If you have an IKEA near you, check if they have "Aina" fabric. It's 100% linen, and for being linen it's not too expensive. It's a bit thin though. IKEA is also cheap for various cotton fabrics. They sometimes also have historical printed fabrics. For example, right now in my nearby IKEA they have "Ålandsrot", "Junimagnolia", and "Trollmal" historical prints. Channel Loepsie recently did an 18th century dress in the "Ålandsrot" fabric.
I work a lot with linen, and as someone who has Aina at my local Ikea I would actually say it's on the medium side. Stonewashed linen are way thinner than Aina, and it's more like medium linen that are common in many fabric shops
As a beginner, I'm always so grateful for fabric guides like this, because it's so helpful to actually hear from people who have worked with different kinds of fabrics! It's such a fascinating topic that I never really gave much thought to prior to learning to sew. As has been mentioned, Renaissance Fabrics carries polished cotton in a variety of different colors!
Can't thank you enough for breaking this down for us beginners! I'm always tempted to beg costumers to include what yardage was used for projects and how much they paid, if they're comfortable sharing. I have so much hoarded fabric that was just too good to pass up, but I always underestimate how much fabric I'll need for a certain era and don't have enough for a project.
I used to work as a seamstress at David’s Bridal and eventually came to the determination that silk charmeuse is the devil. Any time there was a charmeuse gown it was almost always a slip gown with ruching around the waist and hips of the bodice and most brides would manhandle them until they tore. Then we would spend an hour or more fixing them before doing any of the other work. If there is any fabric i would avoid like the plague it is silk charmeuse.
When I was really young my gram did a lot of sewing- both for us and a local bridal store. She would take me fabric shopping and let me wander around and touch the fabrics. I remember being quiet indignant once when my mom happened to be with us and she expected me to stay right with her and keep my hands to myself. I couldn’t convince her that gram and the lady who owned the store always let me wander around and touch things! Gram eventually set her straight. It’s one of my favorite childhood memories. Needless to say, I got pretty good at identifying fabric by feel.
“Burnley and Trowbridge” are historical fabric purveyors. Although their collection is slanted to the 17th and 18th C, I find their selection excellent of wool, silk, and linen that work for much earlier periods. The prices are reasonable and the thread and general notions selection is excellent too. They offer swatches. Another resource for silk is the “ The Silk Baron”. They have an array of colors and types of silk. “The Fabric Market” has some brocade silk for reasonable prices. And finally the behemoth called “Mood”. It’s not economical but so, so fun to dream. There can be great deals but it will take some delicious, deep rabbit hole dives into their fabric categories to dig them out.
I love, love, love linen. I love the texture of it at any weight. It is pure joy to hand sew, as its tendency to crease so easily makes it easy to hold and keep in place while you stitch. I also find that the needle goes into it easier than any other fiber (except maybe wool). The striped linens of Burnley & Trowbridge actually look good even when worn all day. I do love cotton, but it is an environmental atrocity, like other fabrics. This is where linen is a true winner. It uses much less water in its cultivation and production.
I love "resource" videos like this. As someone who also has limited access to fabrics beyond your basic quilters cotton it's great to be able to learn more about fabrics before deciding to order them on line.
I do wash all my silks. Yes they change in the feel but I refuse to use fabric I haven't washed. Mostly I use silk for my "regular " clothing so it needs to be washable because I am not exposing my self to dry cleaning products either. Actually every piece of fabric that comes into the house gets washed, much experience in the industry means I don't trust anything not to have nasty chemicals on it in some way. Note that I can't wear wool so I don't have to worry about that.
This was very helpful. I have 3 cotton dress shirts and each of them looks and feels very different. I didn't understand enough about different cottons to know what to look for when I buy more (because I have a definite favorite.) I do best shopping by feel, but I bet this helps next time I'm stuck shopping on line or in a catalog. 😀
For very cheap linen: look in second-hands for tablecloths, curtains, sheets etc. They are usually big enough for garment and also usually are bit softer than fresh linen. Downsides are obvious: you won't be able to buy more of it & you have to buy it when it is in store and keep in the storage for future projects. It can be stained or sunbleached, so be aware of it. A few times I was lucky enough to buy set of silk curtains too, so happy "hunting" :-)
I am SUPER amused that you called out the symphony broadcloth, because I’m sewing with that right this moment. I’m using it as the lining for a rayon challis sheath dress, because the Kona cotton was just a bit heavier than I wanted. And if you’re making a nice rayon dress, why use a polyester lining that won’t breathe like the shell fabric will?
