Knit vs. Woven Fabrics

Hello. There are so many different types of fabric in the world, but they tend to fall into two main categories, knits and wovens. Understanding the difference between the two, how best to work with them and how to avoid those headaches you tend to always run into, can improve your sowing by leaps and bounds. Let's first talk about identifying fabrics. The first one we'll talk about are wovens.

When you look into the edge of a woven fabric especially one that's been cut, you can see that there are threads intersecting at 90 degree angles. This is because in the weaving process, threads are loaded into the loom and they weave them together at 90 degree angles. Should you grab on to any of the threads, you can see that you can easily unravel the edge of your fabric. When you're working with knits it's important to remember that they will unravel. And also it's important to remember that they have a length wise and crosswise green.

These are threads that are yarns that run perpendicular to one another. The salvage or the thick edge of your fabric is going to run parallel to the lengthwise grain. And the crosswise grain is going to run perpendicular and intersect at a 90 degree angle. Lengthwise grains are also sometimes referred to as warps or crossways grains are referred to wifts. Now woven fabric does not want to stretch readily.

It'll resist when you pull on it. The only real angle that it readily stretches on is the bias, which is the 45 degree angles. Now, technically the bias is any angle on your fabric but 45 degrees is the true bias. So bias skirts are cut on the 45 degree angle. Should you have a piece of fabric that you no longer have the salvage upon then you need to figure out which way is the lengthwise and the crosswise.

There are two different tricks I know of to figure out which one's which. Now the first one is on the lengthwise grain, it's not going to stretch it all, no matter how hard I pull, it's just not going to give. And on the crosswise grain, it'll pull just a little bit. And when it does that you know that that's the crosswise. So when you line up your grain or when you line up your pattern, the length wise would be this way, the crosswise that way.

However, there's another trick but it's for the stout of hearing. If you have a piece of fabric and you pull it and snap it between your fingers in both directions the lengthwise grain will have a higher pitch than the crosswise grain. But if you're not very good with pitches I recommend just trying pulling on it and seeing how best it stretches. Now we'll move on to knits. Identifying a knit is fairly straightforward as well.

When you pick up a knit, the first thing you'll notice is how very stretchy it is. It wants to pull and move along quite well. Also, the edges will not be fraying as they do on a woven sample. They will roll up on you, however, which can be a bit of a headache. Now, knits also have a really nice drape to them.

So when you put them over your hand, they're gonna find the contours of your shape nicely. And that's why they're used often when you need a flowing silhouette, such as a wrap dress, or if you want to have a comfy top that's a knit. Now knits are made in a very similar manner to as you would if you were knitting a scarf. You put yarn on needles and you create interlocking loops. The only thing is, is that on an industrial scale, the needles are much smaller and the yarns are much thinner.

They also have a direction to them much like on a woven. The vertically running lines are known as whales or chords and the horizontal running lines are known as the course. The course always stretches more than the whale. So there's a lot more resistance when you pull that direction. Whereas the course, it's just gonna give like crazy.

So it's important to remember how they're lined up when you are creating any sort of garment out of them. And there is a third specialty type of fabric which is known as a stretchy woven. It combines the stretch of a knit and the intersecting lines of a woven. This is because they include a stretchy fabric such as spandex into the material when they're making it. You'll find this a lot in the denim jeans that women wear these days just because it creates a much more comfortable and flattering fit.

Those, you really need to reserve for the patterns that call for them. And they are really considered a specialty fabric. So when you are creating a woven fabric you can create so many different types and they come in all different forms. The real difference is what goes into making the fabric. So here we have a 100% cotton flannel and it's unraveling as you can see, as most wovens will, but then we have linen which has made a flax and it's soft but it's soft in a different way.

And they just create completely different fabrics. These are wovens, you have organza and crepe and they are sheer and see-through. You can also go as heavy as upholstery fabrics, which are just so thick and dense. And then you can even weave hemp and create just heavy sturdy cloth. And depending on how it's woven, so this one has sort of a basket weave to it, which is two by two will also affect the way that the fabric is made and how it feels to the touch.

