Favorite Fabrics

[sewsy]

Hello everyone. I was thinking about a seminar I attended (quite) awhile back that was taught by Shermane Fouche. One of the things she spoke about was the notion of using new fabrics or as she put it "how do I fit this fabric into my life?" That got me to thinking about my favorite fabrics and how and why I like them. I like wool knit quite a lot, it fits into my life and the things I have to do daily. Plus, it's getting cooler now, and the wool is just the ticket.  I think the natural fibers I kind of gravitate towards, they're easier to work with. There's no getting around using polyester though, in all it's varied forms, I try to get blends, rather than the one hundred percent stuff, if possible. Anyway, I thought it would be interesting to see what others prefer, and why. So, what are your favorites?

I got to thinking that these are rather broad categories. If you'd care to post about specific types of any or all of your personal favorites, or if you don't see a category that you'd like, please, by all means, I'd love to read about them!

[Liana]

Great poll topic!

I agree that natural fibers are the easiest to work with, and the results are generally nicer too.  I like polyester blends, as they really make care of a garment so much easier, and in some cases (linen/poly blends) they can make the difference between looking averagely creased, and like I don't own an iron.    

I think you should add more choices to your poll, which is very interesting.  Maybe  Microfiber, StretchWovens, and maybe Knit and Woven as separate categories.  I'm sure there are others I haven't thought of right now, but maybe others will chime in.

[StitchWench]

DH & I wear natural fibres only - no blends. It's becoming more & more difficult to purchase 100% cotton fleecy fabrics for his trackpants & T-shirts.
I wash my linen fabrics several times before cutting them out - this makes them soft and they hardly show the wrinkles and the wrinkles that do appear aren't permanent as they disappear in the wash. Note I said nothing about ironing/pressing - I don't. I wash the garments, no spinning the water out, hang them to drip dry, straighten the various pieces out with my hands e.g. sleeves & collars, and run down the overlaps between my thumb & forfinger. I do the identical thing with my silk shirts as I don't iron/press them either.
I would love to be able to purchase some 100% wool knits of any weight to make garments. I haven't come across any here in Tasmania.
I would also like to make a garment (or several) from hemp. I haven't been able to source it as flat fold fabric here in Australia yet. Has anyone made garments from it? I hear the knits are luxurious.
StitchWench (Australia)

[vtmartha]

Sewsy, how about adding hemp to your list?  It is truly a wonderful fabric to sew and very comfortable to wear as well.  I have lots of hemp clothing which I have not sewn as it isn't universally available as a flat fabric in the US either.  I also advocate its use from an environmental/political point of view.

[Marji]

Sewsy, it is an interesting topic, however I don't think I can answer the poll as is....it's kind of like asking what's your favorite color - there are so many variations and nuances that saying "red" or "wool" is too simplistic.
I actually could write a dissertation on fibers and fabrics - which of course is way more than you're looking for.
But I do agree with Liana, maybe two separate polls might be more indicative of what peoples favorite fabrics are, one for wovens, one for knits.
Personally, I love wool, in most of it's various faces although wool gabardine sits way low on the list of anything I like to work with.
I love silk for it's luxury, for the look, and I happen to love working with it, although I know many many people have difficulty working with charmeuse.
I love cottons, especially those fine Italian cotton shirtings that have become available in the last few years in the US on a much grander scale. And cotton piques for summer, and cotton lawns and batistes and eyelets for summer dresses. I'm not a fan of quilting cottons used for garments, but then I'm not wild about much of anything that has that type of drape - or not-drape.

But what is most surprising to me, is that I've come to really enjoy Rayon in its various different incarnations in recent years. When I learned to sew, Rayon was a bad word, much like "made in Japan" was. Now Japanese products are noted for their high quality and engineering superiority, (it's the Chinese and Tiawanese products that now bear the stigma that Japanese products did back in the 50's and 60's), and Rayon, that man-made cellulose, has Come a Long Way Baby.

I much prefer a rayon jersey to a polyester jersey, a Bemberg rayon lining fabric to a poly lining (although I'd still choose silk habotai or silk georgette or silk charmeuse, or silk crepe-de-chine if money were never any object).
Recently I obtained a piece of a heavy rayon double knit from EmmaOneSock, and it's as nice as the wool double knits I"ve been looking at for dresses for fall.

