Fabrics for Beginners

– and how to deal with fraying woven fabric

The word textiles is a grouping term for any fiber, filament or yarn but is often used as a synonym for fabric, cloth or material.  To learn more about the making of fabric, using the search term textile will provide broader references. For our current purposes I’ll call it fabric from now on.

Fabrics have 4 main sources of fiber (1): animal, plant, mineral or man-made (synthetics) and are the materials made from the interlacing of fibers (yarn or thread).  Interlacing can be achieved by weaving, knitting, crocheting or several other methods.  Most common fabrics, besides felt, are the result of these interlacing methods. Note on felt: this is produced by matting, condensing and pressing fibers together, in the case of a wool felt, the condensing occurs by boiling or hot water washing a 100% wool knit. (2)

How are fabrics sorted

With more than 200 different types of fabrics (3) how to tell them apart can be based on the fiber content (silk, wool blend, quilters cotton are just a few) or by how they are made. Visuals well help you start to tell them apart. There are lots of great online resources with pictures – just search fabric guides with pictures – I liked this one for its pictures and descriptions, but there are plenty of them out there.  

Besides sorting fabrics by content or fiber types, fabrics are sorted by how they are made (woven or knit most often).  Pictured above are quilter’s cotton and denim (first 2) as examples of woven and fleece and swim or performance knits are…well knits. Both woven or knot have important considerations when picking the right fabric for your project.  Fiber content as well as construction can affect the feel, appearance and even the life of the final product if we are talking about things that get regular, even daily use and frequent washing.  Doll clothes are a little different from your own wardrobe and household items – so mixing of fiber content is less of a consideration, though the temperature you iron (4) them with is still an issue when pressing the article of clothes. Linked Wikipedia article has a table of temperatures.

On the other hand, how the fabric was made can significantly alter the ease of completing a project.  Basically woven fabrics fray – some much more than others (strands come loose with handling and the edge of the piece can become lost) and while knits for the most part do not (think about a torn t-shirt (knit fabric) vs a torn pair of jeans (woven – with washing it develops a fuzzy edge). See examples below.  Important Note: Knit fabric is not the same as knitting where if you cut a strand, things can unravel.

Cotton Knits

Finished or unfinished edges - Little fraying

Woven fabrics

Different degrees of fraying. Depends on tightness of weave.

Choosing your first fabrics

This by no means is saying do not use woven fabrics. Cotton woven fabrics like quilters cottons can be inexpensive and easily obtained – so they are a good started project fabric.  It just means that how you handle or prepare the fabric is just as important as the type of fabric you choose.

Fabrics that don’t fray (or not much) like knits and felt have their own sewing challenges – although fraying and maintaining your pattern piece edges is not the biggest of these.  So if you have scrap knit fabrics (like an old t-shirt) this maybe the best fabric to use for your first couple of projects.

How to stop fraying of woven fabrics

For loosely woven fabrics, things like fray-stop or other types of stabilizer are sometimes used. A zigzag stitched edge or pinking shears (cuts a zigzag edge) work for human scale but are often not practical for small doll scale.

But recently I saw and tried a combination of gluing and then sewing the seams that also stops fraying.  Using a small paint brush and a very light amount of white glue applied at the fabric edge and within the seam allowance will stop cut fibers form working loose.  This method also holds the pieces in place while sewing and can eliminate the need for pins.

Important note of caution: If the seam is curved and there is any easing needed (stretching one piece so that it smoothly fits to the other) this has to be done in the gluing phase, because once the glue dries, the fabric is not likely moving without severe fraying occurring.