It really only takes about five and a half seconds into
our sewing journeys to realize that not all fabrics are the
same. Some are a dream to work with and others are
an absolute nightmare,
as you know.
So in this video,
I am very breaking it down so you can learn to
understand how to tell if a fabric is going to be
easy or difficult to work with just so you can be
prepared for any challenges that,
that gorgeous fabric that you've found might throw at you sewing
it up.
Welcome back.
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And now today we are continuing actually our topic of fabric.
So I have made some videos of light about this,
and it's something that I've been talking about a lot at
Vintage Sewing School,
that's my online school.
So I have just created a whole course there about it
and so we're bringing this topic here because as you know,
no fabrics are created the same and some are,
oh, they throw you a curve ball,
right? So difficult to work with those nightmare fabrics that you
just think what happened.
Let's talk through how to actually look and assess different fabrics
to know whether it's going to be easy or hard to.
So with just so you can like understand what you're looking
for and know those choices.
Now I will say that just because some are hard to
work with in some are easier to work with.
It doesn't mean that as a beginner.
So, or you shouldn't work with those hard to sew fabrics,
it's about knowing it and being prepared for it that we
need to know.
It's when I think it's when we go in and where
we don't realize that next need different needles in different stitches,
for example,
that we go in and if you don't know this,
it turns into a total disaster.
So it's not about avoiding anything.
It's about being prepared for the fabric that you have on
hand. Okay.
Let's actually divide this into two categories.
One is actually,
if it's going to be difficult to cut and mark,
because that is something completely different.
And then if it's going to be difficult to actually sew
with, and we'll divide it into knits and wovens for each,
because as you know,
they are different.
So let's start.
How do you know if a fabric is going to be
difficult to cut out and you're marking for wovens?
So basically here,
drape and softness are your enemies,
the drapey,
or it is the more,
the fabric moves around.
The harder it will be to cut.
So for things like rayon,
viscose, bamboo,
all these types of fibers are very drapey,
very soft crepes.
Chiffons the fabric.
The way the fabric is made is really soft.
It wants to fall into a little ball and basically that's
what it does on the table,
as opposed to something like this that is structured,
that holds its shape.
So if you lay fabric out on the table,
for example,
and if you can do this,
and it is like the fabric moves and it balls up
and it just slides around,
even if it's not sliding on the table,
but it just,
it will stay there and it will move as opposed to
say this linen here,
this like you can see it's structured,
right? It wants to keep its shape,
whereas this round does not.
And so this is difficult to work with because as you
move your pattern,
any movement that in there at all affects,
and it warps the fabric and when you're cutting,
it will warp the shape.
And it's really quite tricky to sometimes to work with and
navigate. It takes a bit of a greater skill,
whereas this linen and playing cottons,
for example,
latest, they just stay there.
They don't move.
They are wonderful because it's really hard to make mistakes because
they don't move on the table for you.
So that's what make those easy.
So the easy choices are structured fabrics that hold the shape
on the table.
If you put it on the table and it just wants
to bunch up in a little bowl,
that means it's going to be more difficult to work with.
And so what about knits?
When we look at knits pretty much again,
drape is the main factor in whether it's going to be
difficult to cut out and work with.
And the curl factor of Jersey can affect the cutting as
well. So the same thing applies.
It's generally those fight with knits,
especially it's generally the fibers that are going to affect it.
So the viscose,
the rayons,
the bamboo modal,
these types of fibers will give it really like a drapeyness,
and it will give it that it's very,
very lovely to wear,
and it makes a fabulous garment,
but cutting it out does put it in the harder to
manage category because it just wants to move.
So the same thing,
if you laid on the table and you kind of just
push it around a little bit,
if it wants to just curl up into a ball and,
and move around a lot,
that means when you put your patent on and you're trying
to cut it,
it will want to move on you as well.
If it just tends to,
to hold its shape and stay flat in a rigid piece
of fabric,
it's going to be easier to work with because that is
how it's going to stay when,
as you're trying to cut it all out.
And now with knits,
the, when we cut were marking our fabric as well.