If cotton only became a common undergarment fabric in the mid 1800s, it may have had more to do with the cotton gin making it cheaper than a "this fabric works better" or preference thing. More cheap=more economical=popular with more classes of people
A note on linen: I just bought 4 yards of a heavyweight linen/poly blend last month from my local Joanns. Adding that bit of polyester to it makes it SO much more practical. My one complaint is it smelled awful until I ran it through the washer and dryer.
This is a great video. Reminds me of trips to the fabric with my mama learning about different fabrics. The state of fabric stores is really sad. I grew up in a small town that had four fabric stores of which only one was a chain. One was upscale for weddings and such and carried absolutely gorgeous silk. They also had great wool and linen at premium prices, of course. Another carried mostly dead stock and a third was our source for quilting cotton. It just seems odd to only have Joanns now. I love linen and wear a lot of it given that I live in the US South with heat snd humidity. I like to make linen trousers and skirts. Linen has a scent to it sometimes that kind of reminds me of cut grass. Wool smells sheepy which makes sense. I’ve got an old wool coat that I try to never get wet because good grief it’s gamey!
Agree with GreatGoat about beginners choosing fabrics. I thought I hated hand sewing until I tried it on natural fabrics. Since as a reenactor my personae are working/labor class, I wouldn't have had a huge inventory of clothing anyway so it's actually authentic to save up for a very few fabrics that are durable as well as pretty. You make a good point about choosing what you have a need and desire for, not what someone else tells you "must" be done; linen is not the only historic fabric out there. I never thought about creating my own swatch book; I love just touching fabric so that's inspired! Your video is incredibly helpful and fun, particularly while I'm dreaming of better weather and the ability to fabric shop in person once more. Good luck and happy creating to all the sewists of varying abilities and finances who share a love of fabric and stitching.
I found a fairly heavy linen, rayon and 2% spandex blend, it doesn't wrinkle and it is so comfortable! And I feel as its linen enough for my historical costume. I am planning on making summer pants out of it. I am lucky though, I have a beautiful fabric store here. (SR Harris in the twin cities)
JoAnn's 108 inch premium cotton muslin quilt backing is thin but fairly firm, a bit like I think historical glazed cotton would be. My sister and I really like it for undergarments and bodice linings.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve big time drunk the linen kool-aid BUT I really appreciate your honestly about it AND your recommendation of cotton for beginners - if I’d started out with shifty slippery linen, I’d probably have given up on sewing almost immediately.
Needle and Thread i Gettysburg, PA carries polished cotton lining material. They also carry historically correct notions as well as reproduced historical fabrics such as cottons and wools. Also millinery supplies, corsetry supplies, including steek boning and busks, and silk ribbon.
My love for linen grows stronger everytime I find some at the second hand store! This was a great video! I do both burn and bleech test on fabric since I can't tell if something is silk or polyester (or a 3. options). I did pre-wash some silk dupioni 😑 and it lost that delicious sound afterwards 😩 Learning the hard way.
I'm like a week late on this. RUclips didn't put it on my feed. I mainly have a Joannes and a Hobbie Lobby for my fabrics, so it's hard to find something other than cotton. I'm also hot in 30 degree weather so I need something that breaths and is airy. Thank you for the tutorial. It's always great to have someone go over this and not think you're the devil for having poly blends.
Excellent video! The Closet Historian and Nicole Rudolph both have excellent fabric videos as well and Morgan Donner has a video on fabric testing for fibre content which is very interesting. Thanks again for this video.
Linen is so nice to wear (especially in hot weather) but it's always a bugger to work with - it slips and slides and shifts everywhere, so it's a pain to cut, and to sew!!" I do find that most of the wrinkle drop out with wear and body heat, though. I' have less problem with wrinkled linens than wrinkled cottons in terms of wear. Having just received a package of stuff form Burnley and Trowbridge - I can thoroughly reccommend their lightweight wools/worsteds and flannels. It might be worth gettign hodl of sampls of their wool broadcloths too - I didn't buy any of those.
One of my best thrift finds was a metre of what I thought was 90's brown cotton. I cut it to make a waistcoat and it just wasn't ironing like I expected it would, it turned out to be dress weight printed wool! It is so soft and lovely but I have no idea how old it is now!!
