How to Source Materials for Your Sewn Product
Useful Tips and Common Mistakes to Avoid
Sourcing materials can feel overwhelming for new designers. Most of the time, this happens because new designers tend to get ahead of themselves in the process. As they’re preparing their first pattern and sample product they leap ahead and start trying to find the perfect material in hundreds of yards from a reputable mill as if they were heading to manufacture right away.
When you’re at the early stage, your idea still needs development. This means all aspects of the design creation- patterning, sample sewing, and material selection, must be explored together. If one part of the process needs to change the other steps can quickly follow to accommodate those changes.
Start By Exploring Swatches and Small Quantities
You’ll start searching for the right fabric for your product by collecting swatches or small quantities of fabric. I recommend no more than five yards to start. Not only will your fabrics ship to you faster, but you can easily redirect to another material if you haven’t purchased hundreds of yards.
Small-scale or large, you should still understand some fundamentals of fabrics to make the selection process easier, which we explain more below. When you are ready to source larger quantities or work with a supplier, you’ll be much better prepared and better understand the industry lingo.
How to Choose the Right Type of Fabric
There are only three basic types of fabrics, knit, woven and non-woven. The latter which you can probably automatically eliminate, and we’ll explain why later in this post. As you source your swatches, you‘ll first categorize them into one of these three types.
Structure of a Woven Fabric
1. Woven Fabrics
Woven fabrics are made by interlacing two sets of yarns at right angles to each other, like the weave of a basket. The process involves warp (vertical) and weft (horizontal) threads that are woven together on a loom.
Characteristics of Woven Fabrics
Strong and durable due to the interlacing pattern.
Typically less stretchable compared to knits unless elastane or other stretch fibers are used.
Can be produced in various weights and textures.
Common types include denim, chiffon, twill, and satin.
2. Non-Woven Fabrics
Non-woven fabrics are made from fibers that are bonded together by chemicals, mechanical manipulation, heat, or solvent treatment. Think of felt as an example. Unlike woven and knit fabrics, they do not have a regular structure of yarns.
Characteristics of Non-Woven Fabrics
Often produced faster and cheaper than woven or knit fabrics.
Can be engineered for specific properties such as absorbency, liquid repellency, resilience, and stretch.
Used in a wide range of applications including medical supplies (masks and gowns), filters, and insulation.
Examples include felt, fusible interfacing, and certain disposable products.
3. Knit Fabrics
Knit fabrics are made by inter-looping yarns, creating a series of connected loops. This can be done using a knitting machine or by hand.
Characteristics of Knit Fabrics
Naturally stretchy due to the looping structure, which makes them comfortable and form-fitting.
Generally softer and more flexible than woven fabrics.
Tend to wrinkle less than woven fabrics.
Common types include jersey, rib knit, interlock, and sweater knits.
Each type of fabric has unique properties and uses, making them suitable for different applications in fashion, industry, and healthcare.
Structure of a Knit
How Fabrics Are Manufactured and Sold
There are three important factors to look for when ordering your fabrics that aren't really related to the fabric itself. These factors are width, length, and weight.
Width
When a fabric is made, it will have a fixed width. This is measured from factory edge to factory edge. These edges are also known as the selvedge edge, and a good example of this is a roll of toilet paper. The edge on either side is the factory-finished edge. The width doesn't change, only the length as you unroll it.
In the fabric world, you can get different widths, but it's important to understand that the width has limitations. The possible widths will depend on the material and the mill it comes from.
A few standard roll widths are as follows:
42 - 44 inches
58 - 60 inches
90 - 120 inches
If you see material that has two numbers, like 58/60, it simply means the actual width is 60, but you should avoid a one-inch area at each edge, making the usable width 58”.
Now, let's go back to why understanding the limitation of the width of fabric is important.
In most cases, a pattern piece should only align with the selvage or factory edge of your fabric. Your pattern maker makes this determination on alignment using a grain line, which is marked on your pattern piece. If you have a pattern piece that is wider than the width of your fabric roll, and your pattern maker won't let you rotate it, it’s because it goes against the grain line, and you will need to use a different material. This is why it’s so important to work with an experienced pattern maker at this stage of your development so you know the minimum possible width that will work for your design.
Anatomy of a Fabric Roll
Length
Just like the example with the roll of toilet paper, the length of fabric is the amount that you're rolling off. In the fabric world, length is measured in yards and we call it yardage. Depending on the grain line or the orientation of your pattern pieces, the length can be more or less efficiently used depending on your fabric width.
For example, a 58-inch wide roll will use less yardage for the same pattern than a 42-inch wide roll. So, the lesson here is that it's really hard to know how many yards you'll need until your pattern is done, so buying only a few yards at a time to test pattern layouts, sewn construction, and overall use of the material is a balanced and effective strategy as you develop your design.
Weight
Learning how a fabric is weighed will help you ascertain the behavior of a fabric. Even if you aren't physically holding it to feel the weight, you can imagine how the drape will look on a body.
Material is weighed in one of two ways: grams per square meter (GSM) or ounces per square yard (oz/sqyd). This all sounds very scientific, but you only need to learn how to relate the number of one of those systems to the fabric's behavior and feel.
For example, let's work with the GSM system. If you order swatches online, or go to a fabric store and look at the labels as you touch and feel fabrics, you'll quickly begin to notice that something like denim is heavier than something like silk. If you need something denim weight for your project, you can then confidently eliminate any weight that's similar to silk. The confusing part is some companies use GSM and others use oz/sqyd so it seems very complicated. Fortunately, GSM and oz/sqyd are just conversions of each other, like miles versus kilometers. Choose one and then simply use an online converter, such as textile and fabric weight and conversions, to convert one into the other. After that, it won’t take long for you to understand the relation of weight in either system to the actual feel of the fabric.
Issues with Deadstock Fabrics
I want to touch on something called deadstock fabrics. These are essentially leftovers or surplus from a fashion brand or textile mill's production process due to overproduction, quality issues, or even small flaws. Some will argue against using deadstock because it isn't replenishable. Once it's gone, it's gone, and you'll be back to sourcing material anyway. Deadstock fabrics also tend to have flaws or quality issues, which can poorly reflect on your brand, even at a small batch level.
On the other hand, there is a trending argument for its use. Simply because these fabrics would otherwise end up in our landfills and the earth-friendly movement is a strong one. My personal opinion is that material selection should not stall the development of your concept.
Your first batch is small to see if you can get market traction. If you do gain traction and you need to consider a more reliable material source, then you might eliminate the use of deadstock at that point. Until then, if you need to work with deadstock to keep the pattern-making and sampling development process moving forward, then do it. Otherwise, you’ll never get your brand to market agonizing over a perfect fabric. Incidentally, if you’re working with a good pattern maker, they will tell you if they can't confidently work on your project due to your fabric selection and you can have a more in depth conversation at that time to find a good fabric choice.
Work with an Experienced Pattern Maker
Hopefully, you’re feeling a bit more confident about sourcing your own material and that you don’t have to overdue it. Getting swatches and samples to help convey your design intention is important, but the best strategy is to work with a good pattern maker who can also sew your design. This way, any errors or oversights are almost guaranteed to be caught and can quickly and easily be corrected to help keep your costs and headaches low as you move on to the next steps of product development.