Beyond a doubt, fabric selection is the most crucial part of sewing – it literally is the costume. When I was a starting seamstress, my fabric choices were ALL over the place, especially for skirts, I used lining fabric, charmeuse, silky solids, and a myriad of completely inappropriate fabrics for the styles I was making. Best part? They fell apart. Not just because I didn\u2019t finish my seams, but because the fabric was quite literally, wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can learn from my mistakes! Save yourself some coin to spend on the appropriate fabrics for a project. I\u2019m going to talk all about wovens today and save knits for another. If you have questions, ask away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let\u2019s dive right in!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I separate my fabrics into two categories: Shine and No Shine. Why? Because these two categories rarely if ever go together in a single costume, the uses for each are quite different from one another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No Shine fabrics are my favorite! I\u2019m talking matte natural fiber fabrics in the cotton, linen, rayon, silk world (and matte polyesters of course).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
These fabrics tend to go toward cosplays like:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Anime<\/li>
Peasant Outfits<\/li>
Ren Faire Garb<\/li>
Casual Characters<\/li>
Casual and fancy historical recreations<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\nPhoto: Nick Ferris Photography 18th Century Snow White in Wool, Linen, and Cotton<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\nPhoto: Nick Ferris Photography OUAT Belle in Linen and Cotton Eyelet<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
Examples of these fabrics are:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Cotton Broadcloth<\/li>
Linen\/Linen Blends<\/li>
Gauze\/Double Gauze<\/li>
Cotton Sateen<\/li>
Lace<\/li>
Some velvets<\/li>
Voile\/Lawn<\/li>
Upholstery Fabrics<\/li>
Suede<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\nPhoto: Nick Ferris Photography 18th Century Vanessa in Suede, Linen, Cotton, and Upholstery Damask <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\nPhoto: Nick Ferris Photography Cinderella in Linen, Cotton, Double Gauze<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Shine fabrics are meant to make a statement. In your design, be very careful to balance your shiniest fabrics with something matte so that you do not look like a shine ball in photos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
These fabrics tend to be synthetics and are best served for:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Ball gowns<\/li>
Fancy dresses<\/li>
Fancy historical recreations<\/li>
Dance costumes<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\nPhoto: Nick Ferris Photography Mother Gothel in Brocade, Sequin Lace, Taffeta and Chiffon with metallic accents<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\nPhoto: Nick Ferris Photography Charmander in Silk Dupioni and Polyester Moire<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
Examples of these fabrics are:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Taffeta<\/li>
Organza & Chiffon<\/li>
Silk\/Shantung\/Satin<\/li>
Brocade\/Damask<\/li>
Velvet<\/li>
Sequin<\/li>
Metallic Vinyl<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\nPhoto: Nick Ferris Photograhpy Anna in Satin, Taffeta, Shantung, Suede, and Linen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\nPhoto: Nick Ferris Photography Anastasia in Sequin, Shantung, Velvet, Glitter Chiffon, Lace, and Metallic Vinyl<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
And there you have it! Simple guidelines to follow that make life very easy and picture perfect!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Beyond a doubt, fabric selection is the most crucial part of sewing – it literally is the costume. When I was a starting seamstress, my fabric choices were ALL over the place, especially for skirts, I used lining fabric, charmeuse, silky solids, and a myriad of completely inappropriate fabrics for the styles I was making. Best part? They fell apart. Not just because I didn\u2019t finish my seams, but because the fabric was quite literally, wrong. You can learn from my mistakes! Save yourself some coin to spend on the appropriate fabrics for a project. I\u2019m going to talk all about wovens today and save knits for another. If you have questions, ask away. Let\u2019s dive right in! I separate my fabrics into two categories: Shine and No Shine. Why? Because these two categories rarely if ever go together in a single costume, the uses for each are quite different from one another. No Shine fabrics are my favorite! I\u2019m talking matte natural fiber fabrics in the cotton, linen, rayon, silk world (and matte polyesters of course). These fabrics tend to go toward cosplays like: Anime Peasant Outfits Ren Faire Garb Casual Characters Casual and fancy historical recreations Examples of these fabrics are: Cotton Broadcloth Linen\/Linen Blends Gauze\/Double Gauze Cotton Sateen Lace Some velvets Voile\/Lawn Upholstery Fabrics Suede Shine fabrics are meant to make a statement. In your design, be very careful to balance your shiniest fabrics with something matte so that you do not look like a shine ball in photos. These fabrics tend to be synthetics and are best served for: Ball gowns Fancy dresses Fancy historical recreations Dance costumes Examples of these fabrics are: Taffeta Organza & Chiffon Silk\/Shantung\/Satin Brocade\/Damask Velvet Sequin Metallic Vinyl And there you have it! Simple guidelines to follow that make life very easy and picture perfect!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2687,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[120,121],"tags":[96,183,75,114],"class_list":["post-2681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cosplay","category-tutorial","tag-cosplay","tag-costuming","tag-sewing","tag-sewing-tutorial"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jennieandnick.com\/designer\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Untitled-design-57.png?fit=3000%2C1561&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jennieandnick.com\/designer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jennieandnick.com\/designer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jennieandnick.com\/designer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jennieandnick.com\/designer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jennieandnick.com\/designer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2681"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/jennieandnick.com\/designer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2681\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2686,"href":"https:\/\/jennieandnick.com\/designer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2681\/revisions\/2686"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jennieandnick.com\/designer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jennieandnick.com\/designer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jennieandnick.com\/designer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jennieandnick.com\/designer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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