Ask the readers: What are your “go to” fabrics?

Wool bouclé and textured wool crepe, if you can find them at reasonable price.
Line, underline, or sew them as one fabric with silk organza or soft silk and you can have winter coat, chic suit, summer dress … and all will be as cosy as your old sweater!

Cottons are my constants, but I’ve been looking at silk more and more. I like the idea of linen, but really I don’t like it at all for a finished garment. I know, I’m practically alone in that, but it wrinkles in the most unflattering places! I don’t want to draw attention to the places that “unfold” when I go from sitting to standing. Maybe linen beach-only capris, but that’s it!

Definitely medium weight linen – I love the look, feel and texture of it, and it’s about the only fabric I can stand in south Texas in the summer. I don’t even mind the wrinkles, but I grew up watching Miami Vice – need I say more?? :)

Linen, chambray, lawn, wool crepe and tricotine. Rayon challis can be slippery – I tend to stick with natural fibers.

I’m still a beginner, so I’m not sure about my favorite fabrics at all yet. In fact, I’m not even sure what some of these are! I need a course in fabrics for sure, if they exist for the home sewer.

I’m in southern California if anybody can tell me if there’s somewhere I can go to learn fabrics in person. The internet is great for some things, but you obviously can’t touch a fabric through the screen!

I haven’t made up my mind yet… I’m a beginner, so I’ve mostly experienced linen, lawn, batiste, velvet and other types of woven cotton. Lately I am working on my first knit project, with some lace inserts, and I find that knits are easy to sew (with some help from Built By Wendy’s Home Stretch). Even though they have some different rules, I think I like them just as much as the wovens. I love the stretchiness, and I find it’s a little easier to do fitting with because of that stretchy quality- more forgiving. I still made my first fitting too tight and had to make the darts less shallow, but it wasn’t so bad. But there is so much variety out there, and so many fabrics I haven’t experienced yet, like faille, silk, and chambray… that maybe…I like them all?

I’m drawn to rayon challis–doesn’t work for everything, but I love the soft drape for shirts and dresses.

I to love lawn – beautiful and easy to work with. I also love, when I can find it, silk linen, which is a linen textured silk.

A Linen Cotton blend of 45/55. I first used it from Echino and was blown away by the drape and wearability, even if the patterns/colors were a bit challenging. Then I found the Robert Kaufman Essex line and have been thrilled to watch them add to the colors and patterns for that fabric. The blend is popping up more and more in different fabric lines, just bought some Amy Butler. It has the drape and hand of Linen with a little less of the wrinkle due to the Cotton. It wears well and is lovely to sew with. Have yet to find an application that I do not love for this fabric…

Most cottons, especially cotton serge, flannel, linen, and if I’m worried about it wrinkling I buy cotton mix or linen mix. They feel the same, are cheaper and wrinkle much less. For “nobler” fabrics, cotton or silk satin, chiffon, sablé and velvet. I just love velvet!

Cotton voile. Beautiful drape, easy to sew and wear, no care concerns. It’s perfect!

I’ve fallen in love with bamboo rayon. The drape and feel is just beautiful. The only drawback is that it wrinkles easily, but it also presses easily, so there’s that. It’s super easy to work with, and is just so incredibly soft and smooth.

Liberty Tana lawn, needlecord, cotton or viscose & lycra jersey, these are my favourites because they are a pleasure to sew and comfortable to wear.

Liberty London cotton lawn, little more pricey but the quality is second to none and so lovely to sew. I also LOVE crepe de chine it is so nice to wear, and not as tricky to sew as you might think. I have also been using more cotton/viscose jersey lately and the resulting garments are getting lots of wear.

Cotton and rayon jersey, with just a wee bit of elasthane. :D

Favourite fabric? Would have to be silk. It has so many expressions – silk voile for a floaty summer dress, or a remnant of voile for a scarf with a hand-rolled hem. Silk charmeuse for a luxurious blouse. Silk dupioni, unwashed for a really elegant look, or after handwashing, for a more casual feel. (I have a silk dupion shirt, much worn and loved, that pairs wonderfully with jeans). Raw silk. Silk tweed for a chanel style jacket.

And then the silk blends. Silk and cotton, lifting cotton from the everyday. Silk and linen – brings back memories of my wedding outfit – a cream silk/linen blend that I made into a skirt and jacket, and wore with a lighter cream silk shell top.