Because the hemp yarns in this are so thick, it feels more coarse, but satin is also a basket weave and it feels so soft to the hand. There are also thousands of types of knits and they come in so many different varieties it's hard to understand. This fabric for instance is very shiny and fluid and it has this crazy texture to it. And it's made 100% polyester, but the way they treated the fibers that went into this are completely different from this fleece which is also 100% polyester which is soft and lovely to touch. So when your knits are going to just be crazy just like your wovens are, faux fur is a knit, any mesh is going to be a knit.

And so, as you can see, there are just hundreds and hundreds of varieties of fabrics, but because they fall into two different categories, it's easy to understand them and work with them once you know all the tricks. All right. So if you've decided you want to make a garment with knits or wovens, it's important to choose a pattern that is actually designed for that type of fabric. This pattern here, the simplicity amazing fit pattern is designed for a woven. So as you can see on the back, it will say fabrics and here it says laundered cotton, linen, silk, et cetera.

In this pattern, the designer's inspiration is, listed as the fabrics, size for stretch knits only. And that's a very important tip to know, because as fabric designers create their patterns and draft them, they decide what type of fabric they're going to use for them. And when they do so, they build in different seams into them. So on a woven shirt that you might sew, you're going to have a princess seam such as this, or a dart or a gather because the woven fabric needs a lot more work to manipulate it into taking on a 3D form. Whereas on a stretch shirt, you'll have a lot fewer seams such as this one here, where you just have your shoulder seam, your side seam and your arm seam.

And that's because when you sewn it, it's easy to create a wavy or puckering seam. And when pattern drafters take out extra seams, it makes the creation of such a top much easier. So once you've picked out your fabric and your pattern, it's time to start cutting it out. Here I have a pattern piece designed for a woven and a piece of woven thread or cloth. You'll note on any pattern for a woven, there's going to be a marking for the grain line which is this arrow here.

Whenever you're creating a garment for woven you obviously want to line up the grain appropriately. So the first thing you'll want to do is get out some pins, a measuring tape, and your pattern piece,. And then measure kind of where you think it's best to have the pattern. But first and foremost, mark the tip of the grain line with a pin. And don't pin it all the way through, just stick it in once.

Measure where that arrow matches the edge of the salvage. So it looks we're about at three and a quarter inches. So then as you're putting your pattern piece on, just confirm that that arrow lines up with three and a quarter inches the whole way down. And as you do so essentially what you're doing is you're checking that the grains are all going to go in order. And once you've confirmed that the arrow is in line and that the whole way along your fabric you have the green line nice and smooth, I like to put a pin right there.

And then you would go ahead and use your fabric weights or pins to cut them out. Now wovens are much easier to work with then knits because they will lie flat willingly, and when you start cutting, they don't try to bunch up additionally. When you are cutting out a woven though it's important just to remember to keep that grain line in line. Now, when it comes to cutting out knits it's a little bit more tricky. Again, you really have to make sure that the direction that you need the fabric going in is all lined up and ready to go.

Another important tip for when you're working with knits is make sure that your entire fabric is on top of your working area. If for any reason it were laying or leaning off the table at all, it will skew your entire pattern piece and create something that is not shaped how you want it to be shaped. So you'll take your pattern piece. And you'll note that I've marked on my pattern which direction I want the whales going. So I'll stretch it to see which way is less stretchy.

And then that direction is the way I want the whales to be. When you're working with a knit you don't want to use just your average pins because they're short and stubby, and sometimes dull. You can use silk pins, which you would us when working with silk or any sheer material, even on a woven. But I think it's best to work with pattern weights just because they hold everything down and they don't pierce the fabric which could cause a snag in the knit. Once you have your pattern lined up and the piece weighed down with weights, go ahead and get out some tailor's chalk so you can trace the shape of it.

Always test your supply on an edge that you're not really going to use to see if it will market in a way that you can see. If for instance you start pulling with the tailor's chalk and it's just pulling way too much on your fabric, then you don't have to use tailor's chalk. You could just use a Sharpie. Silver Sharpies are actually really great at this because they don't bleed through as much as other Sharpies do. Again, always test it on the edge of your fabric to make sure that it's not going to bleed through and that you can see what you're doing.

