Fabric Store Field Trip: A Practical Guide to Fabrics

Описание: I thought it was high time for a class field trip! For those of you just joining for this lesson, this video is part of a video series I’ve created to teach anyone to sew from the ground up. I teach basic foundational principles one at a time, each skill building successively on the next in order to encourage confidence and support great results!

I don’t like boring … especially in one of my most favorite places on the planet. I’ve tried to make this video both informative and fun … including showing you the best places to hide from your arch nemeses should they happen to confront you while at the fabric store 😬😂

I should note, this is only a partial listing of fabrics—the world is a never ending invention of textile glories—but, I’ve tried to hit the high points.

The fabrics I recommend most for beginning sewist projects are: Cotton solids and small prints (no stripes or plaids), cotton top weights, twill, stretch sateen bottom weights, thin denim, linen, flannel and polar fleece.

Obviously there’s room for other fabric choices, but I’ve highlighted the possible difficulties beyond the fabrics I’ve suggested in five categories, as a way of being organized and because “Five Fabric Fears” was catchy … better than “Six Fabric Fears” … and they are: STRETCH, SLIP, STICK, LOFT and BULK. Some fabrics have more than one of these difficulties going on … there are other reasons fabric can be tough, but I think these areas cover the basics.

I’ve also given you a guide to needles in this video. As reference:

100/16 Heavyweight fabrics (denim, canvas, upholstery)

90/14 Midweight fabrics (linen, thin denim, twill, shirtings, stretch sateen, thicker satin, faux fur, velvet and minky)

80/12 Lightweight fabrics (cotton, thinner satin, metallics, silks, flannel, bubble gauze and other topweights)

70/10 Lightest Weight and Sheer fabrics (organza, tulle, chiffon, some lace and other similarly super lightweight fabrics)

There are also specialty needles for denim, leather, knit, vinyl and microfiber fabrics which are very important to your success!

Backtrack: “Summertime Rain” by Little North Fork and “Flashbulb” by Hapasan, license from iMovie