I have some japanese silk/wool blend in my stash right now, maturing nicely. Haven’t worked out what to do with it yet, but for now, I just enjoy looking at its vibrant colours, and stroking its silky finish.

Linen. I’ve been in love with it for decades and still love it, wrinkles and all. It just gets better with age and it can be casual or sophisticated. Fabrics-store.com is the best source. I used to love silk when I worked in SF in the 80s. It was easy to get then and not too expensive – not the case these days.

Kind of an odd choice, but I really love quality quilter’s cottons. I underline them with a thin cotton and use them for 50s style dresses. I’m getting into jersey but still figuring out the quirks.

Wool–anything!!! My love and borderline obsession right now. Living in the Bay Area, it’s a 3 1/2 -season fabric. Cotton a close second….but I get confused about what weight works best for what. The other comments were very helpful!

Having recently gone through my fabric stash I found I lahve a lot of denim. I am not a fan of the way drapey fabrics look on me. Also I love dark denims & have been buying them up like there’s no tomorrow. Secondly, I tend to buy knits when I see cotton knits since I have a hard time finding nice ones. My 3rd go to is any woven with a bit of stretch in them from poplin to twill. They are just so comfortable to wear. Now, if only I could get around to sewing up all my fabric.

I love sewing and wearing cotton lawn — it feels silky, yet is easier to cut and handle than some slipprier fabric. I also enjoy sewing with silk crepe — very stable if you get the right weight, and actually quite forgiving with curved hems, and pressing.

Lately, I have reconnected with rayons — if you find the right weight and quality, they have a nice drape, and are usually opaque (rayon can get puffy –if you select the wrong pattern — had to let go of a skirt I made that had all flat seams, but puffed out — my fault, I know, but just saying!)

Right now, I am on the hunt for cotton sateens, or voiles/ lawns that have some silk blend. I saw some last year, but I am waitng for a print / colour I like. After sharing all my favorite fabrics here, I want to confess I am now sewing a polyester silky/ fabric from Japan — making a Licorice dress from this — I liked the printed abstract flowers, and have not been fabric shopping for so long, I used my stash fabric (which I culled so not too much to choose). I can’t wait to finish this dress, which is really lightweight and floaty!

Great comments! I love linen. For summer casualwear its my absolute favourite – I love the colours, I love the feel and I love sewing with it. I have just experimented with a linen-cotton mix that doesn’t crush so much, but is still gorgeous. I’m in Wellington, New Zealand, and spoiled for choice from our fabulous range of fabric stores.

Loving your blog xo

I love Rayon–it’s such a verstile and useful fabric. Comfortable and good looking in hot weather (especially if you wear a shirt over an undershirt like I do), and yet it feels good in wet or cold weather. Easily layered without being hot or sticky under something, also. It also tolerates hot washing, which I do for the sake of sanitation, and even survives being thrown in a hot dryer. I’ve worn it for years with very few complaints! I always buy a good quality fabric, when possible, but even the cheaper ones seem to be good anymore. Cotton is great for most things, but the colors fade after awhile. Rayon doesn’t seem to have that problem.

For myself I like using wools, they do exactly as they’re told and they finish so nicely. I’m in love with Liberty Tana lawns for my own work, beautiful tight weave that makes everything so precise. And in my day job as a seamstress I’ve been sewing a lot of silk organza. It’s so crisp and easy to work with, and gives a really luxurious finish whilst still being quite natural looking.

I’d say cotton popline and it’s cousins, imitation leather, imitation suede, microfiber we have in my store

* Ankara. This is the Nigerian name for Dutch-wax printed cotton. I have LOADS of it.
* Cotton sateen – I love this when I need a solid fabric. I also use it for lining
* I am now developing a thing for lace. I wrote about it here: http://peppermintandpaisley.com/2013/03/01/casual-friday-confession/

I’m so late to this, but I have to put in another shout out for rayon challis. I really love it, and I love it in good prints. I’ll pretty much buy any rayon challis I see in a good print or color, and (most of the time) the quality has been good. I do have a few that have pilled slightly, even with hand washing. I also like cotton voiles, lawns, and chambray, and linen/rayon linen-look blends. Obviously, I’m a glutton for punishment since I hate ironing after washing and drying.