How To Choose The Right Fabric For Your Sewing Project

by Owen Jones⁽²¹⁰⁾ Red Star

http://the-real-way.com

Up until fifty years ago, the overwhelming majority of women knew how to sew. All the women that I knew as a boy sewed and knitted and made some of the clothes for me and my four brothers. When I was eight or nine, I and every other child in my class was taught the fundamentals of knitting and before I went off to college, my mother taught me how to take up my jeans, sew on patches and repair my clothes.

Sadly, sewing, knitting and repairing clothes has largely died out in the United Kingdom. I now live in Thailand and I do not see much evidence of sewing or knitting here, so I imagine that these arts are dying out all over the world among the masses, although I am certain that there are some people everywhere who still knit and sew.

It is a real shame. If you are going to make your own clothes or furnishings like cushions, pillows or soft toys, it is pretty essential that you select the right fabric for the job. Using the wrong cloth will make your job more difficult and might even render your work worthless. So here are a couple of tips on choosing the right cloth for the job in hand.

The first and most obvious thing to do is look at the recommendations on the pattern you are using and if you are a novice take that advice until you know what you are doing. Regrettably, a lot of people do not read the instructions anymore. I can not count the number of times I have seen someone struggling to assemble something and found the directions in the bin with the packaging.

Get to know fabrics by examining the fabrics in the shop. Ask questions about textiles and look at the fabric on the bolt or roll. If the cloth does not look correct on the bolt it probably will not look correct anywhere else either. When you unroll a few feet of the bolt, does it lie flat or does it roll up or crumple? Grab a handful and squeeze it. Does it crease easily? Does it feel correct?

Is the cloth fraying on the bolt? If so it will fray whilst you use it as well. Look on the bolt for special cleaning or handling directions. Do they suit your requirements?

It is quite a problem to work with satin because it slips easily. T-shirt knit is also difficult because it rolls up on itself. It is almost certainly best to avoid these materials until you acquire some experience

Cotton is the best cloth for beginners because it is easy to work with and everyone is very familiar with cotton goods. We know how they should feel and we can tell good, thick heavy cotton from cheap, thin cotton. We also all know that cotton shrinks. Therefore before you cut you fabric. wash it and cut the shrunken cotton fabric. In effect, you have pre-shrunk it.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on a variety of topics, but is now involved with decorative sofa pillows . If you would like to know more, please visit our web site at Modern Throw Pillows For Sale .

Article submitted Sunday, October 31, 2010 & read 174 times.

Owen Jones writes on many subjects and is currently running several websites. He was born in Wales but now lives in northern, rural Thailand.

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» left by Jennifer Stewart (1 year 190 days ago.)

It is a real shame that sewing and knitting are dying out - not only in the UK, either. Life has got so "ready made from the store"...
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