How to choose the right fabric for your project

Ever see a beautiful Fabric and wonder "What can I make with that?" It can be overwhelming when trying to decide on a project, pattern, and fabric? If you start with a pattern it will provide you with fabric suggestions. But what If we are starting with the fabric? Or you have an idea of what you'd like to make but have no idea where to start?

Some things to consider when you are deciding on a piece of fabric are stretch, structure, durability, drape, and shrink.

Please note that these are just suggestions based on popular uses for each fabric, feel free to experiment with, play around, and try new things.

Here's a list of popular fabrics and their suggested projects: 

Cotton Poplin-  Is a natural fibre, light to medium weight and can be used for skirts, shirts, and dresses.

Linen- Is a natural fibre, cool and absorbent. It is great for trousers, skirts, blouses, jackets and bags.  (depending on weight, heavier linen can be great for around the house like drapes etc)

Cotton Jersey- A great fabric with stretch often used for tops, skirts, dresses and nightwear.

Wool- (Boiled wool, worsted wool, wool crepe, wool jersey) The drape and hang will depend on the weight of the fabric chosen. Wool is great for trousers, dresses, skirts, coats, hats, scarves and jackets.

Velvet- Velvet has a short dense pile and is smooth brushed in one direction, coarse in the other. Luxurious fabric used for  dresses, tops, jackets, trousers and skirts.

Denim- Available in stretch and non stretch. Lighter weights of denim are suitable for dresses, shirts and skirts. Heavier weights of denim are suitable for trousers, jackets and coats.

Fleece- This soft and popular fabric has many uses, such as jackets, hats, sweaters, sweatpants, cloth diapers (nappies), gym clothes, hoodies, blankets, and high-performance outdoor clothing.

Terry- Terry cloth is a cotton fabric with absorbent loops over the entire fabric surface. It has traditionally been used for towels, but has become versatile in use. Make bathrobes, hooded baby towels, burp cloths, bibs and swimsuit cover-ups. 

Muslin- This airy and organic fabric has many uses from baby swaddles, summer pants, dresses, tapestry, blankets and quilting.

Velour- Velour can be a woven or a knitted fabric, allowing it to stretch. It combines the stretchy properties of knits with the rich appearance and feel of velvet. Velour is used in dance wear, dresses, robes and loungewear. 

Flannel- Flannel is a soft and warm fabric, similar to fleece in what its uses are. Many use flannel for pajamas, crafts, quilts, lining of jackets, bedding, bags and scarves.

The list can go on and on! We love experimenting with new fun projects and fabrics and we hope you do too!

What are you working on next? We would love to know!