A great place to learn is a poke around the most expensive department at the swankiest department store. Clothes are fabric that an expert has chosen and high end clothes have a fit and finish that are instructive. “The Hand” is the term covering the process of evaluating fabric by touch. You learn by doing. You can do this at the thrift store or everywhere.
Many second hand shops like Savers or Goodwill have a sewing and craft sections and you will be surprised what you can find. Between people cleaning out sewing rooms to left over home décor materials you can find all kinds of stuff. I have found everything from a gallon plastic bag full of spools of thread for under 5$ to lengths of upholstery fabric where someone bought more than they needed. I do renaissance faires so a yard or two of a heavy upholstery fabric is plenty for a bodice.
In the UK we call the cream firmer fabric for toiles calico - but that may not be the case for you? I became more interested in how fabric is produced from an ethical viewpoint (it is important to me that the people who make my fabric are treated fairly and don't have their health and/or environment harmed) and now buy my cotton organdy from The Cloth House. It is pricier but soooo much nicer than the stuff I was getting before that sometimes felt more like paper than fabric! I have also had some fabulous cotton fabrics from the Organic Textile Company here in Wales.
In Australia it’s also called calico, and we leave the term “muslin” for the very lightweight, soft cottons. It’s the exact same use of the term as in the Regency period. I’ve seen Americans Chet confused about how historical muslins are these super light cottons, and nothing like muslin now (and not the best choice to be making a regency gown out of). I don’t know when or why the American terms changed, I just know that the British terms stayed the same
Good to know! I have become a lot more aware of where things have come from and now get a lot of things second hand but finding ethical cloth suppliers is very useful!!
I was raised that calico was a small tossed floral repeat, like some 1970’s Laura Ashley. Reminds me of the chicken feed bag aprons on the Minnesota farm where Mom lived in WWII. They call it Ditsy floral sometimes now.
Thanks for presenting this information in a wonderful, personal way. I made my daughter's wedding dress skirt in layers and layers of different colored silk chiffon. It was so much fun but was a lot of work. It was inspired by a Carol Hannah design and turned out beautifully.
Dressew in Vancouver, Canada sells several weights of a stiffer, more structured unbleached muslin - I think that's the "toile"/theatrical muslin you are talking about in the video. However, I don't think they ship internationally.
Great video!! It always amazes me that people think they have the right to an opinion on what fabric you pick!! If you’re happy with your choice everyone should be too. Right now I’m dreaming of a heavy wool material for a cape as well as a winter coat. I’m in a colder climate than you are so I want something with a fair bit of weight. Still working on finding the right patterns.
I made my boyfriend one shirt (a chemise type) out of linen for LARPing and he loved it so much, he now wants all the linen. We now have linen sheets for our bed (they were pricey)
When it comes to linen...I starch it before I work with it so save me pulling my hair out. Personally I prefer a cotton linen mix for the best of both worlds plus its usually slightly cheaper and easier to find.
EU based here! I found it (so far) impossible to find polished/glazed cotton for linings outside of the US that I didn't have to import in. Instead I've been using "cretonne" cotton, it's similar to poplin as far as I'm aware but is slightly stiffer. It comes in just as much cute designs as poplin
Lady Rebecca you forgot to Mention Hobby Lobby while they do have a small selection it is quite good. Also whenever I think about Fabric stores and how hard it is to find certain fabrics it makes me Miss Handcock Fabrics. Their Fabric Section WAS FAR better than Anyone Elses.
It’s not quite glazed cotton but one fabric that is close to it that I love working with is cotton Silesia, I buy mine from Bernstein and banleys lining company and it comes in a load of colours. As for the cotton organdie I get mine from Whaley’s of Bradford online
I loved the supima sateen too and I'm also super sad they discontinued it. I can get it from spoonflower now, but it doesn't drape as nicely as the supima did.
Wow this came out right as I was trying to figure out what kind of fabric to order to recreate an antique blouse that I bought on impulse (so far I've narrowed it down to silk but is it some kind of antique silk that no longer exists? who knows!) Perfect timing! Thank you!
This is greaaat i'm making a dress for a friend and i was wondering if usin the coton sateen we chose for the skirt would work as lining for the bodice!! Haven't checked whether i have enough of it buuut now i know, thank youu! Funnily enough it's stiffer than most coton fabrics i've worked with (which is one of the reasons why we chose it) but maybe that's a French thing (we had a huge variety of colors to choose from as well)
Thanks so much for this info..and the affirmation that you don't necessarily have to use expensive historically correct fabrics (poly taffeta instead of $ilk...much dinero....) Any thoughts on boiled wool? I just bought several yards ('cause it was on sale) and I'm not sure what it'd be good for...maybe a vest or coat or some heavy outer garment?
