Wool Gabardine—comes in various weights. It is a tightly woven twill. If the quality of the wool fiber is good, you can grab a handful of fabric and crush it and when you let go, it will spring out flat without wrinkles. Generally, cut all pieces in the same direction to avoid a color variation. A hot iron can cause shine on dark colors. Test. If it shines, use a press cloth when pressing on the right side. Long seams tend to pucker. Use “taut sewing,” page 40, to prevent puckered seams. Lining is optional.
Wool Flannel—can be wonderful to sew unless it is really dense and tightly woven. Then puckered seams can be a problem. Also, do the wrinkle test mentioned above to determine the quality. Lining will help prevent wrinkles and make the pants feel wonderful.
Wool Crepe—The wool filling yarns are tightly twisted, making the fabric very springy and wrinkle resistant. Wool crepe just molds to the body while also being very easy to sew and press. There will be no color difference if you reverse pattern pieces. Lining will help prevent wrinkles and make the pants feel luxurious. Wool crepe works in both fitted and trouser styles.
Linen—Unfortunately, today’s linens seem to wrinkle more than some brands we used to have, so we reserve linen for jackets where fusible interfacings lessen wrinkling. Or you can just wear the wrinkles and call them “status wrinkles.” Looser styles and lined pants will wrinkle less.
Synthetic Linens—Rayon and polyester blends are woven into fabrics that resemble linen. To avoid pilling, don’t overdry in the dryer.
Denim—is always popular and comes in many weights and styles. It is 100% cotton woven in a twill weave that has a mind of its own. Don’t try to straighten denim—it will revert to its original state after washing and you will have twisted side seams. It is recommended to preshrink it three times to remove all shrinkage. Some denims are a blend of cotton and spandex. Denim is easy to sew. A “denim needle” can be used if you get skipped stitches. Use a size 90/14 or 100/16 needle if you are sewing through several layers of heavy denim. Some denim looks are made from Tencel® and are more drapey than cotton.
Cotton and Poly/Cotton Sportswear Fabrics—are durable for play pants, but they don’t drape very gracefully, so may not be the most flattering pant fabric category. But when a workhorse fabric is needed, you’ll have play pants that fit. These fabrics can be a plain weave poplin or a twill weave gabardine. Some stretch because a spandex fiber has been added. Fit them snugly since they will grow during wear. Use “taut sewing” to prevent puckered seams.
Chino—a twill fabric, originally made of 100% cotton. Today it is also found in cotton-synthetic blends. Originally used for military uniforms.
Crinkle Gauze—Some are cotton, others rayon. They can grow while you wear them. We recently experimented—after preshrinking, we ironed most of the crinkles out, cut out pants, and sewed them up. They still grew a little, but not so much we couldn’t wear them. You could sew a stabilizing tape in the crotch seam to prevent stretch.
Polar Fleece—Polar fleece is a soft, napped insulating fabric made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or other synthetic fibers. It was created in 1979 by Malden Mills. Owner Aaron Feuerstein intentionally declined to patent Polarfleece, allowing the material to be produced by many vendors, but unintentionally coined a term for a new category of fabric. In 2007 Malden Mills became a new company called Polartec®, which specializes in performance wear.
Silk and Silkies—make wonderful dressy pants. Depending on the weight of the fabric, they can be made into trouser styles or soft full pants. Use “taut sewing” to prevent puckered seams.
Silk Suitings—are easy to sew because pressing will remove any puckering. You will have less wrinkling with a trouser style pant. Lining also helps prevent wrinkling and feels good next to your skin. Silk suitings come in solids and tweeds; avoid tweeds if you are heavy on the bottom.
Corduroy—is a cotton fabric with a nap. Wide-wale corduroy is very sporty and a great look, but does add pounds to the figure. Looser styles work best because corduroy will stretch out during wearing. Some corduroy now has spandex fibers added to the cotton for crosswise stretch.
Microfiber—is the term for a fiber that is very thin, a denier of 1.0 mm or less. Most clothing fibers have a denier of 7.0 mm. Microfibers are made from acetate, polyester, nylon, acrylic, or rayon. They can be blended with other fibers such as cotton, linen, wool, and spandex.
