5 Tips to Choose the Right Fabric For Your Sewing Project

Podcast Show Notes

• All New Fabric Savvy", by Sandra Betzina


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Podcast Transcript

Sarai
I'm Sarai.

Haley
And I'm Haley.

Sarai
And this is Seamwork Radio.

Welcome back to Seamwork Radio, where we share practical ideas for building a creative process so you can sew with intention and joy. Haley is out on parental leave right now with her new baby, so I'm going to be flying solo and giving you some really practical tips and tricks. We've also got a whole bunch of interviews lined up with some pretty incredible guests from the world of sewing that you will definitely not want to miss. So stay tuned all summer for that, and we'll welcome Haley back in the fall.

And today, we're talking about five tips to help you choose the right fabric for your sewing project. So we're going to cover why choosing the right fabric can be so hard for so many people, what to specifically look for when buying fabric for a project, and how to dramatically improve your fabric shopping skills in a short amount of time. All right. So I have been teaching sewing and publishing patterns for over 15 years now, which is pretty incredible for me to think about. And to this day, one of the biggest challenges that I see for people is choosing the right fabric.

It can be intimidating for a lot of people, and we get a ton of questions about it. There's a lot to know about fabric, and it really does take some practice to be able to visualize what a garment is going to look like once it's finished. I think the main issue is that there are a lot of variables when it comes to fabric. What do I mean by variables? Well, there's how heavy the fabric is, there's the way it drapes, there's the fiber it's made from, there's even the color or the print on it. There's just a lot of things to consider. If you think about each garment you make as a little scientific experiment, if it were an actual scientific experiment, you'd be testing one variable at a time.

You'd be seeing how that one thing that you're changing changes things, and maybe even have a control to test it against. Then you'd learn something that you could apply to your next experiment. And that is how experiments work. But with sewing, you're often testing all those variables at the same time because you're probably sewing a different style and a different fabric with completely different variables every single time. And that's one way that home sewing is very different from, for example, ready to wear. In ready to wear, they are usually starting with fabric and then creating a pattern that's really specifically made for that fabric, and then they're testing it in that fabric over and over again. That's not something we do in home sewing. In home sewing, we're really trying to play this mix and match game of finding the right pattern to match with the right fabric when there's all these different variables involved.

So that said, if your project doesn't quite work, it can be hard to figure out why, and it can be hard to figure out what to do differently next time. And that just makes learning kind of hard when it comes to fabric. So I'm going to give you some practical things that you can do that will help you with this. I'm going to talk about some of those variables that you need to think about so that you know what to look for up front and can diagnose what's working and what's not more easily for each of your projects. And then I'll give you a few just really concrete steps that you can take to get better and better at choosing the right fabric every single time.

All right, so let's get into these tips. So number one is when you start to think about how and where you'll wear your garment. So the function of your garment is really going to be the biggest factor in dictating fabric choice. So you want to ask some practical questions, for example, about the weather it's designed for, how you'll be moving in it, what you'll be doing. Is it for a summer dress? Is it for a cozy winter Is it for your sweater or is it for you need a really durable pair of pants, for example? That's going to help you to think about what specific variables you need to optimize your project for. For example, linen is really breathable, and it's perfect for hot weather, while wool is really warm and it's ideal for a colder climate. So that will just help you to make that choice. And that might seem like the obvious first choice, but I think having that starting point, knowing that that's where you start, can really help you to, right off the bat, narrow down your choices. And just narrowing them down at the very start of a project can really help you to make better decisions. So that's the first thing.

The next tip is to learn some functional fabric terminology. There are just a lot of terms around fabric. There's a lot of vocabulary to know. If you understand what these terms mean, then not only will you have a better idea of, for example, when you're buying fabric online, how things are being described, you understand that a lot better, but you'll just have a better starting place for understanding what all the different variables you need to even be thinking about are. So I'm talking about things like drape, weight, stretch, things like that, really understanding those.

