Woven and Knit: The Split That Matters Most

Every fabric falls into one of two families, and the difference determines how it behaves under a machine.

Woven fabric is threads crossing at right angles - cotton poplin, quilting cotton, linen, denim, canvas, most shirting. It does not stretch along either thread direction, it frays at cut edges, and it holds a crease when pressed. It is the beginner’s fabric because it stays where you put it.

Knit fabric is a single yarn looped through itself - jersey, sweatshirting, rib, anything a t-shirt is made of. It stretches, it does not fray, and it rolls at the edges. It needs a ballpoint needle and a stitch that stretches with it, because a straight stitch in a knit seam snaps the first time it is pulled.

Start with wovens. Learn knits in month three, on a project you do not care about.

The Fabrics That Forgive Beginners

Quilting cotton is the standard learning fabric, and deservedly. It is stable, it presses beautifully, it does not slip under the foot, it is cheap enough to waste, and it comes in every pattern imaginable. Its limitation is that it is fairly stiff, so it makes good bags, cushions, and simple structured things, and poor drapey clothes.

Cotton poplin, chambray, and shirting are next: still stable, softer, and they make actual garments.

Linen and linen blends are lovely to sew, forgiving of imprecision because they are slightly irregular anyway, and they crease constantly, which is either charming or infuriating.

Medium-weight jersey with a smooth surface is a reasonable first knit.

What to Avoid at the Start

Anything slippery - satin, silk, viscose, lining fabric. It shifts as you cut, shifts as you pin, and shifts under the presser foot, so nothing lines up and none of it is your fault.

Anything sheer, because every seam and every mistake shows through.

Anything with a pile or a nap - velvet, corduroy, fur - which must all be cut with the pile running the same direction and creeps badly when sewn.

Anything expensive. Learning consumes fabric. Use the cheap stuff until the technique is boring.

Bedsheets are not fabric. They are woven at a very high thread count and are surprisingly hard to sew, and a great many beginners have been told otherwise.

Grain, and Why Fabric Has a Direction

Fabric behaves differently in different directions, and this is not a subtlety that can be ignored.

The lengthwise grain runs parallel to the selvedge - the finished, tightly woven edge running down both sides of the roll. It is the most stable direction, with almost no give, and it is the direction that runs vertically through most garment pieces.

The crosswise grain runs from selvedge to selvedge and has slightly more give.

The bias is the 45-degree diagonal, and it stretches substantially. This is exploited deliberately in bias binding, which is why binding can go smoothly round a curve, and it causes trouble when a piece is cut off-grain by accident - the edge stretches into a wavy ripple as you sew it.

Every pattern piece carries a grainline arrow, and it must be laid parallel to the selvedge. Measure from the selvedge to each end of the arrow and make the two numbers equal. This is a two-minute check that determines whether a finished garment hangs straight or twists round the body.

Pre-Washing

Wash and dry the fabric before you cut it, exactly as you intend to wash the finished item.

Natural fibres, especially cotton and linen, shrink on the first wash, and they do not shrink evenly. A garment sewn from unwashed fabric fits until it is laundered once, and then it does not. Cottons commonly lose two to five percent, and denim can lose considerably more.

This also removes the sizing - the stiffening finish applied at the mill - which makes fabric feel crisper and more impressive in the shop than it will be in use.

Dark and saturated colours, particularly reds and indigos, should be washed separately the first time.

Wovens fray in the wash, so either overlock or zigzag the cut ends first or accept losing a couple of centimetres.

Cutting

Press the fabric before cutting. A crease adds length that disappears when it is flattened, and it distorts the piece.

Cut on a large flat surface, with the whole piece supported. Fabric hanging off the edge of a table pulls itself out of shape under its own weight, and the piece you cut will be the wrong shape.

Use fabric shears only on fabric. Cutting paper with them blunts them quickly, and blunt shears chew rather than cut. A rotary cutter with a self-healing mat is faster and more accurate for straight edges, and it is genuinely sharp - always retract the blade the moment you set it down.

Cut just outside the line, not on it, and never with the fabric lifted off the table. Long smooth strokes with the lower blade sliding along the surface.

Mark notches outward as small triangles rather than cutting into the seam allowance, and transfer any dots or fold lines with tailor’s chalk or an erasable marker while the pattern is still pinned down. Everything you fail to mark now will have to be guessed at later.