1. Recognizing a Fabric's Overall Color
2. Folding
3. Stash Storage
4. Organizing Your Stash by Color
5. Building a Well Rounded Stash
6. Supplementing a Fabric Line
7. Reader Stashes
8. Building a Scheme Around a Single Fabric
9. Building a Scheme Around a Photograph
10. Light vs. Dark
11. Warm vs. Cool
This Week: Types of Fabric
This week we're going to take a step backwards and talk about what probably should have been one of the first posts in this series! A little overview of the different types of fabric we can sew with! Please bear with me, it's a lengthy, image heavy post! I am by no means an expert, so if I've misspoke, please let me know! I am mainly talking from my own personal experience with basic fabrics, which in some cases is limited!
Vintage Feedsacks
Vintage feedsacks were popular in the early to mid 1900s, most especially during the Great Depression. They are literally sacks that one purchased their feed, grain, salt, flour, sugar, and meal in. Originally they were mainly white or tan, perhaps with the company's logo on it. As producers realized that women were reusing these bags and sewing with them, they started printing patterned sacks. In general they have a loose weave, but are quite sturdy. Many fabric patterns we see today were inspired by/copied from feedsack patterns.
Vintage Quilting Cottons
Vintage quilting cottons are not much different from modern quilting cottons. They came in a variety of colors, from bright to muted. They do seem in general to be slightly stiffer than modern quilting fabric, but mix well with new fabrics. The one major difference is that earlier quilting cottons were only 34" wide instead of today's standard 44" wide.
Vintage Linens
It has recently become popular to reuse vintage bed linens for sewing projects and quilting. Most especially bright, bold patterns from the 1970s. The idea of repurposing bed linens is nothing new, many quilts throughout history have been made from recycled materials. The key is to use a sharp needle and change it often when sewing or quilting! For more on sewing with vintage linens see my guest post on whipup! Vintage tablecloths (and new ones for that matter!) are a great way to get good sturdy yardage. Just make sure they don't have any food stains!
Clothing, Suiting & Apparel Fabrics
Fabrics generally associated with clothing can be great fabric options in your sewing projects! Corduroy, denim, velveteen and jersey (t-shirts!) could all easily be pulled from most of our closets. So as you're spring cleaning your closet, keep that in mind! While I don't think I'd want to quilt with denim (although it's been done!), it is great for bags and other projects requiring some sturdiness!
Suiting and other apparel fabrics can add great texture to just about any project! Also nice for adding a professional look to a project. Just be mindful when mixing different types of fabric, as they will shrink differently if the item will be washed!
Voile
To be perfectly honest, I was generally unaware of this beautiful fabric until Anna Maria Horner's Little Folks line hit the stores. It's very lightweight fabric that has a wonderful feel! It is a popular apparel fabric but has also become popular in quilting. Denyse Schmidt's Greenfield Hill features voile prints and rumor has it Joel Dewberry's new line will include voiles as well.
Cotton Lawn
Cotton Lawn is similar to Voile in that it is lightweight and somewhat sheer. It has a wonderful silky feeling. In my mind, cotton lawn is primarily associated with Liberty of London. A beautiful fabric for clothing and quilts!
Double Gauze
I have never actually sewn with Double Gauze so I don't know too much about it! It was the basecloth of choice for Heather Ross's Far Far Away I and Nani Iro by Naomi Ito. It is very soft and lightweight!
Linen
Linen in quilting and sewing projects has become very popular. There are a wide variety of options when it comes to linen. There is 100% linen, many different cotton linen blends, and now even quilter's linen (100% cotton that looks like linen!). There are also different weights of linen. Echino and Kokka fabric manufacturers produce their fabrics on a cotton linen basecloth.
Crossweaves, Shot Cottons, Chambray
Beautiful woven cotton fabrics, often with different colors used in a single fabric. These are beautiful in apparel, quilting, and home decor items, really giving a lovely dimension to any project! They tend to look different in different lights!
Home Decorator Cotton
Home decorator cotton is handy for a lot of projects, most especially home decor projects! Within home dec fabric, there is traditional canvas as well as home dec weight cotton sateen. There are many more types of home dec fabric as well!
Flannel
The first project that comes to mind when I think of flannel is Pajamas! In addition, flannels are great for quilting (especially as backing!).
Quilting Cotton
The modern quilting cotton we all know and love! Wonderful for quilting, and all other types of projects!
Premium Cotton
I don't know what else to call these lovely fabrics. If you've ever felt fabrics from Westhill or Mendocino by Heather Ross, Prints Charming fabrics, or Art Gallery Fabrics, you know what I'm talking about! These fabrics have a wonderful hand. They're smooth and silky. I haven't been able to find out much about this type of fabric, from my simple assumptions it seems to be simply higher thread count cotton. If anyone has any insight on these beauties, please share!
There we are! A very, very brief outline of the different types of fabrics out there available to the average sewer! This is by no means a complete list, simply the ones I'm familiar with! :)
I love working with quilting cotton (of course!), premium cotton, shot cottons, and vintage sheets!
What are your favorite types of fabric to work with?
