Which fabric should you use for your sewing project? Learn about different kinds of fabrics.
Hey y’all, September around here is going to be all about the basics – like fabric types. While I know many of you regular readers have a good grasp on those basics already, I hope you still learn a thing or two from these posts. Today we’re going to cover different kinds of woven fabrics – I realized I have a post all about knit fabrics, but that I never wrote the woven fabrics companion, so here it is. Hopefully this helps you choose the right fabric for your project.
This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. All affiliate links are identified with (affiliate link) after the link or a commissions earned statement above the link(s).
It wouldn’t be possible for me to cover everything about every type of fabric, so I’m going to cover commonly found garment fabrics and show you some examples of clothes I’ve sewn in those fabrics. For more about fabric types, including questions on cutting, needles, and care, I recommend Fabrics A-Z (affiliate link).
To see how these fabrics move and look sewn into garments, watch the video below. If it won’t load for some reason or you prefer YouTube, you can also watch it here.
Common types of fabric found in the fabric store:
- Quilting Cotton
- Canvas
- Linen
- Flannel
- Cotton Lawn vs Cotton Voile
- Double Gauze
- Silky Solids and Polyester Prints
- Chiffon
- Denim and Twill
- Shirting
- Rayon Challis
- Polyester Crepe
To summarize the properties of the fabrics I covered, I also created this fabric guide. Click on it to download a PDF for reference.
Dara
Thank you, Melly. Very informative!
Lisa
Thank you so much for your informative and helpful website. As a beginner to sewing I love everything you have to offer from the classes about sewing to the fun and often easy tutorials.
I look forward to each project now and don’t feel quite so overwhelmed. Thank you “sew” much🙂
Teresa O
Great information for a beginner sewer like myself. Thank you 😊
Catherine MacLellan
Thanks Melly, as usual very informative and helpful to us beginners.