@@LadyRebeccaFashions It looks a lot like coating...it's rather heavy weight (almost 1/8 of an inch thick,and stiff). I may end up making a cape or E-Z poncho (if I can find nice satin lining)....this is definitely a back-burner project for me!
I'm so glad I put this in my watch later file. I wasn't ready to concentrate when it came out, but this is a very helpful resource! (I also loved Nicole Rudolph's videos on fabric.) Forgive me if I've noticed and asked this before but - you wear your watch on our right wrist like I do - are you a left-hander like me?
I'm glad it was helpful! I'm right handed, but I've been told I write like I'm left handed, with my hand curved around, and I've just always worn watches on my right hand, too.
I got some muslin from Amazon. I know lots of folks don't like buying from them... I have no physical stores nearby and can not afford the better online stores. If you want the link, let me know.
Crepe yes, but the rest not so much. Crepe can come in a lot of different fiber types (wool, poly, rayon, and I believe silk), and is very drapey. Wool crepe is what was used for Victorian mourning, but the other crepes are great for vintage clothing.
I am getting ready to start mocking up my 1840s evening gown, did I heard you correctly when you said you used cotton twill to mock up bodices? My gown will be silk taffeta
Wish fabrics had the same names from country to country, watching mainly USA costubers and being in Aus things have different names and far less options
I'm not able to wear wool because I'm highly allergic to it. But I want to make a coat from something that looks & feels like wool coating. Are there any natural fiber fabrics that would work?
@@LadyRebeccaFashions honestly, I've never had the opportunity to try anything else. I'm ridiculously allergic to all animals, but I'm willing to try anything!
Lol I really don’t like silk. It catches on my skin. I am a wool fanatic about 9 months/year. I love floaty cellulose fibers in summer most. I feel guilty using rayon cuz it’s made from trees, so i buy deadstock and OEKOTEX (sp) and organic cottons/rayons/tencels/linens. Or African style Ankara bold prints.
Ps I am not always avoiding guilt but aware now I worked for JoAnn Fabrics for over 4 years so I have a ridiculous stash of fabrics that don’t fit my new ideals.
So linen is your version of the Achilles tendon :D Poly and Ester aren't friendly ladies at least to me and the husky kid I was during the 1970's I wished I was selfish I don't have a selfish bone in my body but others around me does all they do is take my android cords and charging blocks and tell me to shove off every time they take them off without permission they get in my face and scream how selfish I am and they steal mt extension cords still scream in my face and I cant say anything. All they have is the i guess
If you have an IKEA near you, check if they have "Aina" fabric. It's 100% linen, and for being linen it's not too expensive. It's a bit thin though. IKEA is also cheap for various cotton fabrics. They sometimes also have historical printed fabrics. For example, right now in my nearby IKEA they have "Ålandsrot", "Junimagnolia", and "Trollmal" historical prints. Channel Loepsie recently did an 18th century dress in the "Ålandsrot" fabric.
Unfortunately it looks like none of the US IKEAs i checked carry this fabric. I was able to find it in European IKEAs.
I work a lot with linen, and as someone who has Aina at my local Ikea I would actually say it's on the medium side. Stonewashed linen are way thinner than Aina, and it's more like medium linen that are common in many fabric shops
As a beginner, I'm always so grateful for fabric guides like this, because it's so helpful to actually hear from people who have worked with different kinds of fabrics! It's such a fascinating topic that I never really gave much thought to prior to learning to sew.
As has been mentioned, Renaissance Fabrics carries polished cotton in a variety of different colors!
Can't thank you enough for breaking this down for us beginners! I'm always tempted to beg costumers to include what yardage was used for projects and how much they paid, if they're comfortable sharing. I have so much hoarded fabric that was just too good to pass up, but I always underestimate how much fabric I'll need for a certain era and don't have enough for a project.
I used to work as a seamstress at David’s Bridal and eventually came to the determination that silk charmeuse is the devil. Any time there was a charmeuse gown it was almost always a slip gown with ruching around the waist and hips of the bodice and most brides would manhandle them until they tore. Then we would spend an hour or more fixing them before doing any of the other work. If there is any fabric i would avoid like the plague it is silk charmeuse.