Personally, I'm a "wovens" girl...I prefer to work with wovens, but that is because of the way that I like to sew. I like all the intricate detail required of wovens....but I have to say that I really like wearing some knits, so I sew with them anyway.

What I'm not a real fan of, although again I deal with it since it's more prevalent lately - is the addition of 2% or 3% lycra to many wovens. It's supposed to make fitting easier, and provide a level of ease while wearing, but in my experience it's really caused some problems fitting, as it tends to relax more as it's worn and then clothes get baggy sloppy. I'm sure it's user error and as I work with it more I'll grow to an understanding of it - or maybe I'll always shun it.... who knows yet?

New fibers are being developed for garment wear that are just becoming available, and there is going to be a learning curve to them. Bamboo is something that's turning up more and more. I've knit with it, but not sewn with it yet. It's heavy, dense, drapes beautifully, won't hold a crease to save it's soul, and has great stitch definition when knit.
Tencel is something that I've had one horrific experience with and will wait til some of the kinks have been worked out before using again. I'm thinking that Tencel is now where Rayon was in the 60's in terms of the development phase.

If I were writing the poll(s) I'd probably categorize them further:
Wovens:
hard finish woolens
soft finish woolens
other animal fibers - alpacas, mohairs, cashmere etc
Cottons
Shirtings, Batistes, Eyelets, Voiles, Lawns
Twills (ie denims), corduroys, faille
Cottons blended with poly
silk suitings, Tweeds,
Luxury silks - the satins and charmeuses, jacquards, etc
Linen
and so on....

KNITS
jerseys
poly, cotton, silk, or rayon
Sweater knits
double knits

[mardel]

Well, I have nothing more to say:  Ditto Marji.

[cmarie12]

Wow!  How do you write a cohesive post after the amazing one that Marji just wrote?

Well I'm going to try anyway...

I prefer wovens to knits mostly because of my lifestyle and I sew to suit my lifestyle.  I also predominantly use natural fibers - 100% wool in all of its fabrications (don't really like wool gabardine either Marji because of those pressing issues!) 100% linen - my absolute fav fabric for spring/summer because of the way it takes dye (the color can be amazing), that its available in prints and plaids but it is great to wear on some of the hottest humid days we have here in the Northeast.  Silk - just because it feels wonderfully soft and sensual next to the skin.

However, I would like to be able to find more of the wool/lycra blends for fall suiting.  And my absolute fabric fabrication is the crepe twist to a fabric - love wool crepe and silk crepes.  The fabrics have great hands, drapability and can be found in some amazing colors.

[sewsy]

Marji and Liana.!!! Thanks so much for helping me to flesh this out more!!!! Two heads (or more) are definetely better than one! 

[MaryOK]

Marji, you summed it up.  wow! 

I have to agree that I dislike stretch wovens.  I am giving up on a linen-lycra blend today.  The fitting issues are a problem, but i find that the stretch wovens do not hold their shape while I'm working on them.  With the linen-lycra, the lycra behaves badly with the heat that linen likes. 

Never again!

[sewsy]

Alrighty then! A more well thought out and clearer poll!!! Thanks, Marji and Liana!!!

[sewsy]

Hey Marji! I just posted your newly revised poll!! Thanks, doll!!!

[redhead]

I tried to do the poll, but it won't let me select more than one fiber.  No fair!  I like more than just one, can you change it to be like the previous one?

[Zalin]

Oops, I just voted and removed my vote. I too would like more than one choice. And there are some fabrics that I like to sew with that are missing or I just don't know what category they should be in.

[Marji]

hmm, I'm not sure I meant that to actually translate to a poll - or I would have thought it out better...I was sort of running off at the mouth (keyboard, whatever).

[zippianna]

The only stretch woven I like is denim for jeans.  The rest can stay in the store.  A new poll?  Goody!  I checked both woven and knits in this one. 

Thanks Sewsy. 

[zippianna]

could also check only one.    

[sewsy]

Good grief!!! I'm having a heckuva time with this thing! Sorry everyone! I've tried to edit for more than one choice. Sorry 'bout that, I thought I set the parameters for it! Help! Moderators! Can anyone tell me how to reset this for multiple choices???!!! 

[Liana]

OK, I've fixed it, I think.  I added another silk option, so now there's soft and crisp.  This should be fun!  Everyone will have to vote again, and you can vote for as many choices as you like.