So just to give you some definitions for those things. Drape is really it describes how the fabric hangs on your body. So how it falls, how it folds. And it's often something that's confused with weight, which I'll talk about in a second. And it makes sense because the two are really highly correlated So heavy fabrics often have less drape, and light fabrics often have more drape, but the two things are not exactly the same. So a fabric can be heavy and still somewhat drapey, and it can also be heavy and be very stiff. And when it's stiff, we say it has body. So we're talking about drape versus body. So that's the first dimension to think about.

The next dimension that I mentioned is weight. So again, the weight of a fabric is literally how much it weighs, how light or how heavy it is when you hold it. You'll see fabrics described as lightweight, medium weight, heavy weight. But each fabric also has a specific numerical weight in terms of grams or ounces. Sometimes you'll see that listed when you're shopping for fabric online, for example. So again, remember that the weight is the actual physical weight of it, and it's correlated with drape or body, but it's not necessarily exactly the same thing.

And then stretch. Stretch is just a fabric's ability to extend and recover its shape. So you often find stretch listed as a percentage, such as 25% or 50% stretch. And that's just telling you how far it can be stretched. Learning about these terms can just really help you to understand what to look for when you're shopping for fabric. It'll help you to read a pattern description and understand the recommended fabrics and why they're being recommended recommended, and help you when you're shopping for fabric online. So vocabulary is a big one.

Related to that, learning how to read online fabric descriptions. So if you're shopping in person, then you have the advantage of being able to feel the fabric. But a lot of times we're shopping online these days. Look at the words that fabric shops use to describe those fabric terms we just talked about. You can go to a fabric store and you can feel the fabrics to really help you to understand those properties and start to visualize what an online fabric store is selling. One thing that I find helpful is if there is a line of fabric that is available locally to you and you've also seen it online, It can be helpful to go to your local fabric store and really feel what that fabric feels like and compare it to how it's being described. So maybe that same store sells the same fabric online, for example. Seeing how they describe it online versus how it feels in a store can really help you to understand how those two things mesh up.

Number four is to think about wear and care. I think this is something that a lot of us can overlook. I know sometimes I get really excited about a fabric and neglect to think about wear and care. So this is something that I feel like sometimes I can do a better job at. But some fabrics really do require more care than others.

So for example, silk and wool often needs special handling, either dry cleaning or sometimes handwashing, depending on the fabric itself, depending on the finish, depending on your own preferences as well. That can also affect how you pre-treat the fabric before even sewing with it. So that's something that's really important to think about. And then consider how much time you're willing to spend on garment care and choose a fabric that really fits your lifestyle. I know for me, I really love silk. I absolutely love silk. I love the way it feels. I love that it absorbs dye really well, so it can be really rich and colorful and beautiful. I love the luminosity of it. It's just a beautiful fabric, but I live a lifestyle that needs a lot of durability, where I'm often getting dirty because I live in the country. And silk is not super practical in a lot of ways.

However, I find that I can wear silk, for example, as a top and maybe not wear silk pants. I can find other fabrics that maybe have some of the qualities of silk. So for example, maybe a rayon challis for summer or something like that, that's a little bit easier to care for, easier to wash. Might be a better choice. So just recognizing those constraints can be really, really helpful for me when I'm choosing fabric. And a lot of times I want to go with something that's a little bit fancy. I want to go with silk, but I know I'll wear it more if it's easy to care and if it's going to last a long time. So it helps me to make those choices.

And then five, this is a tip for really improving your ability to choose fabrics over time, which is to make a fabric swatch journal. So as you learn about different textiles, you can cut a swatch and you can take notes in a journal with what you've learned about it. So sometimes the best fabric choice just comes from a bit of experimentation. And if a fabric catches your eye, you can just buy a small amount and test it out.