When I was really young my gram did a lot of sewing- both for us and a local bridal store. She would take me fabric shopping and let me wander around and touch the fabrics. I remember being quiet indignant once when my mom happened to be with us and she expected me to stay right with her and keep my hands to myself. I couldn’t convince her that gram and the lady who owned the store always let me wander around and touch things! Gram eventually set her straight. It’s one of my favorite childhood memories. Needless to say, I got pretty good at identifying fabric by feel.
“Burnley and Trowbridge” are historical fabric purveyors. Although their collection is slanted to the 17th and 18th C, I find their selection excellent of wool, silk, and linen that work for much earlier periods. The prices are reasonable and the thread and general notions selection is excellent too. They offer swatches. Another resource for silk is the “ The Silk Baron”. They have an array of colors and types of silk. “The Fabric Market” has some brocade silk for reasonable prices. And finally the behemoth called “Mood”. It’s not economical but so, so fun to dream. There can be great deals but it will take some delicious, deep rabbit hole dives into their fabric categories to dig them out.
I love, love, love linen. I love the texture of it at any weight. It is pure joy to hand sew, as its tendency to crease so easily makes it easy to hold and keep in place while you stitch. I also find that the needle goes into it easier than any other fiber (except maybe wool). The striped linens of Burnley & Trowbridge actually look good even when worn all day. I do love cotton, but it is an environmental atrocity, like other fabrics. This is where linen is a true winner. It uses much less water in its cultivation and production.
When I was a teenager I went with my grandmother to a sewing class at a local community college and they had the "All About" books.
I love "resource" videos like this. As someone who also has limited access to fabrics beyond your basic quilters cotton it's great to be able to learn more about fabrics before deciding to order them on line.
I do wash all my silks. Yes they change in the feel but I refuse to use fabric I haven't washed. Mostly I use silk for my "regular " clothing so it needs to be washable because I am not exposing my self to dry cleaning products either. Actually every piece of fabric that comes into the house gets washed, much experience in the industry means I don't trust anything not to have nasty chemicals on it in some way. Note that I can't wear wool so I don't have to worry about that.
Another washing-everything sewist, and a huge wool fanatic.
My favorite material to wear in hot and humid SW Fla is linen/cotton blend. Most of the wrinkles “fall out “ and it breathes. Never too hot or cold.
This was very helpful. I have 3 cotton dress shirts and each of them looks and feels very different. I didn't understand enough about different cottons to know what to look for when I buy more (because I have a definite favorite.)
I do best shopping by feel, but I bet this helps next time I'm stuck shopping on line or in a catalog. 😀
I think Renaissance Fabrics also has a fairly good variety of natural fiber fabrics, too.
For very cheap linen: look in second-hands for tablecloths, curtains, sheets etc. They are usually big enough for garment and also usually are bit softer than fresh linen. Downsides are obvious: you won't be able to buy more of it & you have to buy it when it is in store and keep in the storage for future projects. It can be stained or sunbleached, so be aware of it. A few times I was lucky enough to buy set of silk curtains too, so happy "hunting" :-)
I am SUPER amused that you called out the symphony broadcloth, because I’m sewing with that right this moment. I’m using it as the lining for a rayon challis sheath dress, because the Kona cotton was just a bit heavier than I wanted. And if you’re making a nice rayon dress, why use a polyester lining that won’t breathe like the shell fabric will?
If cotton only became a common undergarment fabric in the mid 1800s, it may have had more to do with the cotton gin making it cheaper than a "this fabric works better" or preference thing.
More cheap=more economical=popular with more classes of people
Yep, that's exactly right. It went from being a rare and special imported fabric to a readily available and inexpensive one.
My friend and I were just talking about how we needed a fabric class! Thank you!
Swanson fabrics had 5yds of polished white cotton for under $30 as of the time of this comment. A really good resource for any sewist
A note on linen: I just bought 4 yards of a heavyweight linen/poly blend last month from my local Joanns. Adding that bit of polyester to it makes it SO much more practical. My one complaint is it smelled awful until I ran it through the washer and dryer.
This is a great video. Reminds me of trips to the fabric with my mama learning about different fabrics.
The state of fabric stores is really sad. I grew up in a small town that had four fabric stores of which only one was a chain. One was upscale for weddings and such and carried absolutely gorgeous silk. They also had great wool and linen at premium prices, of course. Another carried mostly dead stock and a third was our source for quilting cotton. It just seems odd to only have Joanns now.
