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 deal more breathable than the fluffy fleece most of us reach for out of habit. I have sewn it into hoodies, joggers, cardigans and baby gowns for years. Here is what I have learned about choosing it and stitching it.
What Is French Terry Fabric
The first thing to fix in your mind is that french terry is a knit, not a woven. It is built on a circular knitting machine that forms a smooth jersey face on one side and a looped reverse on the other, all in one pass, as knit mill Runtang Textile describes its own process. Because it is knitted, it stretches on its own, it does not fray, and a raw edge will roll a little. The loops on the back are left uncut and unbrushed, and that single detail is the whole personality of the cloth.
Wikipedia’s entry on terrycloth sets out the family relationship. Terry is any fabric, woven or knitted, carrying many protruding loops that can absorb large amounts of water, and the length of those loops decides how much it takes up. French terry is the version where, in its words, the inside is crossed with loops while the outer part is smooth and flat. Hence its other name, loopback jersey.
So the loops are not decoration, they are the working part. All that extra yarn surface pulls moisture off your skin while the open channels between the loops let air through, which is why french terry gives warmth without the sealed, sweaty feeling of a brushed fabric.
French Terry Vs Terry Cloth, Fleece And Sweatshirt Fleece
Towelling terry cloth is the bath towel. It carries long loops on both faces, which is what makes it drink water so greedily, and it is usually woven rather than knitted. Lovely for robes, too bulky for sweatshirts.
Fleece very often begins life as french terry and then goes one step further. According to knit supplier Renrui Textile, the inside of the terry is brushed out into a soft, fuzzy nap. That traps far more air, so it feels warmer at the same weight, but it breathes less and pills more readily. Fabric Consult reckons a fleece at 320 gsm insulates about as well as a light jacket. Sweatshirt fleece is the heavier, brushed end of that family, covered in Types of Fleece that You Should Know.
French terry sits between plain jersey and sweatshirt fleece in both weight and warmth. Fabric Consult puts single jersey at roughly 130 to 200 gsm, french terry at 200 to 320 gsm and fleece at 260 to 400 gsm and up. That middle ground is why it suits so much of the year.
Where The Name Came From
Nobody can point to a single founding document, and I would rather say so than invent a tidy story. Wikipedia records that the word terry is of uncertain origin but may come from the French tiré, meaning drawn, and that it first described an uncut velvet called terry pile. The retailer blog at The Classic T Shirt traces it instead to the verb tirer, to pull. Treat that second as a retailer’s telling, but both agree on the pulled loop.
A Brief History Of French Terry
The looped cloth reached Britain by way of Turkey. Henry Christy, brother of the owner of W M Christy and Company, travelled to Ottoman Turkey in the 1840s, saw Turkish towels woven by hand and brought a sample home. The firm wanted to make it by machine, and the man who worked out how was Samuel Holt.
Holt joined Christy at Hillgate Mill in Stockport in 1834, had his first loop weaving machine running in 1848, and by 1851 a second design using two warps on one loom. Those towels won a gold medal at the Great Exhibition of 1851, and Queen Victoria ordered six dozen and approved the name Royal Turkish Towels. Christy began industrial production in 1850, and Wikipedia notes that terry only became broadly popular in America after the First World War.
Knitting machines later did to terry what looms had done first, and once you knit the loops rather than weave them you can put them on one face only. That is the moment french terry becomes possible.
How French Terry Is Made
Yarn count, fibre blend and loop yarn are chosen for the target weight. The machine knits a smooth jersey face while a second yarn is fed in to throw loops onto the reverse. Loop height, density and tension are then tuned, because those three settings decide the finished gsm, the absorbency and the hand. The cloth is then dyed, softened and, if you are lucky, pre shrunk. A fine face yarn carried with a coarser loop yarn is what makes a good terry smooth outside and plump inside.
