When I first began to sew one of the hardest things for me to master was choosing the right fabric for a design. While it’s true that thinking outside the box is what fashion is all about, the opposite is also true, and there are some fabrics that are just not suitable used for certain garment styles and this generally due to the physical properties of the fabric. Here is what I’ve learned over the years; if you have wisdom to add from your experience please do!
Straight/Pencil Skirt or Jacket in Silk Dupioni
Dupioni is a fabric that creases instantly and if you make a straight skirt from it you will get crease marks right across your crotch as soon as you sit down. For a jacket the same thing will happen across your elbow joint. The crease marks will not relax unless you iron them out. Also, dupioni has a reflective surface and unless you’re in perfect shape you’ll see, on a skirt for example, unattractive highlights on your lower body. Dupioni is really best for full skirted styles and sleeveless or short sleeve bodices. Its also a noisy fabric and that might be fine for a wedding gown, but not fine for office wear.
Capes, Cocoon Coats or Swing Coats in Polar Fleece
Polar Fleece has almost no weight relative to its surface area, and so it has virtually no drape. Capes, cocoon coats, swing coats or any large volume outwear need a weighty fabric to properly drape. A cape made from Polar fleece will skim over your body and make you look huge. Notice in RTW it’s used only for casual tailored styles.
Swimsuits in Foil or Holographic Knits
4-way stretch knits with foil or holographic decoration are meant for dance /gymnastics/skating costumes and are a poor choice for swimsuits. A foil/holographic design will not stand up to salt water and pool chemicals and flakes off almost immediately. Likewise, 100% spandex solid colors with a shiny surface are also dance/gymnastic/skating fabrics; the surface abrades badly when used for a swimsuit.
Quilting Cotton as Fashion Fabric
Okay, I know this is controversial because lots of sewers make clothes from quilt cottons, but personally I can spot a quilt fabric a mile away because it always looks like – quilt fabric. Yes I know its easy to sew, and the patterns can be amazing, but to me it’s just the lazy way out to use it as fashion fabric, especially when there are so many beautiful plant-based fabrics in the world that are manufactured expressly for clothing: linen, rayon, batiste, shirting, twill, sateen, denim, silk/cotton/linen blends, etc etc. In my sewing I’ll make exceptions for kid’s clothes, accessories and camp shirts but otherwise quilting cotton belongs on quilts and that’s it.
If you can show me fashion fabric in great patterns, AND a social worker/single parent can afford, I’ll buy it.
For many people quilting cotton is what is available locally. I know I have some awful stuff in my stash that I purchased when I was looking for apparel fabrics in my local stores; I “settled” for way too little. But I do understand your point. I don’t really enjoy wearing garments that have as little drape as quilting cotton does.
I agree with Nikki on the issue of quilting fabric as fashion fabric. To me it’s about the look and the cost. Maybe if some designers used designs for their fashion fabric as fantastic as they do for their quilting fabric this wouldn’t be an issue.
To me “using what you should” can be kind of stifling and sometimes you just want to try something new. As far as using the same sense as RTW when choosing fabric for a project, that’s rather relative. It depends on who you buy and where you shop. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a swing jacket made of polar fleece out there somewhere.
But I do understand where you are going with this post as using some fabrics can be unproductive in regards to ease of use and ease of wear.
Wow, yesterday I ordered some beautiful silk dupioni to make a simple BWOF jacket. I’ve never used dupioni in a garment before and I’m rethinking that now in light of your post Good think I read your post before I cut into it. I’ll probably reuse it for a sleeveless top.
Most of the on-line fabric sites have big sales happening right now. I just did a quick drive through Fabric Mart, Fabric.com and Gorgeous Fabrics and they all have lots of markdowns and/or sales. Fabric Mart has their entire inventory marked down 20% at the moment. Fabric.com has fabric marked down to $1.99 a yard on a regular basis.