Doubleknits—are generally polyester or wool. Polyester doubleknits wear like iron and are easy to sew. Wool doubleknits used to be very heavy, but they are lighter and drapier today.
Stretch-Woven Fabrics—Polyester fiber can be heat-set into a crimp so the yarns will stretch when woven into fabric. Any fiber combined with spandex when woven into a fabric will also stretch.
Cotton Knits—are best when combined with spandex for better stretch recovery in pants. Be sure to preshrink the fabric before cutting. Use cold water and a short wash and dry cycle to help it retain its color.
Stretch Velvet—is a wonderful napped polyester knit that is luxurious and soft. It also washes very well and never seems to lose its color brilliance. It makes great lounge pants.
Ultrasuede®—can be found in soft chamois weights that make beautiful washable suedelike pants. Cut using the “with nap” layout.
Polyester/rayon gabardine—These fabrics drape well, are usually 60″ wide, and are inexpensive. Use cold water and a short washer and dryer cycle to keep them looking newer longer.
Tencel®—This popular fabric is an environmentally friendly rayon that is sporty like cotton and linen, but wrinkles less.
Grab the middle of a yard of firm cotton fabric and do the same with a soft rayon. The cotton will fan out and the rayon will hang straight to the floor. The stretch wool pant below left hangs more smoothly than the stretch cotton to the right.
Perform the wrinkle test by holding a 5″ square in your hand and squeezing it for five seconds. Let go. Do the wrinkles come out quickly? The higher the natural fiber content, the more it will wrinkle. Wovens wrinkle more than knits. Stretch wovens wrinkle less than regular wovens. Expect pants to wrinkle a bit where your body bends—knees and hips. Lined pants will wrinkle less and feel luxurious.
The “thumb test” is taken by pulling on a small section of the fabric with your thumbs and holding for five seconds. If it recovers quickly from the warmth and stress of your thumbs, it will hold its shape in wear. The tighter the knit or weave, the heavier the fabric, and the less absorbent the fiber, the better the fabric will hold its shape. Generally, double knits hold their shape better than single knits, wovens better than knits, and synthetics better than natural fibers. A fabric that fails the “thumb test” will leave you with baggy knees and derriere.
The shorter the fibers (fuzzy surfaces), the more the fabric is likely to pill. The higher the synthetic fiber content, the drier and more static-prone it will be and thus the short fibers will cling together, or “pill,” more easily. Pants will pill in the thigh area between the legs and where a handbag rubs. Dryer heat promotes pilling.
In general, natural fibers sew and press better than synthetics. The tighter the weave, the more a fabric is prone to puckering. Slippery fabrics are trickier. Dense fabrics, like medium-weave tweeds, wool crepe, and denim, sew easily. Knits don’t need seam finishes.
Fabrics that are lightweight and high in natural fiber content are often more comfortable to wear. Thick knits and synthetics are often warmer. Some synthetics can feel clammy.
For more help on selecting fabrics, watch our DVD Will This Fabric Work for You? (See page 175.)
Take a lesson from men. Pull up the front of your pants at the knees before sitting. This prevents pants from pulling down in the back and minimizes baggy knees. It also lessens wrinkling in the front, because softer folds will form when you sit.
We’d love to have you use wool crepe for your first pair because it sews well and just seems to mold to your body. However, you may feel it’s too expensive for a first pair. An alternative fabric that drapes well is poly/rayon gabardine. It is usually 60″ wide and inexpensive. If you sewed pants in wool crepe, you’d be copying a $150 to $800 ready-made pant. If it is made from poly/rayon gabardine, you’d be copying a $30 to $80 ready-made pant. If your time is really valuable, which pair makes the most sense? When taking a sewing class, ALWAYS sew the most expensive fabric you can afford since you will be in the hands of a pro.
If you use our Fit-As-You-Sew™ system to fine-tune fit in your pants, you can use any pattern for knit fabrics. A pattern that is designed “for stretch knits only” has less ease than a pattern cut for all fabrics, so just fitting the knit pant a bit tighter will accomplish what the “for knits only” pattern would do.
On a padded pressing surface or on a bed, place the iron in one spot on the fabric and steam. Remove iron. If there are puckers around the sole plate imprint, you need to steam the fabric before cutting. Allow to cool and dry before moving.