What are the Easiest Fabrics to Work With
January 6, 2011
•IADT Detroit, Fashion Design, IADT General
• 0 Comments
Fashion Design Tips: Choosing Simple Fabrics
Whether you're a fashion design pro or you're just beginning to delve into the wonderful world of sewing and clothing construction, there are certain fabrics that are undeniably easier to work with than others.
If you're a beginner, it is a good idea to start with projects that utilize easy-to-use fabrics. This will allow you to work on your technique without presenting an insurmountable number of additional challenges. If you're an old pro, using simple fabrics will allow you to complete a project in record time.
When you walk into your local craft store, the vast array of colors, styles and textures of fabric can be a bit overwhelming. There's everything from flannel and fleece to silk and satin. There is knit, cotton, wool, polyester, spandex, velour, denim, rayon, leather, linen and much more. But when you're looking for simple fabrics to work with, you can narrow your selection significantly. The easiest fabrics for sewing and clothing construction are:
- Tightly woven 100% cotton
- Polyester-cotton blends with not much stretch
- Linen
- Wool
- Solid colors or small designs
Why These Fabrics?
Cotton and linen are both crisp and easy to sew, and polyester-cotton blends generally do not cause many problems either. Their tightly woven characteristics keep them from stretching and distorting while you are working with them. As an added benefit, the natural wrinkle of linens helps to hide any mistakes you may make. Wool holds its shape well and its edges cut clean with no unraveling. It can be a bit bulky, but it's a great fabric for winter coats and men's suits.
Sticking to solid colors and small designs will prevent you from having to deal with directional fabrics that have to be lined up and sewn a certain way to ensure that they match up correctly. Also, the less design there is, the easier it is to match up the seams.
Basic Tips to Keep in Mind When Picking Easy-to-Use Fabrics
There are several tips that will help you when picking out simple fabrics for your next project. (Most likely, following these tips will lead you to pick out some of the fabrics listed above, but they are good to keep in mind regardless).
Easy-to-use fabrics should:
- Be tightly woven and not stretch a lot
- Cut clean with no unraveling on the edges (to test this, look at the bottom edges of a bolt of fabric where it has been cut to see if it is staying together or not)
- Be non-slippery
- Have little or no surface shine
- Have a small design or solid color
Arm yourself with these tricks and tips the next time you step foot into your local fabric store. You will come out with simple, easy-to-use fabrics you need to make your next (or first) fashion design project a success!
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