[zippianna]

It works fine now.  But, I have a favorite.  Where does Rayon Batik come in?  I think it's a beautiful dress weight fabric.

Marji, your poll was good, too.  It was all filled out and I tried to do a copy and paste and lost a whole long post about it.  Sorry, I just didn't have the heart to do it all over again.... not in this heat anyway.

[sewsy]

Many thanks, Liana. Hope everyone enjoys it! If there are any thoughts on improvements/modifications, please, by all means, post. We're a community that loves to share here. That's what I love most about SG. Thanks again, Liana.  
 
Rayon batik, zippiana? Great! I'll add that to the list.

[zippianna]

Thanks sew much, Sewsy, and I will give it one vote, from here!

[StitchWench]

I voted and would like to add that I would love to use bamboo, hemp and other animal fibres. Aah, one day perhaps . . .
Anyone who's made garments from hemp &/or bamboo like to talk about the experience or point me to a blog where the experience has been diarised. TIA
StitchWench (Australia)

[judith]

I love rayon challis, and am fortunate to have some in my stash because I can't find it anymore. It's lovely to work with, to wear, and to launder.

I've given stretch wovens a good try - I don't mind sewing with it, but those garments always end up in the back corner of my closet becasue they are just not comfortable to wear. I don't like the "feel" of the fabric next to my skin.

Knits are a mystery to me. I am just now - as I approach retirement - learing about knits. I have some good qualtiy T's that I'm starting to wear, after buying a coverstitch machine and shortening all of them even though they are "petite"  (in the past, I was not a tshirt wearer but I've bought some polo type shirts for golf and bought inserts for my bra and after all these years I"m wearing knit shirts).  I've ordered some baboo knit and have been working on a pattern muslin to make my own t's. Everyone says working with knits is easy, but I'm not at all comfortable about it - yet.

[Liana]

I merged these two topics into one, and left the 'good' poll. 

I have to say I really don't care for stretch wovens either.  Maybe they have to be skin-tight to fit since that's the way I see everyone in RTW wearing them.   I've gotten away with them okay on skirts, but pants are a disaster, IMO.

I have a question.  What's different about rayon batik and other rayons?  I thought it was just the printing/dying technique and the underlying fabric doesn't change whether it's a batik or anything else.  The ones I've had seem very drapey, but have been just a plain-woven fabric.  Am I missing something?

[LauraTS]

Can we just vote Yes? 

What's the difference between hard and soft finish wools?

[sewsy]

Hey Laura! I'm thinking that a hard finish woolen would be a wool gabardine. A 'softer' finish might be a wool boucle.

[DeniseM]

I have to say that any natural fiber is my favorite. I don't really prefer working with one natural fiber over another. Knits continue to be the most challenging but I still only work with rayon or silk or cotton knits. I don't like poly knits. I'd love to find more sources for hemp and bamboo as I think they are beautiful fibers. I love working with all types of wool because I love fall clothes.

[LauraTS]

That was my guess, sewsy, but I wasn't sure. When I googled it I found that 'wool' isn't the same is 'woolen' either; 'woolen' is a type of wool, as contrasted with worsted. Who knew? 

I've sewn with some bamboo knits, like the ones Wazoodle has, and I like them - similar hand to a rayon knit, but a bit 'cooler' feeling and in my experience thicker. Haven't done much with hemp, but I've gotten some hemp blend swatches from Near Sea Naturals that seem like they'd wear like iron for casual/work wear.

I suppose my favorites are a combination of fiber and weave - I like rayon/linen blends, cotton pique, rayon blend knits, silk/cotton wovens...

[Marji]

forgive me if this is too basic...but when talking about favorite fabrics there are elements that must be considered, and
At the risk of being breaking it down to too elementary a level, every fabric must be evaluated by
Fiber
Yarn type
weave structure.
Fibers - what we've been discussing mostly to date -
wool, cotton, bamboo, linen, polyester, acetate, rayon, etc...
Yarn type - worsted wool is a wool made from a worsted yarn that is made from long staple wool fibers that lie parallel and are highly twisted. Yarns can be high twist plied yarns creating a smooth surface (gabardine), they made be soft and single ply, they may be delustered, they may be crimped (to go into a crepe), they'll have an S-twist or Z-twist when plied which will affect the finished fabric. Again, whole dissertations can be written.  The use of a slubby delustered yarn can make a plain woven silk become a dupioni. Use a silk that has been more highly processed, more tightly spun, and you'll get silk broadcloth using the same weave structure.