I love linen and wear a lot of it given that I live in the US South with heat snd humidity. I like to make linen trousers and skirts. Linen has a scent to it sometimes that kind of reminds me of cut grass. Wool smells sheepy which makes sense. I’ve got an old wool coat that I try to never get wet because good grief it’s gamey!
Agree with GreatGoat about beginners choosing fabrics. I thought I hated hand sewing until I tried it on natural fabrics. Since as a reenactor my personae are working/labor class, I wouldn't have had a huge inventory of clothing anyway so it's actually authentic to save up for a very few fabrics that are durable as well as pretty. You make a good point about choosing what you have a need and desire for, not what someone else tells you "must" be done; linen is not the only historic fabric out there. I never thought about creating my own swatch book; I love just touching fabric so that's inspired! Your video is incredibly helpful and fun, particularly while I'm dreaming of better weather and the ability to fabric shop in person once more. Good luck and happy creating to all the sewists of varying abilities and finances who share a love of fabric and stitching.
I found a fairly heavy linen, rayon and 2% spandex blend, it doesn't wrinkle and it is so comfortable! And I feel as its linen enough for my historical costume. I am planning on making summer pants out of it. I am lucky though, I have a beautiful fabric store here. (SR Harris in the twin cities)
JoAnn's 108 inch premium cotton muslin quilt backing is thin but fairly firm, a bit like I think historical glazed cotton would be. My sister and I really like it for undergarments and bodice linings.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve big time drunk the linen kool-aid BUT I really appreciate your honestly about it AND your recommendation of cotton for beginners - if I’d started out with shifty slippery linen, I’d probably have given up on sewing almost immediately.
Needle and Thread i Gettysburg, PA carries polished cotton lining material. They also carry historically correct notions as well as reproduced historical fabrics such as cottons and wools. Also millinery supplies, corsetry supplies, including steek boning and busks, and silk ribbon.
Renaissance Fabrics is the only place I've found actual polished cotton so far
Very. Interesting. In Britain it’s even harder to find fabric unless you’re near a largish city
My love for linen grows stronger everytime I find some at the second hand store!
This was a great video! I do both burn and bleech test on fabric since I can't tell if something is silk or polyester (or a 3. options). I did pre-wash some silk dupioni 😑 and it lost that delicious sound afterwards 😩 Learning the hard way.
I'm like a week late on this. RUclips didn't put it on my feed.
I mainly have a Joannes and a Hobbie Lobby for my fabrics, so it's hard to find something other than cotton. I'm also hot in 30 degree weather so I need something that breaths and is airy.
Thank you for the tutorial. It's always great to have someone go over this and not think you're the devil for having poly blends.
Excellent video! The Closet Historian and Nicole Rudolph both have excellent fabric videos as well and Morgan Donner has a video on fabric testing for fibre content which is very interesting. Thanks again for this video.
Linen is so nice to wear (especially in hot weather) but it's always a bugger to work with - it slips and slides and shifts everywhere, so it's a pain to cut, and to sew!!" I do find that most of the wrinkle drop out with wear and body heat, though. I' have less problem with wrinkled linens than wrinkled cottons in terms of wear.
Having just received a package of stuff form Burnley and Trowbridge - I can thoroughly reccommend their lightweight wools/worsteds and flannels. It might be worth gettign hodl of sampls of their wool broadcloths too - I didn't buy any of those.
One of my best thrift finds was a metre of what I thought was 90's brown cotton. I cut it to make a waistcoat and it just wasn't ironing like I expected it would, it turned out to be dress weight printed wool! It is so soft and lovely but I have no idea how old it is now!!
A great place to learn is a poke around the most expensive department at the swankiest department store. Clothes are fabric that an expert has chosen and high end clothes have a fit and finish that are instructive.
“The Hand” is the term covering the process of evaluating fabric by touch. You learn by doing. You can do this at the thrift store or everywhere.
Many second hand shops like Savers or Goodwill have a sewing and craft sections and you will be surprised what you can find. Between people cleaning out sewing rooms to left over home décor materials you can find all kinds of stuff. I have found everything from a gallon plastic bag full of spools of thread for under 5$ to lengths of upholstery fabric where someone bought more than they needed. I do renaissance faires so a yard or two of a heavy upholstery fabric is plenty for a bodice.
