Choose Fabric with Confidence
Your Guide to Choosing Fabric – Advice and Resources to Help You Sew with Confidence
When we are motivated to sew something new, looking at our favorite designers’ latest trends or perusing all the new sewing patterns of the season is a great start to get our creativity flowing. Selecting the fabric for our project can be one of the most exhilarating choices we make or, we may be stuck and not know where to start.
To help you in your sewing journey it seems fitting to provide some advice, resources, and additional information about fabrics that will help you choose wisely.
Today’s blog is designed to get you started with advice that will help you along the way and aid you in creating your own resources. Our future posts will discuss various terms used when discussing fabrics, what to look for when selecting a fabric online and how the fabric description and pictures can help you make a smart fabric choice. We will discuss why particular fabrics are chosen as a guideline on a pattern and the qualities these suggested fabrics have that enhance and/or work with the pattern.
While pattern companies give us some guidance to follow when selecting fabrics, you already have some easily accessible resources close by that can help you become more familiar with fabrics. For instance, when was the last time you paid attention to the fabrics right in your closet? And who doesn’t love window shopping? Try browsing a favorite designer’s shop now that things have opened again.
Whether you are looking through your closet or out shopping, take some time to look closely at the fabric used in your favorite garments. The fabrics used in high end ready-to-wear can give you some good ideas in what fabrics to choose for your next project. They give a tactile sense of what to expect from different types of fabric, what blends of fibers work together well, how the fabric feels against your skin, and how the fabric falls on the body. Sometimes it can even make us keenly aware of what we don’t like in a particular fabric. More than anything it will acquaint you with getting a sense of why a fabric was chosen for a particular garment and what to expect from your fabric choices.
I think one of the best resources for a sewist is a fabric journal. If you have a healthy fabric stash you can start one now. There are also fabric swatch books, my favorite is Julie Parker’s Fabric Reference Series. It is a Fabric Dictionary and Swatchbook that is out of print now, but the books can sometimes be found on eBay or Amazon. The books are “All About Wool”, “All About Silk” and “All About Cotton”. I did contact Julie Parker to find out if we might see a reprint and she says she is working on it. I for one can’t wait to see it!
Check out our free downloadable fabric journal sheet on our Resources Page. It will be a great resource to start your own fabric journal. If you have not joined our VIP Club yet why not join today. All members enjoy 20% off their first purchase, have early access to new arrivals, specials, and sales.
Until next time…Sew Something Fancy!