You can also make a sample garment or a simple project like a tote bag. Those are some ideas for doing a little bit more testing and then keeping notes on those tests in a sample journal, I find that, or a fabric journal. I think that is such a great way to learn about fabric. There's a really fantastic book that I want to mention that will help you learn about fabric, and it's also related to this tip, which is the book "More Fabric Savvy" by Sandra Bitzina. It is a book that covers a whole bunch of different fabrics and then has tips for sewing each of those fabrics and the types of projects that they're good for. So that is super helpful. It tells you what needle to use. It tells you special finishes that you might want to use with that fabric, and it covers quite a wide range of fabrics. So that's one of my all-time favorite sewing books. But you can take that a step further by creating your your own swatch journal with your own experiments and writing down what you learn. So you can combine the information that you learn from a book like that with what's worked for you and what hasn't worked for you in the past.

So that can include things like, this garment came out beautifully in this fabric, but I found that I never wore it because I had to hand wash it and I just am not into handwashing. So even simple things like that that are really personal to you and your own lifestyle and your own preferences are something that you can include in a swatch journal. It's a great way to learn about fabric and to learn about what works for you.

Those are just some ideas. I'm going to recap real quick what these tips were for learning more about fabric. Number one is to start by thinking about how and where you'll wear your garment. Number two is to learn some functional fabric terminology, and we went over some of the most important terms, so things like drape, weight, and stretch. Three is to learn how to read online fabric descriptions. Four is to think about wear and care when you're deciding on a fabric. And then five, my favorite tip, is to make a fabric swatch journal for yourself and keep notes on the fabrics that you use or the fabrics that you plan to use. And I think a book like “More Fabric Savvy” by Sandra Batsina can really help you to keep some notes on future fabrics or just keep some notes on the best ways to use the fabrics in your journal.

Those are my tips for today. Today, speaking of fabric, I wanted to mention that Seamwork members get discounts at some of our favorite indie fabric stores. So you can save anywhere from 10 to 20% off your purchases as a Seamwork member. And a lot of people say that these discounts alone really pay for their entire membership. We have dozens of fabric stores participating as partners, and you can see a list of them at Seamwork.com/deals. They're all over the world, too. We've recently revamped that page so that it's a lot easier to find the ones that are in your country. So check it out at seamwork.com/deals and let us know what you think.

And if you like this episode, please consider leaving us a review. We would absolutely love to hear from you with our five-star review. I have one I want to read from Mrs. Mcdonigal's Sister, is the name here. And Mrs. Mcdonigal's Sister says, “Just bought a Bernina 720 used and learning to sew garments for fun. Love your podcasting information. Feeling inspired after listening. I'm getting past the frightening possibilities of wasting money and making mistakes.”

I love that. I think everybody has that moment of being so afraid of making mistakes and wasting money. You will waste a little bit of fabric. I think that's pretty normal, but you'll learn so much from it. So I hope that you enjoy being a beginner. The title of this review, by the way, is beginner at 71. So I absolutely love that. She says, “Love the energy, girls. Thank you. I want to sign up and get better at this.” So sweet.

All right. Well, you can also find us on YouTube at Seamwork Video. You can find us on Instagram at Seamwork. If you'd like to join Seamwork and become part of our private community, plus get access to hundreds of sewing patterns and dozens of sew-along classes, podcast listeners get a 50% off lifetime discount when you join at seamwork.com/go/podcast50. That's seamwork.com com/go/podcast50. And that does it for us this week. I'm Sarai, and this is Seamwork Radio.

Seamwork Radio is brought to you by the team at Seamwork. Seamwork is an online community that supports you in creating a wardrobe that feels right for you. When you join us at Seamwork, you become part of our private community of makers, and you also get access to monthly sew-along classes, a library of over 200 sewing patterns, and tons of great resources to help guide you through the sewing adventure that you choose. Podcast listeners can get half off a Seamwork Unlimited membership, which means you can download as many of those 200 plus patterns as you want at any time, and our community will be there to guide and support you. If you'd like to join us for half off, just visit seamwork.com/go/podcast50. You can also find us on Instagram at Seamwork or visit our YouTube channel, which is called Seamwork Video. We love hearing from you, so let us know if topic or a personal story that you'd like us to cover. Thanks for listening to Seamwork Radio.