Silver Sharpies or any metallic Sharpie is really nice because it'll show up on darks and it'll show up on lights and it's easy to work with. Now, when you do use a Sharpie to trace your pattern, when you're done and you're ready to cut it out, it's important to make sure that you cut all the marker off because you don't want to have marker marks on your finished garment. So now that we have our fabric cut and ready to go, when you're making your choices for thread and needles, be sure to match your thread and needles to what you're sewing. So when it comes to wovens, you want to have the weight of the thread match the weight of your fabric. This for instance, is silk thread and is designed to be used on thinner fabrics, such as silks or any sort of crepe, organza, a shear such as that.

And the reason that it's best to use those is because it's very fine. This for instance, is let's see here, 70 weight. So when you sew with it, it'll hold it together nicely, but it won't be so thick that it'll make your seams look just kind of grumpy. When it comes to medium weight fabrics you'll grab a medium weight thread. This is a 40 weight thread.

And so that would work well with that. Heavy duty threads are really only best with denims and upholstery fabric. They hold it together very well but because they're so thick, they, you know, they're gonna keep your seams really thick along as well. Nonetheless, you also want to consider your needle choices. Needles, again, you're going to match thinness or thickness based the thinness or thickness of your fabric.

Oh, and one last thing on thread. Match the fiber that it's made out of with the fiber of your thread, or your fabric. If your fabric is polyester, go ahead and use polyester thread. And if your fabric is cotton then it's best to use cotton thread. This is because over time, your fabric will degrade.

And if the thread is a synthetic it will just be so stiff that it can cut through your fabric. When it comes to knits, it's best to use a ballpoint needle because ballpoint needles will slip into those little holes that are created during the process of creating knits. And you're also going to want to use all purpose thread. All purpose thread is essentially polyester wrapped in cotton and that makes it strong enough to hold up to knit seams and create things that aren't going to wave and pucker on you. Next up, when you're sewing, you need to really think about how your seams are going to be finished on a woven fabric.

You're going to want to use a double fold seam for anything that's lightweight or medium weight. So here I have a French seam and a flat felled seam. Both of these would be great double fold seems to use when sewing your woven fabrics. If you have a thicker weight material such as an upholstery fabric or a denim, you want to serge to the edges of the material before you start sewing the seam and then just iron them open once you're finished. Trim off any excess as well so that you can keep your seems a little less thick and nice and crisp.

When you sew on a knit, really a serger is best because sergers were really designed to work with knits. Sergers create a nice roll of loops that compliment the loops of your fabric and it'll stretch readily and easily as you wear it, which is very nice. If you don't have a surger you can always use a stretch stitch on your conventional machine or a zigzag stitch. Now, one last note about knits. When you're working with them sometimes it's nice to put a bit of interfacing in.

The interfacing should be fusible knit interfacing. You can use a fusible woven interfacing with a woven but you want to use a fusible knit interfacing with a knit. The reason for this is that it will stretch with it and play along as you play along with your fabric. Lastly, there are the outliers to the knits versus wovens rule. These include felt, vinyl, and leather.

Felt as you can see is a pretty fun craft fabric. And it's created when they take wooly fibers, usually from wool, but they can make felt out of pretty anything. And they smush them together with a lot of steam. Now, the problem with felt is that it doesn't drape very nicely. It'll just kind of lean over you.

And as such, you might not want to make it into garments. However, because it doesn't have a grain line, you don't have to worry about how you cut it. You can just cut any way you want. Vinyls are made out of crude oils, and they actually don't drape very well either. In fact, it hardly wants to take the shape of your hand.

The nice thing about vinyls is that they can sometimes be recycled depending on what type they are. So always check the end of your bolt and see if they're recyclable. Leather on the other hand, most readily comes from cows and it's a natural fiber. It doesn't drape very well either just because it's very stiff. But some people say it moves nicely on you.

So these three outliers of which there are several types don't conform to the knits and wovens rules. So all you have to remember with them is you can cut them however you want but you'll want to match their thicknesses with needles and thread. So there you have it. That's really about all you need to know about knits and wovens. Hopefully these tips will help you with your sewing and improve it by leaps and bounds.