In the UK we call the cream firmer fabric for toiles calico - but that may not be the case for you? I became more interested in how fabric is produced from an ethical viewpoint (it is important to me that the people who make my fabric are treated fairly and don't have their health and/or environment harmed) and now buy my cotton organdy from The Cloth House. It is pricier but soooo much nicer than the stuff I was getting before that sometimes felt more like paper than fabric! I have also had some fabulous cotton fabrics from the Organic Textile Company here in Wales.
In Australia it’s also called calico, and we leave the term “muslin” for the very lightweight, soft cottons. It’s the exact same use of the term as in the Regency period. I’ve seen Americans Chet confused about how historical muslins are these super light cottons, and nothing like muslin now (and not the best choice to be making a regency gown out of).
I don’t know when or why the American terms changed, I just know that the British terms stayed the same
Good to know! I have become a lot more aware of where things have come from and now get a lot of things second hand but finding ethical cloth suppliers is very useful!!
In the US, calico is a floral print cotton. I have no idea why/when the terminology changed, but I find that so interesting!
Thank you!!!
I was raised that calico was a small tossed floral repeat, like some 1970’s Laura Ashley. Reminds me of the chicken feed bag aprons on the Minnesota farm where Mom lived in WWII. They call it Ditsy floral sometimes now.
Always a lot of useful information
I know that Renaissance fabrics has a cotton -poly polished fabric I also get my cotton organdy from it
Thanks for presenting this information in a wonderful, personal way.
I made my daughter's wedding dress skirt in layers and layers of different colored silk chiffon. It was so much fun but was a lot of work. It was inspired by a Carol Hannah design and turned out beautifully.
Dressew in Vancouver, Canada sells several weights of a stiffer, more structured unbleached muslin - I think that's the "toile"/theatrical muslin you are talking about in the video. However, I don't think they ship internationally.
Great video!! It always amazes me that people think they have the right to an opinion on what fabric you pick!! If you’re happy with your choice everyone should be too.
Right now I’m dreaming of a heavy wool material for a cape as well as a winter coat. I’m in a colder climate than you are so I want something with a fair bit of weight. Still working on finding the right patterns.
I made my boyfriend one shirt (a chemise type) out of linen for LARPing and he loved it so much, he now wants all the linen. We now have linen sheets for our bed (they were pricey)
I love shantung! I have never touched silk shantung, but I made my dad an evening vest out of polyester shantung years ago. It was lovely!
When it comes to linen...I starch it before I work with it so save me pulling my hair out.
Personally I prefer a cotton linen mix for the best of both worlds plus its usually slightly cheaper and easier to find.
EU based here! I found it (so far) impossible to find polished/glazed cotton for linings outside of the US that I didn't have to import in. Instead I've been using "cretonne" cotton, it's similar to poplin as far as I'm aware but is slightly stiffer. It comes in just as much cute designs as poplin
I had never heard about polished cotton until I started watching historical costuming. I have some curtain lining fabric that is similar though!
Hey. Have you been able to find cotton organdy in EU? I have not been able to find any
I always love your videos. There is always so much information when it is a DIY or how you did it...etc. Always Amazing!
Lady Rebecca you forgot to Mention Hobby Lobby while they do have a small selection it is quite good. Also whenever I think about Fabric stores and how hard it is to find certain fabrics it makes me Miss Handcock Fabrics. Their Fabric Section WAS FAR better than Anyone Elses.
Renaissance fabrics has a variety of polished cottons available with affordable pricing per yard ❤️
Good to know!
Thanks for the walkthrough, esp. for those of us trying to make do with Joanns selections sometimes😂
It’s not quite glazed cotton but one fabric that is close to it that I love working with is cotton Silesia, I buy mine from Bernstein and banleys lining company and it comes in a load of colours. As for the cotton organdie I get mine from Whaley’s of Bradford online
I bought cotton poplin in black for a walking skirt at Hobby Lobby last year. They had a few colors. It made a really nice skirt.
I loved the supima sateen too and I'm also super sad they discontinued it. I can get it from spoonflower now, but it doesn't drape as nicely as the supima did.
Wow this came out right as I was trying to figure out what kind of fabric to order to recreate an antique blouse that I bought on impulse (so far I've narrowed it down to silk but is it some kind of antique silk that no longer exists? who knows!) Perfect timing! Thank you!
Needed this, thank you!
Thank you!
This is greaaat i'm making a dress for a friend and i was wondering if usin the coton sateen we chose for the skirt would work as lining for the bodice!! Haven't checked whether i have enough of it buuut now i know, thank youu!
