Category Archives: Fabrics

Ask a room full of sewists which fabric frightens them and jersey wins every time. It slithers off the cutting table, curls along every raw edge, and ignores every rule you learned on quilting cotton. But one fact changes everything: jersey is not woven. It is knitted. Once that lands, … Continue reading →

The first time I sewed with chenille fabric I got it wrong. I laid the pieces out whichever way they fitted, and finished two cushion covers that looked like different colours depending which one you sat nearest. The fabric was not faulty. I had misunderstood what I bought. Chenille is … Continue reading →

If you have ever turned a sweatshirt inside out and found rows of tiny soft loops looking back at you, then you have already met french terry fabric. It is the workhorse of the knit world, smooth and flat on the outside, gently looped on the inside, and a good … Continue reading →

Chambray fabric is one of those quiet workhorses that lives in almost every wardrobe, even if you have never stopped to name it. If you love the look of denim but find it too heavy for a soft summer shirt, chambray fabric is the answer you have been reaching for. … Continue reading →

The first tweed I ever sewed was a heathery brown remnant I bought because it felt like something my grandmother would have owned. I made a straight skirt from it, not very well, and I still have it. If you have been asking what is tweed, and whether it is … Continue reading →

If you have bought a soft, drapey tee shirt in the last ten years, you have almost certainly worn modal fabric without knowing it. It turns up in pyjamas, underwear, loungewear and the kind of top that feels wonderful the moment you put it on. And yet ask most sewists … Continue reading →

If you have ever pulled on a favourite pair of jeans or buttoned up a crisp pair of chinos, you have already met twill fabric. Twill is the workhorse weave behind so many of the clothes we live in, yet a lot of sewists are not quite sure what it … Continue reading →

If you have ever squeezed a baby blanket at a quilt show and refused to put it down, chances are you were holding minky. This plush, silky fabric has taken over the baby and quilting world for good reason: nothing else feels quite like it, it wears like iron, and … Continue reading →

Taffeta is the fabric you hear before you see. That unmistakable rustle as a ball gown crosses a room even has its own name: scroop. If you have ever wondered what taffeta actually is, why it behaves so differently from every other shiny fabric on the bolt, and whether you … Continue reading →

If knits make you nervous, ponte is the fabric that will change your mind. It is thick, stable, and beautifully behaved: the cut edges do not curl, the seams do not ripple, and the finished garment looks tailored instead of slouchy. Here is what ponte actually is, why it is … Continue reading →