I totally agree with you, Phyllis! And, as far as cost goes, good quality quilting cottons often cost more than many of the beautiful garment fabrics I buy online.
I also totally am with you on this, Phyllis.
And ditto Gigi.
…my opinion is that these is a *reason* these cottons are specifically called “Quilting Cottons”.
And before someone reminds me that one can make quilts from silk (and other “garment fabric”)…yes you can..but they don’t wash as well or last as long when actually used as quilts (rather than wall hangings)…as do quilts made from *Quilting Cottons*
….too add to my comment above.
Yes, quilting cottons do wash well and last long. But they also get softer and tend not to hold their color as long as “garment” fabrics do…in my experience using them for kids clothes.
I would rather spend my precious garment sewing time using the best *garment* fabric bought at the best price I can afford (note Phyillis’ sources), than quilting cottons at ANY price.
Sorry I’m with Phyllis on this one and to state that you don’t have enough money to purchase anything but a quilting cotton is an excuse. Sorry to call it like it is but I was a single mother who raised two girls on a salary of around $35,000 a year and managed to make clothing for not only myself but for my DDs too! And there wasn’t a quilting cotton used in an outfit! Plus there are just sooooo many more resources available now than there was then and Phyllis just listed 3 of the best!
The irony here is that cheap quilt cottons (like some of Joann’s stuff that is printed on inferior greige goods) have a better drape for garments than the really good stuff – but do I want to put all the work into a tailored shirt that I know is made from cr@p fabric that will fade and get limp in a few washings? I have to force myself to, in Dionne Warwick’s words, Walk On By when quilt prints call out to me. I have a collection of great prints in good quality quilt cottons – and the stuff is unsuitable for jackets, and too heavy for shirts and pajamas. Doomed to a life in the stash, I guess, unless I get a burning desire to sew lots of bottle bags out of them. Unlikely.
Thank you for writing this. My inability to select proper fabric gets in the way of making quality garments. I am new to sewing and am still learning how to sew with different fabrics, but the one rule I have is NO to quilting cotton. I too am on a budget (grad student with no income, to be precise) and have to stick to sale prices for fabrics. However, I will not resort to using quilting fabric just because it comes in pretty colors and patterns. I do not like the look/feel/drape of it, and as a result I never sew with it for any of my own garments. My desire to learn to sew stemmed from a need to build my wardrobe and an inability to find clothes that really fit me. I would never buy anything RTW made out of quilting cotton, therefore I am certainly not going to make anything out of it. When I started sewing earlier this year I made my first garments out of a variety of different fabrics – polyester suitings, silk brocades, satins…I was operating very much under the mantra of ‘what you do not know won’t hurt you’, and I struggled tremendously to learn how to sew on these fabrics. When I finally did make something out of cotton (not quilting cotton, but a 100% woven for a pair of shorts) I was amazed at how easy it was to sew with…and I was glad that I started out working with more difficult fabrics, because it definitely accelerated my learning curve.
This post was extremely helpful because I am finding it increasingly difficult to shop in local fabric stores for what I want and need, and now that I have come to terms with my need to shop online for fabrics, I can at least rule out what not to get for upcoming projects.
I agree with Phyllis here too. Quilting cotton looks like what it is. Do you really want to look like a quilt? The cheap stuff is never printed on grain either.
The only thing I question about what you’ve said is about duppioni. What about underlining it with silk organza? Doesn’t it reduce the amount of wrinkling enough to obviate these problems? The internet does has great sales on fabric that make sewing with good stuff affordable. In NY the tax is so much that shipping cost is pretty much canceled out.
I now pretty much line jackets and coats with silk charmeuse and twill because I’ve bought it on sale at Fabric Mart for cheaper than Bemberg rayon can be had.
