MOTHER SAYS: “BUY THE MOST EXPENSIVE FABRIC YOU CAN AFFORD.”
Before embarking on our voyage through a sea of cloth, please bear in mind that we give most attention to the fabrics we use day in and day out. A further caveat for all you colorful souls out there is that we lean towards the darker, more muted end of the spectrum for much of our making and particularly avoid bright primary colors. This is a personal choice and should not be seen as a directive. It is important to express your own character with everything you make; there is no right or wrong.
Your fabric stash can say more about your true style than your wardrobe does. A fabric buy is instinctive and free from fleeting fashions. You may find that you always buy the same types of fabric: they are what you love. Fabric is where the home dressmaker has the edge: sew to have something that is uniquely yours.
Our preference is for natural fabrics; we know we can rely on wool, cotton, linen or silk to perform predictably each time we pick them up. These cloths are particularly well suited to our ways of working. Our fabric choices offer plenty of opportunity to experiment and master new skills.
Remember the adage “you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear,” nevertheless, you might treat your dog with one. There are cloths that are clearly suited to certain garments. Cloth is tactile, sensuous and flowing, so let your fingers do the research.
MOTHER SAYS: “BUY THE MOST EXPENSIVE FABRIC YOU CAN AFFORD.”
We love a sumptuous thick wool. Just like its lighter cousins, wool will retain its shape and throw off wrinkles with its natural stretch and elasticity that flexes with the body. It will last for years and keep you cozy when you need it most. Wool is very easy for the dressmaker to use, being considerably more obedient than the animal it came from. To top it all, it manages to be relaxed and comfortable but always remains smart, lending itself to simple styles that allow the fabric to revel in its own glory.
By woollens, we mean all those delicious cloths that are pure wool, have a luxurious feel and a consistently beautiful handle. A nice dense woollen cloth is quite rigid yet soft to the touch. It comes in many weights and is extremely versatile. Be wary though as thick fabric can add bulk, so choose tailored styles.
Before buying wool with a pile, do your own pill test: rub your fingers over the fabric rapidly to see whether it either pills or stretches; if it does, quietly walk away.
When using any thick fabric, avoid thick facings and choose an interfaced lining instead.
Rustic yet smart, coarse or fine, tweed always has an air of quality. It uses shorter wool fibers in its manufacture where the yarns have already been twisted from two or more colors before weaving. Harris and Donegal tweeds are traditionally seen in a variety of flecks, herringbone and checks, and the flexible rougher weave conjures up those Hebridean and Irish landscapes and the hardy sheep that gave their fleeces for their creation. Tweed was originally considered tough and heavy, just right for plus fours and a spot of hunting, shooting and fishing.
Typically it is a durable fabric with body, depth and characteristic bounce, which can be tamed with tailored and fitted detailing. Be aware that tweed fabric is particularly prone to fraying.
Wool has been spun and woven by the tribes of northern Europe for at least 12,000 years and has been a staple of British manufacture for over a century. The core principles of spinning and weaving remain unchanged since our ancient ancestors first twisted raw wool into yarn and wove it on a crude loom. It is the historic reason that the British countryside is dotted with sheep.
A worsted wool cloth with light weight and a much higher yarn count, it tends to be reassuringly expensive, flow like silk and have a soft feel that will set your hair tingling. There are some truly beautiful weaves in these premium fabrics, allowing women to come up with something as smart as a man’s suit while remaining thoroughly feminine.
Superfine suiting makes up wonderfully, doesn’t hold on to creases and wears really well. It is perfect for smart summer wear as it breathes naturally, keeping you cool or warmed up as needed.
This is a broken twill, made with highly twisted yarns, and it can be truly sophisticated and especially elegant. When made up, it drapes beautifully and has a distinct texture that doesn’t crease. Beware when buying crepes that there is no scrimping; a poor quality cloth will announce itself all too clearly. If you really want to go to town, a double-knit crepe will have extra weight and give a deep, luxurious drape to create an instant, lasting impression.
Gabardine, invented by Burberry in the nineteenth century, is tightly woven from worsted yarn. The straight, parallel fibers and ribbed diagonal twill weave make for a tough, stiff cloth, which was the bane of many a childhood in raincoat form. It is magnificent for coats and heavy trousers, can be used for toughened hole-proof pockets and, when waterproofed, will keep the rain out all day long.