Fibre Blends You Will Actually Meet
- 100 per cent cotton. The most absorbent and breathable, and the biggest shrinker.
- Cotton and polyester, in blends from 35/65 to 90/10. Polyester steadies the cloth, cuts shrinkage and holds colour.
- Cotton with spandex, usually 5 to 6 per cent elastane. What you want for anything close fitting, since it adds recovery rather than just stretch.
- Three way blends such as 81 per cent cotton, 13 per cent polyester and 6 per cent spandex, plus lyocell, bamboo and recycled polyester.
Weight, And What Each Weight Suits
Weight is quoted in grams per square metre, gsm. Ask for it, because two rolls both labelled french terry can behave quite differently.
- 200 to 260 gsm. Light. Summer layers, relaxed tees, baby clothes, drapey cardigans. Fabric Consult notes that knits under about 280 gsm cling rather than standing away from the body.
- 240 to 300 gsm. Renrui’s jogger and sweatpant range.
- 280 to 320 gsm. The everyday hoodie and crew neck weight, and what Runtang lists as standard sweatshirt production.
- 320 to 380 gsm. A properly substantial hoodie. Portuguese mill White Cotton says 350 to 440 gsm is its best selling hoodie range.
- 400 to 500 gsm. Heavyweight. Structured hoodies, overshirts, light outerwear.
Most french terry comes 58 to 60 inches wide, about 150 to 155 cm, and pattern designer Allie Olson puts the usual range at 10 to 15 ounces per yard if your shop quotes ounces. If you shop online, french terry fabric by the yard comes in every weight and blend here, and the listed gsm is the number to check first.
How Much It Stretches, And Why That Changes Your Pattern
French terry has mechanical stretch, which means it gives even with no spandex in it, because a knitted loop can be pulled out of shape and spring most of the way back. But it stretches noticeably less than a plain jersey, and almost all of that stretch runs across the grain.
Published figures vary wildly. Allie Olson puts french terry anywhere from 20 to 50 per cent, while Striped Swallow Designs measured one terry at about 60 per cent across the grain and 25 per cent along it, with only 5 per cent recovery. So measure the roll in front of you. Fold it on the crosswise grain, place two pins exactly 4 inches apart below the fold, hold at both pins and stretch. If those 4 inches become 6, you have gained 2, and 2 divided by 4 gives 50 per cent stretch.
Why it matters: a heavy cotton terry with 20 per cent give will fight a pattern drafted for a 50 per cent stretch jersey, especially at a neckband or cuff. If your terry is firm, choose a pattern with real ease and cut neckbands, cuffs and waistbands from ribbing so they can do the gripping. Spandex buys far more freedom. The same logic applies to any stable knit, as in my ponte fabric guide.
How To Care For French Terry
Prewash. Every single time. Renrui warns that cotton french terry and fleece can pull in 5 to 8 per cent straight off the roll if the mill has not pre shrunk it, and 8 per cent on a hoodie body is the difference between a garment that fits and one that does not. Suppliers who quote shrinkage often give figures like 3 per cent in length and 5 per cent in width. Buy sanforized goods where you can.
Prewash the way the garment will be laundered, not more gently. Allie Olson suggests a warm wash and a medium heat dry, then carrying on the same way afterwards. The usual mill advice is gentler: a cold wash inside out and a low tumble dry. Either is fine, so long as you are consistent from the first wash. One warning: unpicking is miserable, because the loops grab the seam ripper. Test your stitch on a scrap first.
Best Sewing Projects Using French Terry
If you only ever sew one thing in french terry, make it a hoodie. Our own Hoodie Pattern and Tutorial is what I would hand anyone who has just brought home three yards of 320 gsm loopback. The shaping forgives a firmer terry, and the hood and pocket give you somewhere to practise topstitching.
- Joggers and sweatpants. A 240 to 300 gsm terry is ideal. Try the City Joggers pattern.