And so the curling over of the edge of cut edges
on Jersey,
for example,
can make it quite difficult to mark because there is no
edge left to mark after that,
and you have to try and curl it out and then
market. So that can be a little bit tricky to navigate
when you're cutting and marking out your fabric.
So something to look at and consider,
it's only on some knits.
So all you have to do is stretch it and see
if it curls or not on a cut edge.
So one of those cut edges,
not the selvages.
So let's move on and look at how to know if
it's going to be difficult to actually so with,
so we have it all cut out and marked,
but sewing is different because you have the foot and your
pins and you have to sort of put it through the
machine and it not warps stretch,
fray out,
all sorts of random,
horrible things that happen.
So let's have a look at wovens.
Again, drape is one of the things that do make it
more difficult because it means that the fabric will want to
move a lot more.
So it,
it does affect it,
but also the slipperiness is what is really important when we're
looking at easy or difficult to sew with when it comes
to woven fabrics by slipperiness,
I mean,
basically put your two layers together and rub them between your
fingers. I think it's best demonstrated like this on camera and
move it around.
If it just slips between those two layers really easily.
And it just does like this,
you guessed it.
That's what it's going to do when you're sewing it.
And it will be a nightmare.
Whereas say this plain quilting cotton,
for example,
is kind of like,
I call quilting cotton 0.00
level to start with.
It's like the even playing field.
This doesn't want to move at all.
So this is going to be nice and easy to work
with because both as I'm pinning this,
it will stay its shape.
It won't move around,
It'll stay where it's pinned as I'm sewing this through the
machine, it won't want to warp and twist and move.
It'll stay exactly where it's pinned.
And I can sew it really well under the machine,
as opposed to the slippery one under the machine,
it is going to go everywhere.
I have to constantly adjust it's to slipping and sliding,
and it does make it difficult to work with.
So the simple test of the slipperiness is a real easy
one to,
to know how hard it will be to work with.
And then there is the fabric thickness.
So generally,
like I said,
quilting, cotton is kind of that medium weight in the middle
fabric like this.
And then when you with woven fabrics,
when you go to either end of the spectrum of weight,
so super lightweight,
and then super heavyweight,
if they become harder to work with,
because often we're layering up.
So we're very often in garment sewing,
we'll have four layers of fabric together when we're sewing over
seams that join,
there is many,
many layers together.
And as soon as you start to get too thick fabrics,
if you fold your fabric into two layers and you think,
oh, that's pretty thick.
Do that again and see how thick four layers is.
And you are going to have to sew over that guaranteed
in garment sewing.
So the thicker,
like if you get to those super thick ones,
it will be harder.
You'll need a thicker,
heavier duty needle to deal with it.
And it just becomes harder to put through the machine.
So something to think about is the weight and on the
other spectrum,
of course,
is those super lightweight fabrics.
When you have anything sheer and soft like this and super
lightweight, you'll need again to adjust your needle accordingly,
to help out,
but often like fine fabrics will very often get munched up
a lot.
So you want to just take the threads of the fabric
through, down to the machine sometimes can be very tricky to
have to navigate when it's sheer,
it's see-through,
so you kind of have to make all of your seams
and all your stitches really,
really neat and tidy because it's see-through,
you can see everything.
So when you get to either end of those spectrums of
heavy and super lightweight,
it does become different,
more difficult as well.
So that is something to consider always those fabrics that kind
of sit in the middle,
you know,
quilting rate a little bit above a little bit Butler are
really sort of the easy choices in weights to work with.
They kind of just,
they just work.
And then one more thing when you're looking at woven fabrics
to so with is the fray factor.
So sometimes you'll have a very loose weave fabric.
So that means all of these little yarns that make up
the fabric,
these are really loose.
So they sort of spread out as opposed to being lots
of them jammed pack.
So think a thousand thread count bedsheets.
That means that there's a thousand threads,
all crammed in there,
and it's really tightly woven.
They will not fray very much at all,
but a lot of fabrics we get are quite loose woven.
It actually makes a very nice garment to wear with a
loose weave.
But the thing is,
is that these are loose weave will fray like crazy.