Simply put, felted wool is matted. This often happens on untended sheep and to the backs of babies’ heads; the fibers become tangled up and inseparable as a result of moisture, heat and pressure. Melton, for example, is a traditional felted wool that has long been used for military uniforms; it is cheap, hardy and very satisfying to work with. These cloths do not fray when cut and their initial stiffness makes for a crisp, bold silhouette. They are especially suited to structured garments.
The British fabric stash is full of lengths of best-quality wool from coarse Harris tweeds to the finest suiting and has a reputation for being the best available.
All cotton cloths have their origins in warmer climates, as the cultivated shrubs that give up the fibers of the seed pod for commercial textiles do not fare well in the North European climate. While India, Pakistan and the United States have always excelled at harvesting the long tall plants, the spinning and weaving into useful cloth has traditionally been part of great British industry; 250 years ago, cotton textiles were Britain’s greatest export and Manchester was known colloquially as Cottonopolis. Nowadays, manufacture is global and provides us with a startling array of colors, weights, finishes and quality.
Cotton is fantastic to work with. It is strong and even, easy to handle and sew, drapes well and can have a neat, crisp finish. It is soft and comfortable, wears in nicely and is reluctant to catch fire, making it ideal both for garments and soft furnishings.
Many cottons on the roll, especially at the cheaper end, will be sized or coated during manufacture and may not be preshrunk. Bear this in mind when buying less expensive cottons as inevitably the fabric you end up wearing will be different to the one you fell in love with at the shop. Washing before use will take out any residual chemicals, soften the cloth up and leave you certain that the shrinking is done with.
Although higher quality fine cottons will cost you more, it will pay to buy the best you can and the end results will reward you handsomely. If you feel certain the cloth is preshrunk and colorfast, you may be lucky enough to dispense with the extra ironing a wash requires and get straight to work with your tailor’s shears.
Cotton works well for anything and everything, from a crisp formal shirt, through workwear, to a bold and colorful shift dress. It breathes well and can be machine washed. From muslin to denim, brushed to cross-weave, there is a cotton cloth for every project. It comes in every color and a raft of amazing prints, although you may need to buy a little extra for pattern matching. It is the ideal fabric for beginners to hone their skills.
We have our distinct favorites from the vast array of cottons out there.
A cheap unfinished cotton (pictured right) with a low thread count and which, as part of its simple charm, might contain unseparated husk parts in the weave. It comes in a variety of weights and inevitably will need to be preshrunk by washing before setting to work. Calico originally came from Calicut, India, and has been a popular choice with makers for several centuries. We use it to create toiles – sample garments to check our construction, shape and flow.
Originally a heavyweight twill cotton, denim takes its name from Nimes in the South of France and has been with us for over 200 years. We know it as a tough cloth, ideal for jeans and workwear, with an ever-improving appearance as time and history leave their marks. The density and thickness of denim is traditionally measured in ounces per square yard with standard jeans weighing in at around 12 oz – the same as we put to use for our apron project.
We prefer a classic twill weave and will always wash first despite some modern denims being advertised as preshrunk. Better safe than sorry. Denim sews very well though you will need to use a designated jeans needle, especially when stitching several layers together.
Oilskin is an iconic British cloth that looks great, is sturdy and easy to work with and topstitches perfectly. Also known as oiled or waxed cotton canvas, it has a unique handle and will distress beautifully with age. The 12-oz cloth we use has a dense weave and is thoroughly weatherproof. Before its industrial treatment, the base cloth is very similar to the tote bag’s duck canvas. Working with oilskin has its own demands:
Much of what is loosely referred to as linen is, in fact, not. Linen has come to be used as a term for anything with a similar weave, even when made of cotton or hemp, and bed linen is nearly always made of cotton. True linen is made from the fibers of the flax plant, which is easy to grow and does not require pesticides. It is ethically sound in the same way as organic cotton is, and it comes in all kinds of weights and finishes.
Linen is probably the earliest form of cloth and was used as currency by the ancient Egyptians when they weren’t wrapping mummies in it. Irish linen, though no longer grown on the Emerald Isle, is world renowned for quality and comes at a premium price.
All linen is notoriously hard to iron and so we are grateful to live in an age where the crumpled look is de rigueur. A good pressing on linen can make the finished garment look great, but you should take great care when cutting out linen fabric, and you will find that extra pattern weights and pins are needed.