- Cardigans and open front layers. A lighter terry drapes well and the smooth face takes a facing neatly. Plenty of options in our free cardigan pattern round up.
- Sweatshirts and crew necks, the fastest here to sew.
- Baby and toddler clothes. Here the absorbency earns its keep, since the loops soak up dribble and the smooth face sits kindly against skin. Lovely in the Baby Kimono Onesie.
- More hood ideas in our free hoodie designs collection, and everything else in the free sewing patterns hub.
Tips For Sewing With French Terry
These six things make the difference between a homemade hoodie and a handmade one. For wider grounding, see my introduction to sewing sweater knits.
Tip 1: Fit A Ballpoint Or Stretch Needle
A sharp universal needle pierces the yarn and cuts it, and a cut loop in a knit becomes a ladder. Schmetz says of its Jersey ball point needle that the medium ball point is designed to avoid breakage of knit fibres at stitch creation, and lists sweatshirt fabric among its uses. The point pushes between the loops instead of through them.
Schmetz also explains the difference between its Jersey and Stretch needles. Both carry a medium ball point, but the Stretch needle has a shorter, narrower eye and a deeper scarf that helps prevent skipped stitches. Use Jersey on ordinary knits and Stretch on anything with elastane. Jersey runs from 70/10 to 100/16, so a size 80/12 is a sensible first try on a mid weight terry. Keep a card of ballpoint jersey sewing machine needles in the drawer, and see Tool Tips: Budget Or Quality? Sewing Machine Needles on when an upgrade pays.
Tip 2: Give Up The Plain Straight Stitch
A straight stitch has no give, so the thread snaps the first time the seam is stretched over a shoulder. Use a narrow, longish zigzag, the lightning stitch if your machine has one, or a serger. On a mid weight terry I start at roughly 1 mm wide and 3 mm long, then test on a doubled scrap and pull hard. If the thread pops, widen the zigzag.
Tip 3: Put On A Walking Foot
The looped back of french terry has grip, and a heavy terry is thick. On a standard presser foot the bottom layer feeds and the top does not, so your side seam comes out an inch longer on one piece than the other. A walking foot feeds both layers evenly and stops the waves before they start. If you sew knits regularly, a walking foot for your machine is the best single purchase you can make for this fabric.
Tip 4: Stabilise The Shoulders And Back Neck
Shoulder seams carry the weight of the whole garment, and a heavy terry is heavy. Left alone, that seam grows across the back over a season of wear. Stitch a length of clear elastic or knit stay tape into the shoulder seam as you sew it, and do the same at the back neck. Strips of knit interfacing work too, and I walked through the options in How and where to use knit stay tape. Ninety seconds per shoulder keeps a hoodie in shape.
Tip 5: Hem With A Twin Needle
A twin needle sews two parallel rows of straight stitch on the right side while the bobbin thread zigzags between them underneath, which is why the hem still stretches and looks like a shop bought coverstitch. Use a stretch twin needle rather than a universal one, in either of the common 2.5 mm or 4.0 mm spacings.
If you get tunnelling, that ridge standing up between the two rows, loosen the needle tension and add fusible stretch interfacing inside the hem fold. If stitches pop, shorten the stitch length. Skipped stitches are almost always the wrong needle or a bulky seam crossing, so clip the seam allowance flat first.
Tip 6: Cut It Flat
Knits distort the second they hang off the edge of a table. Let the fabric relax flat for an hour after prewashing, keep the whole piece supported, and cut with a rotary cutter rather than dragging scissors, with the greatest stretch running around the body. I add half a yard to any hoodie project for cuffs and a test seam.
One Last Thought
French terry is the fabric I recommend most often to sewists who say they are nervous of knits. It is stable enough to behave under the presser foot and forgiving enough that a wobbly seam disappears into the texture. Buy a yard of something around 300 gsm, put in a ballpoint needle and make yourself a sweatshirt. Happy sewing, and do tell me what you make.
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