Is it too late to add an exception? It’s possible to sew decent casual skirts with quilt cottons – something with a little flare, a pleat or tucks near the waistline. The kind of skirts I mean are the summery one-season type (because you’ll be sick of the print once you’ve worn it for 4 or 5 months). Use the most sophisticated or adult-trendy prints you can find. Avoid teddy bears waving flags or purple kitty cats on a pink background. Make it, wear it, enjoy it, then toss it.
Regarding your comments about dupioni as a pencil skirt or jacket fabric, I made both out of good quality dupioni for my wedding 20 years ago – cobalt blue double-breasted YSL jacket and magenta pencil skirt. Jacket was lined, skirt was underlined and they both looked fabulous the whole evening – no wrinkles at all in jacket (which I still wear from time to time), a few minor wrinkles in the skirt but no more than I’ve seen in many pencil skirt.
Most of the blunders I make are due to wrong fabric choices. Thanks for the information.
I agree in regards to the quilting cotton. I make some fun little novelty shirts for my nephews who WANT skeletons and sharks on their clothes, but when sewing for myself I don’t use it. With the exception of two A-line skirts that I really wanted to have a lot of body, so in that regard I agree with Karla.
The cottons that I use for my nephews still runs between 7 and 9 dollars a yard for the good quality stuff, and at only 45 inches wide I have to buy more than I would otherwise. I find there to be no savings in using quilting cotton for garments and if I could talk those two little buggers into wearing shirts from a great cotton shirting I could save a ton of money. Of course, stripes or (the horror) solids are not NEARLY as exciting as dancing skeletons.
You can ditto what you said about silk dupioni for satin. This fabric is just not forgiving for anything fitted below the waist.
But how do I tell whether a bolt is quilting cotton or fashion fabric, other than the silk section, “wedding” section, and wools section?
On the topic of the swimsuits made in material “other” than swimsuit material,, might I add, that if you try to swim in a suit made out of one of these types of fabrics,, a little more may show than you want,, my neice kept insisting that what she was wearing was fine for swimming,, although it looked like a dance/workout suit,,(no lining) fortunatley we were at a lake, and she was able to “hide” till we got her bathing suit to her,,
Great info on the fabric choices, Phyllis. I am in total agreement on the quilting cottons. I do use them sometimes in toddler’s clothing and an occasional heavily interfaced bag, but wouldn’t think of dressing myself in them. I have purchased great garment fabric for as little as a dollar a yard so it is out there with hunting and luck. I do think one of the issues of almost any vivid print, cotton or charmeuse, is that it is very seductive. Those lively prints suck us right in. Doesn’t mean they make a great garment. Just means they suck us in.
Great information about which I agree wholeheartedly. I did use quilting cottons when I was young and naive, and have still used them for toddler clothes and children’s pajamas, where the child picks the print. I have also been known to pick up cheap quilting cotton at Joann Fabrics for muslins usually when I happen to be out of real muslin, although a few of those muslins turned out so nice I wore the garment.
I understand Bunny’s comment about the print sucking us in though. I am using some quilting cotton for aprons, where it is okay if they wear and fade, and it allows me to indulge in a few brighter prints that I would probably wear in a garment.
One aside. Some years back I had a couple of holographic swimsuits made by Speedo. They held up fabulously well, and they didn’t fade or flake or anything like that. If I could find stretch holographic material of that quality I would go for it in an instant.
I suppose I have to modify my previous comment. It apparently depends on one’s definition of quilting cotton, as I use Kaffe Fassett cottons, which are sold as quilting cottons, although they are thinner and finer than most, for blouses. I particularly love their bright colors mixed with tweed and/or denim.
Unfortunately, most of the time I cannot afford fabric that is 8.50/yard and up plus $10 shipping, as much as I love the fabric. Not hating, it just doesn’t fit into my budget. And that 1.99 fabric at fabric.com- are you kidding me? Would YOU buy that garbage? And since Fabric Mart shipped my order to my old, out of state address despite my account with them and my credit card all having the correct one, they won’t be getting my money. Some of us are of a lower socioeconomic level but would still like to sew.