In return for great durability, strength and tautness, linen demands you enjoy and appreciate the slubs and irregularities in the threads and weave – sometimes a challenge to the tidy mind. Look for something different, nothing too flat; celebrate the manufacturing nuances of natural linen and let the crumpled, slept-in look be part of the style. It is ideally suited for loose unstructured garments.
Silk is the strongest natural fabric there is, smooth and luxurious, effortlessly tasteful, yet not without its weaknesses. It is highly sensitive to sunlight, prone to rot and does not take kindly to water stains; it is not known for its durability and it will wrinkle. To its credit, it makes up for its shortcomings with pure style, ultimate comfort, warmth, breathability and handle. Cheap silks will look cheap and in use are inferior to good cotton, so stay well away.
Silk is full of surprises. First developed around 6,000 years ago by the ancient Chinese and reserved for domestic royalty, it came to lend its name to the famous Silk Road, a historic early trade route spreading across China, India, Persia, Europe and Africa. The precious material and the trade it led to is cited as instrumental in the founding of modern civilizations. Clearly, it is very important stuff.
The thread is created by nature as a fiber found in the cocoons of moth caterpillars we call silkworms – not all moths are the seamstress’s enemy then! The inherent structure of silk fiber is triangular, causing the final textile to shimmer as it refracts the light like prisms. For mass production, the larvae are cultivated and bred to consistently produce a white, mineral-free thread that can be unravelled in one continuous length of considerable strength, known as a filament.
Silk is delicate and demands respect. Make sure you use the right needle and silk thread for sewing silk-fine silks. Handle gently and use only fine needles and pins.
Though not as dangerous as it sounds, wild silk makes up only a tiny fraction of silk production and it is harder to bleach or dye than domesticated silk. The qualities of wild silk are influenced by the silkworms’ diet and many varieties are valued for the delicacy of their unique natural colors. For example, the Assam silk – which comes from the same Indian region that grows a nice aromatic tea – has a rich golden sheen that is highly prized for the making of exquisite saris. Silkworms that feed on smaller, domestic tree leaves produce the finer silk, while the coarser silk is produced by silkworms that have fed on oak leaves.
We have found some truly scrumptious coarse silk checks and herringbone that are woven like wool, and from a distance might be mistaken for it. The treat is in the touch and handle of these cloths, which are literally silky smooth with a perfect flowing drape. Thicker fibers combined with a loose weave create silks with an inimitable natural surface sheen and a characteristic dry handle whatever the weight. Raw silks are chunky and have irregular slubs, redolent of the best linen without the stiffness.
In this, the twenty-first century, there is a greater interest than ever in the environment and the provenance of our resources, from energy and food all the way through to the cloth we put under the needle. It is now possible to get some really fabulous fair-trade and organic fabrics including cottons, linen made from organic flax, and wool produced 100 percent organically, including eco-powered spinning and hand dyeing. For those who want to go the extra mile, here are some choices that often get overlooked.
A lustrous fabric with a microscopically smooth surface that feels like cashmere on the skin, bamboo has beautiful drape. It is warm in the cold and cool in the heat, and is antistatic. Added to these impressive wearable credentials, it is also hard to find fault with its production. It does not require any pesticide treatment when growing (so the cloth is less likely to irritate the skin), it brings wealth to developing communities and it has ten times the yield per acre of cotton. It is more widely available than ever, so have a search online, order some and you will also have an extra talking point at dinner parties.
Making cloth from stinging nettles is not new but is making a comeback in the eco revolution. With a heritage spanning 2,000 years, its last surge in popularity was during World War II, when the Allied control of cotton led to some fine German nettle parachutes.
Similar to heavy linen in its handle and stiffness, the new generation of nettle cloth has been produced as jeans and jackets and takes advantage of the stinging nettle’s hollow fibers for great insulation. It is often dyed in its own juices to create a characteristic green tone.
For its eco checklist, nettles can and do grow pretty much everywhere there is rain, including the Himalayas, allowing small communities to generate income without industrialization. Nettles are hardy perennials that do not need pesticides, taking the sting out of your new-found cloth.
As a yarn, hemp is extremely versatile, used in everything from rope to T-shirts. It can emulate wool and canvas and is softer, stronger and more durable than cotton. The fibers are porous for added breathability. By all accounts, hemp is something of a wonder plant. Almost every part of hemp has a use beneficial to mankind. It has been cultivated for over 6,000 years and before the widespread cultivation of cotton, it was the crop most put to use for clothing. It is now the preeminent alternative to cotton and the easiest to find as cloth in various guises.
