What to Look For When Selecting a Fabric (2024)

FAQs

What to Look For When Selecting a Fabric? ›

Be sure to look for the fiber content. This is where you can find if a fabric is natural or synthetic, a blend or one fiber. All of these factors affect drape and feel. And with knits, see if there is a listed stretch percentage listed.

Be sure to look for the fiber content. This is where you can find if a fabric is natural or synthetic, a blend or one fiber. All of these factors affect drape and feel. And with knits, see if there is a listed stretch percentage listed.

You want to choose a fabric that is well-made, consistent, and long-lasting. You can test the quality of the fabric by looking at its weave, weight, texture, and drape.

Designers consider texture and weight when choosing fabrics for specific garment styles. For example, a flowing evening gown may require a lightweight fabric with a smooth texture, while a tailored blazer may call for a medium-weight fabric with a structured texture.

Look for natural fibers.

High-quality garments are often made from natural fibers, like cotton, silk linen, wool, or cashmere. These materials are not only durable, but they also tend to feel more comfortable against the skin and have a better drape.

High quality clothing is often made of wool, cotton, cashmere, and silk. Remember that a high content of natural fiber does not necessarily mean a piece of clothing is high quality. You'll also have to look at the construction of the clothing, feel it to make sure it is soft, and make sure that thread work is secure.

The Grade System

Grade A fabrics are the least expensive, while those that belong to grade F are the most expensive. You can expect that grade F fabrics will have a superior composition, greater weave intricacy, and more natural materials.

What brand has the best fabric? ›

Increasingly more and more clothing is made from manmade fibres, like polyester, viscose, nylon and acrylic. These fabrics are cheap to manufacture, but they don't necessarily last long. They are prone to pilling and losing their shape. Viscose is notorious for this.

Run your fingers over the fabric's surface to gauge its softness. High-quality cotton should feel smooth and luxurious, while poor-quality cotton may feel rough and coarse. The tactile experience is often a good indicator of the shirt's overall quality.

Pima Cotton

Pima is considered the finest cotton on earth. As an extra-long staple (ESL) cotton, its long fibers make it extra soft and extra strong. The result? Luxuriously smooth fabric that is resistant to fraying, tearing, pilling, wrinkling, and fading.

To do this, add the length and width, then divide by 36. The resulting number is the amount of yardage you'll need to upholster one cushion. If your furniture has two cushions, double your measurement; if it has three, triple it, and so on and so forth. If your furniture has no backside, you're done!

The construction of cloth is usually designated by a combination of figures such as 100x60. This means 100 ends per inch and 60 picks per inch. Fabric count is also expressed in the same manner as 100x60. The result should be read as one hundred by sixty, not as 6000.