Category Archives: Fabrics
Woven fabric: Satin
Satin is a woven fabric (so it is not elastic) with one shiny side, normally used as the right side. Because of that, if you put it face to face the parts get moved easy, because its a little slippery, so you better pin it carefully. Another thing you have to consider with satin is that it needs good overedging/trimming seams because it frays easily. Also if close to a more rough material it starts pilling meaning little knots of fabric on the fabric, so be careful.
You can buy it made of cotton but often it has some polyester fibers in it, because cotton is normally not very shiny. So best you ask what it is made of.
Since Satin looks elegant its mostly used for tops, skirts and dresses. But I also know it for pajamas and bed linen.
I hope this was helpful for you. Any questions or addings are most welcome in the comments, by email, facebook or twitter.
All the best for all your future projects
your TailorFairy
knitted fabric: jersey
Jersey is elastic as any knitted fabric and has those little v’s on the right and the wave-lines on the left side.
Even though its knitted it doesn’t easily get runs, but still you best sew it with zigzag-stitching to keep the elasticity. For the sewing you should use a needle with a ball point, so it wont cut any threads and you stay run-free. Ask in your sewing store for jersey needles. If sewn with zigzag you do not need any additional overedging/trimming seam, because it normally does not fray.
Jersey is often made of cotton, but there are a lot of other possibilities and mixtures. If you are allergic to any material, best ask before buying any fabric, also so you know how to best wash it.
This fabric comes in uni-color and prints, just pick whatever fits you best. 
Its best used for tops, skirts and dresses which need to be elastic.
Feel free to ask me anything you don’t understand.
All the best
Your
TailorFairy
Woven fabrics: denim
Denim is a woven fabric normally made of cotton. One side is blue and the other white and you notice diagonal lines in the fabric.
It is normally a very robust and thick. Its not elastic unless it has some elastic threads (normally not more then 5%) woven in. You can do pretty much anything out of it, just not things that are supposed to look fluid because it is firm. For that it works best for pants and jackets but also skirts, shirts and dresses.
You have to remember 2 things when working with denim:
- you need a thick needle, best you buy special denim needles in your sewing store
- the material frays easily, so if the frayed look isn’t what you want you need good overedging/trimming seam to make it frayproof
If there are any questions left feel free to ask, maybe you help others by it who read this after you and have the same question.
All the best
your
TailorFairy
knitted fabrics
Hello,
so the other big group of fabrics are the knitted fabrics.
Knitted fabrics are mostly made of one thread going from the left to the right and back and building points with itself in the down line, it can also be knitted in circles. It is always elastic, no matter which material it is made of. You have little V’s on the right side building lines in the direction of the selvages and on the left side are short stripes in a right angle to the selvages. You can make tops, t-shirts, skirts, dresses and pants out of it and wont need any closing, but you can’t do anything with it that has form-parts like the collar of a shirt, because it wont stay in that form always. The other thing you need to remember is to sew it with a stitching that is elastic (like zigzag) because if not and you stretch the fabric the seam might rip apart. And if its knitted with big needles (bigger V’s) you also have to overedge the seams very well or you might get runs/ladders.
There’s also another way to produce a knitted fabric, here goes one set of threads up and building points with the threads right and left of them. They look like a really small net with small knots in diagonal lines. Those are stretching in the width but not so much in the length and are runproof.
I will show you the most common kinds of knitted fabrics more specific over the next time.
I hope that helped, feel free to ask me anything and make suggestions which fabrics I should explain more closely.
All the best
your
TailorFairy
woven fabrics
Hello,
so one kind of fabrics are woven fabrics.
Woven Fabrics are made of 2 or more sets of threads that cross each other. If some (2-5%) of this threads are elastic the fabric can stretch a little, often used in tight pants. But normally woven fabrics aren’t elastic, so if you want to make a garment that is not loose you will need buttons, a zipper or something like that, so you will be able to put it on and take it off. The threads of those fabrics can be made of almost all materials. Often they use a big amount of cotton, but also polyester, viskose or something like it. Which ones you prefer is entirely up to you. But for all of them you need to think about how you do the overedging with a trimming seam to make the seam frayproof. Because as you can see on the pic the edges get frayed.
Woven fabrics can be used for all kinds of garments which don’t need to be elastic, so no tight T-Shirts, but pants, shirts, blouses, skirts and dresses, but all with some kind of closing.
I gonna explain the different kinds of woven fabric a little more over the next time.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask! Or make suggestions which special kind of fabric I definitely need to write more about.
All the best
your
TailorFairy
Fabrics
Hello,
considering I am sewing for over a decade already (so I had some time to buy fabrics I just loved even though I did not know what to do with them) I think my collection is quite small . I just love the different colors and textures. But I guess when you look at it closely it is easy to guess which colors I wear the most… on the other hand I do not have a lot white clothes.
Well I decided to write over the next time some more about the different kinds of fabric, what they are best used for and what you need to consider when working with it. I hope this will be very helpful for you and how you pick your fabric for your next project. Or what would work well with the fabric you just bought because it looked at you at the shop and said: “buy me”.
All the best
Your
