are really thin, but SO SOOO soft! I have also bought some french terry at Joann's that isn't as stretchy but works just as good. Then there's the kind that is really thick and has barely any stretch - I *may* have bought a substantial amount of this online once not realizing it wasn't the kind I was looking for - and now it just takes up a lot of space in my limited storage.

Keep in mind that when people say 'cotton/lycra' (or CL), they are usually referring to jersey. Cotton/lycra is a blend of 2 fabrics, not a fabric type itself - there are many types of cotton/lycra blends, and only one of them is jersey.

Patterns for Pirates has a fantastic review of fabrics and drape that you can find here (http://www.patternsforpirates.com/different-fabric-different-fit/). This review is so great because she actually sews up the same pattern in different fabrics so you can see how the fit is changed based on what you are using.

This is obviously an incredibly brief review of fabrics, but I will add to it later.