My love of textiles and fabrics goes back to being a very young child and looking through the stashes of both my Mum and my Gran. Fabric and textiles delight me. They open up so many opportunities for unique, one of a kind projects.
This can be seen in my Graduate Collection which was shown at Graduate Fashion Week in London – I spent more time than I should have on developing my own unique textiles for that collection, and I loved every moment.
Here you’ll find guides on different fabric types as well as tutorials on how to sew different types of fabric and how to create your own unique textiles too.
Leather is a natural product being a type of material (not a fabric type) that is made from the hide of animals. As it is a natural product, you’ll find that it will vary in both color and texture from one animal hide to another. Leather is also susceptible to damage, especially from sunlight and …
If you’ve ever worn an item with stretch factor in the fabric, chances are that you’ve worn elastane. But what is elastane and how does it differ from other stretch materials like spandex and lycra? And is elastane toxic to wear or perhaps sustainable? That’s what this article is about! What Is Elastane? Elastane is …
Gabardine fabric is a type of textile with a twill weave and is used heavily in tailoring. It can be woven with natural fibres such as cotton and wool, or as a blend. It is viewed as a durable fabric. Historically, gabardine has been used as a fabric for garments since the 15th century. With …
Most of us will be very familiar with cotton as a dressmaking fabric, but are you aware of the wide range of different types of cotton fabric that are at your disposal? Cotton has been grown and used as a fabric for thousands of years. So it’s no surprise that cotton can be found in …
An important factor when starting to make your own clothes is knowing how to choose fabric for clothing. There are so many fabric types available that we can easily end up choosing the wrong fabric for a project, but this guide will help you with that. The thing is, whether you’re choosing fabric to use …
Twill is a widely-used and adaptable fabric and yet we often don’t really notice its use in our everyday lives. When asked ‘What is twill fabric?’, most people wouldn’t necessarily know that they probably have twill fabric all around them in their everyday lives. Twill has a range of uses and its durability is what …
What is rayon? Is it a fabric that you should buy and sew or is it a new fangled one that can be ignored? Does rayon have any sustainability credentials or is it another ‘modern’ fabric with no benefit to the environment? Today, you’ll learn all about rayon including how to work with it at …
Georgette is a popular fabric choice amongst both professional and home dressmakers. Woven from silk and synthetic fabrics, there are a number of different types of georgette fabric that have evolved since the early twentieth century when georgette fabric first made an entrance into the dressmaking world. We’ll explore the different varieties of georgette in …
Have you ever wondered what chiffon fabric is? Chiffon is a sheer and lightweight fabric made from cotton, nylon, polyester or silk. It has a very soft and fluid feel to it. You can use it for dresses, blouses, scarves and other types of clothing, but the best part about chiffon fabric is that it …
Sewing tulle can be a challenge. While it is a beautiful fabric perfect for creating stunning dresses, skirts and even tutus, sewing with tulle takes some special know how to get it right. In this guide, you’ll learn about the different types of tulle and the best ways to sew it, so that your next …
I’ve covered a lot of the different types of fabric before, but I haven’t much touched on the types of sheer fabric available when sewing. Once you’ve been sewing for a while, you may find that you’re ready to try sewing trickier fabrics, and sheer or transparent fabric is definitely considered tricky! Sheer Fabric Types …
One of my favourite learnings while at the Roland Mouret studio in London, was learning how to fuse fabrics together – a technique referred to as araignée, or ‘spiders web’ as I was told. This technique using a glue that looks like a spiders web, to bond two fabrics together. It’s very much like the …
While not all projects you make with fabric will ever be washed, if you’re someone who wants to make your own clothes – which will of course need washing! – it’s a very good idea to preshrink fabric and the reasons for this are two fold: Fabrics have sizing which helps the fabric look and feel crisp, …
Interfacing fabric is a woven, knitted or non-grain type of fabric that is used to reinforce fashion fabric from the wrong side. It’s particularly useful for strengthening areas of garments when sewing clothes. There are different types of interfacing and we’ll look at each of them here as well as when you should use each …
In the last month, we looked at the different types of fabric, different types of lace and man made vs natural vs synthetic fibres. Being that cotton fabric is very popular for making clothes, I thought it might be interesting for you to learn more about where cotton comes from and how cotton is made …