The weave structure is further defined as woven or knit.
Examples of woven weave structures are (not limited to)
-plain weave (that simple over/under weave structure that is balanced)
-twill (incidentally in the poll twills are listed with a colon after and then go on to denim, which is a twill, and corduroy which is not a twill, and faille, which is also not a twill - my bad when running off at the keyboard thinking of bottom weight cottons)
-crepe, which includes all sorts of variations including double woven crepes  - but all involve a yarn that has a crepe twist before being woven and have a more or less pebbly surface
-satins - these are fabrics with long floats on the right side surface - those long floats pick up and reflect light more than absorbing light and are mostly known as luxe fabrics.
in addition to silk and polyester satins, satin may be made of wool (I made a dress last winter of a black wool cashmere blend satin that is fabulous). Charmeuse falls into the satin category, as does duchess satin (most commonly thought of as bridal satin). Chinese brocades are satins.
Jacquards/damasks - where there is a pattern woven into the surface of the fabric on special looms
pile fabrics - cut and uncut - includes velvets, corduroys, and the like
fancies - these can include
-boucles - a true boucle is a fabric with a lot of texture that must include a yarn that has a loop spun into it - a boucle yarn
a lot of others that you will surely think of but that my tired mind is just not remembering at the moment
things like matelasse...
textures such as piques - which are avail in fabrics other than cottons, eyelets which are generally just a plain weave fabric that has been embroidered and a hole cut out in the embroideries.


Liana, in my experience all the rayon batiks are plain woven rayons that are resist dyed. What distinguishes them is the very tight dense weave structure. Other than that, most of the rayon on the market right now, at least that I"m seeing, are in the form of jersey knits and lightweight linings. A few years ago rayon challis was a prominent fabric, but it is getting to be pretty rare.

I think it was Laura who asked- a hard finish wool is something like a gabardine. A wool flannel, by comparison, has a much softer finish and is much much easier to tailor, to press, but not nearly as crisp looking. A wool crepe is a soft finish wool. A worsted mens suiting is a hard finish wool. a boucle doesn't really even enter into the mix - usually most boucles are all sorts of blends anyway.

[zippianna]

Liana, rayon batik is just what Marji said, it's a resist dye process, but done on very fine rayon fabrics.  It's available on the web.  Rayon Challis was/is dyed at a mill, and it does hold up well, but grades were hard to compare.  Some lower grades would lose dyes after several washings and faded areas appeared in the grounds.   I have three challis dresses that have had that happen to them, though I still wear them.  They look a little like batiks on the whole.

[Liana]

Glad to know that the batik-ing of the rayon doesn't affect anything other than the look.  I just wondered, since all the other fabrics in the list seem to go more by fiber and weave-type, as Marji mentioned.  Otherwise, I would vote for plaid any day!   

[Martha Domke]

OK---now to show my lack of knowledge in this area----how do you pronounce:  challis?

Speaking of crepe fabrics, one of my favorite fabrics from the past (maybe 35 or so years ago) was polyester crepe.  I absolutely loved that fabric.  My DDs liked the things I made from it, too.  Of course, at the time, I was really just getting into a lot of sewing.  I made all of the 3 kids clothes until they wanted jeans.  Then I made one pair of them, and decided it wasn't worth it time-wise.  I loved sewing poly double knits.  No seam edge finish required, and only had to turn up a hem, the colors were wonderful, and never faded.  I even had occasion to use bleach on some "hand-me-downs" and it never touched the color.  I could throw them in the washer with a hot/warm/or cold wash, and then they hit the dryer.  No shrinking or fading ever.  Loved that stuff.

[Liana]

Challis is pronounced Shall-ee, emphasis on the first syllable. 

Yes, that old poly doubleknit did have its good points.  I hear the costumers for Sesame Street have a terrible time sourcing polyester doubleknit in awful plaids for Bert's slacks.    Donations welcome, apparently. 

[blue mooney]

As long as we're learning how to pronounce things, how about faille?
There are others I'm not sure about, but can't recall them right now.

[Liana]

Well, that one's a puzzlement to me, too.  I always thought it should rhyme with Versailles, but around here if you don't say File, no one knows what you mean.     Any other opinions?