Funnily enough it's stiffer than most coton fabrics i've worked with (which is one of the reasons why we chose it) but maybe that's a French thing (we had a huge variety of colors to choose from as well)
Thanks so much for this info..and the affirmation that you don't necessarily have to use expensive historically correct fabrics (poly taffeta instead of $ilk...much dinero....) Any thoughts on boiled wool? I just bought several yards ('cause it was on sale) and I'm not sure what it'd be good for...maybe a vest or coat or some heavy outer garment?
I haven't worked with boiled wool, but I believe it's pretty similar to coating?
@@LadyRebeccaFashions It looks a lot like coating...it's rather heavy weight (almost 1/8 of an inch thick,and stiff). I may end up making a cape or E-Z poncho (if I can find nice satin lining)....this is definitely a back-burner project for me!
I think we still have a Joann’s but Walmart has brought back their fabric department. Again they have the same smaller limited types of fabrics
I'm so glad I put this in my watch later file. I wasn't ready to concentrate when it came out, but this is a very helpful resource! (I also loved Nicole Rudolph's videos on fabric.) Forgive me if I've noticed and asked this before but - you wear your watch on our right wrist like I do - are you a left-hander like me?
I'm glad it was helpful! I'm right handed, but I've been told I write like I'm left handed, with my hand curved around, and I've just always worn watches on my right hand, too.
I got some muslin from Amazon. I know lots of folks don't like buying from them... I have no physical stores nearby and can not afford the better online stores. If you want the link, let me know.
Was it the heavier weight stuff? If so, I'd love the link!
where are your earrings from they are so pretty
Thanks! They're from Joann's!
Several fabrics in my stash are crepe, solid fukuro knit, Techno knit and scuba. Any knowledge of those?
Crepe yes, but the rest not so much. Crepe can come in a lot of different fiber types (wool, poly, rayon, and I believe silk), and is very drapey. Wool crepe is what was used for Victorian mourning, but the other crepes are great for vintage clothing.
I'm behind and I haven't been doing well a family member isn't doing well but for now is okay
I am getting ready to start mocking up my 1840s evening gown, did I heard you correctly when you said you used cotton twill to mock up bodices?
My gown will be silk taffeta
I usually only use twill as a mockup if I know the pattern is going to work. I use twill as my flatlining (and try to use cotton sheets as mockups).
@@LadyRebeccaFashions Excellent, thank you! I will start with cotton first and then move on to twill.
Wish fabrics had the same names from country to country, watching mainly USA costubers and being in Aus things have different names and far less options
I'm not able to wear wool because I'm highly allergic to it. But I want to make a coat from something that looks & feels like wool coating. Are there any natural fiber fabrics that would work?
Would a wool alternative work? Like from a different animal? Beyond that, I feel like anything close to a coating type wool would be synthetic.
@@LadyRebeccaFashions honestly, I've never had the opportunity to try anything else. I'm ridiculously allergic to all animals, but I'm willing to try anything!
Lol I really don’t like silk. It catches on my skin. I am a wool fanatic about 9 months/year. I love floaty cellulose fibers in summer most. I feel guilty using rayon cuz it’s made from trees, so i buy deadstock and OEKOTEX (sp) and organic cottons/rayons/tencels/linens. Or African style Ankara bold prints.
Ps I am not always avoiding guilt but aware now I worked for JoAnn Fabrics for over 4 years so I have a ridiculous stash of fabrics that don’t fit my new ideals.
THANK YOU for standing up for "Linen? Yeah, not so much" and "Cotton? Yes please." Linen lovers are so snobby about it.
You're looking well.
Just a comment to add to the weight.
🇨🇦😃
I personally care about the content due to at times being near open flames in reenactment.
Plastic is dangerous in those contexts.
So linen is your version of the Achilles tendon :D Poly and Ester aren't friendly ladies at least to me and the husky kid I was during the 1970's I wished I was selfish I don't have a selfish bone in my body but others around me does all they do is take my android cords and charging blocks and tell me to shove off every time they take them off without permission they get in my face and scream how selfish I am and they steal mt extension cords still scream in my face and I cant say anything. All they have is the i guess
Lost me when you talked about linen, my favorite material. Thanks for being honest.
Synthetic fabrics, imo, should be avoided as they aren't as breathable.
I know, it’s worth waiting and saving up sometimes as i live in Florida already and it’s permahot here