And sometimes if you're not aware of it and not looking
at it,
as soon as you cut it,
it will just start fraying.
And particularly when you're beginning,
your you're working and you're handling the fabric a lot because
you're learning.
And so you handle it even more than you would.
And the more you handle fabrics like this,
the more they fray and it becomes an even bigger nightmare
to have to deal with.
So always just keep that in mind too,
is that it is a super loose weave.
And if it's going to fray like crazy,
if you know,
you have to handle it a lot,
that might be something that you can sit up when you're
choosing your fabrics for easy or hard.
Now let's have a look at knit fabrics,
how hard are they or easy to sew with?
How do we choose again?
Drape is one of those things that do fall into the
category because the drapey or it is the more it just
wants to,
well, it just wants to move around on you before we
start all knits.
Of course,
as you should know,
I think already require a ballpoint or a stretch needle.
So they require different stitches entirely.
You can't just use a regular straight stitch on your machine
and you need a ball-point needle.
So it's rounded at the edge so it doesn't actually peirce
and snap the fibers of a knit fabric as it needs
to push them out to the side and go through.
So that is a whole nother story,
I have like videos on needles and everything.
If you're interested in that,
of course,
as well,
that is for another day.
So aside from the,
the drape,
because the drape here it is the,
you know,
the more wants to move as we've talked about.
I think in all of them,
knits are really determined by the stretch is how hard something
is to ask.
So, so the stretchier,
it is the harder it will be to sew,
because as you putting this through your machine,
you can see,
this is just going to stretch out like crazy,
right? And your foot will push and it will want to
stretch that.
And when it gets stretched out,
that's when you get that like wavy lettuce leaf look seams,
and it's a disaster,
right? So the least stretchy versus what you call more stable
knits. And again,
this is a whole other topic on how to like,
you know,
knit stretch and everything,
but the less stretchy it is,
the more stable it is,
the easier it is to sew because the less it will
stretch under your foot in the machine.
And it's just easier to work with.
So that is definitely how you sort of determine easy and
difficult knits is mostly by the stretch.
And then again,
there is that cool factor when it comes to Jersey.
So whenever you cut Jersey,
for example,
is a big culprit when you stretch it,
it instantly curls over and it can be an absolute nightmare
to have to deal with.
Of course,
if you're not prepared because you know,
you've got like your seam,
your seam allowance just disappeared and it's hard to try and
roll it out every time you're working on it to.
So it,
so that is a factor I definitely would avoid that if
you're not looking for something too difficult to start with on
a net,
those stable knits that don't curl are definitely a good choice
for a beginner on knit projects.
So, as I said,
though, it's not about avoiding all of these more difficult fabrics
to work with.
It's about being prepared and knowing that you're going in with
a little bit more difficult fabric,
because when you go in prepared,
you know,
the trouble comes is,
as I said at the beginning is when we go in
and we just don't know that these are more difficult fabrics.
We don't know that we need different needles for stretch fabrics,
we don't know that like any of this and so it
turns into an absolute disaster and we don't understand why.
And it is basically just an outer disaster and we get
very disappointed that's because we just don't,
we're not prepared when you are prepared for these more difficult
fabrics. That is when you will see more success and you
feel still good about your achievements because you know,
it was going to be a difficult fabric,
but you did it anyway.
And you learned your lessons along the way.
And that is what it's all about.
I do hope you experiment more.
And I do hope that that gives you a bit more
light into choosing what to look for when you're both working
like cutting and sewing with different fabrics and making easier and
better choices depending on what you want for that project.
So let me know your tips down below on what fabrics
do you like to work with or not what you found
easy or difficult,
your tips for us as well would love to hear them
because sharing our sewing knowledge is how we all get better
at our sewing.
So do check the description box below because I have left
a bunch of other videos there.
And if you're really interested in all of these fabrics and
like getting into this world of knowing more about your sewing,
I invite you to come join me at Vintage Sewing School,
because that is exactly what we do there.
And I would love to have you in class.
Thank you so much for watching.
And until next time,
my sewing friends happy sewing,
bye.