Knit vs Woven fabrics

So for my first post, we are going to cover the two fundamental types of fabrics: Knit and woven.  If you were thinking natural and artificial, you are also sort of correct; but we will be less concerned if it is a cotton knit or polyester knit.  The important thing is it is a knit.  There are no hard rules in fabrics and this is not an exception, there will be cotton woven with spandex, that does not make it a knit.  It is still considered a woven, but there will be an element of stretch to it that needs to be accounted for.  These will be mostly denim and denim blends, but I would not recommend denim as a beginner fabric.
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Some examples of woven fabrics include cotton, muslin, true velvet (and we will cover velvets later because they can be quite confusing), satins, flannel, shantung, chiffon, and most upholstery fabrics .  Wovens may “give” a little when pulled but do not stretch (unless blended with spandex).  Do not confuse this with a true knit or your garment will not fit, it will be too small and will not “move” correctly.  Sewing “on the bias” is a technique to get wovens to act more fluid and “drapey” but that it is not a technique for the beginner and I would not recommend trying it until most of the words in the blog are no longer completely foreign.  Pictured below are a plain cotton muslin and a happy cotton print.

 
Knits include, cotton single knit, polyester single knit, double knits, panne velvet, ponte, swimsuit lycra and many of the faux suede.  Easiest way to determine if the fabric you are considering is a knit is to pull the fabric along the width and if it stretches, you have a knit.  Patterns for knit fabrics will generally indicate not only in the suggested fabric area of the pattern, but also along the top of the package there will be a line marked fabric must stretch to “this line” and another indicator will the there.  Double knits stretch both length and width, swimsuit lycra is a good example of a double knit.  It does stretch both ways, but always orient the fabric (if unprinted) at its longest stretch.
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Pictured below is a stack of panne velvets and above a solid rib knit, if you look closely, you will see a very faint rib in the purple fabric.  That is what makes a knit!

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Let’s talk about patterns for a moment….  Everyone know how to read the back of the pattern?  I don’t want to bore those who do, so feel free to skip the rest of this post and check back soon, although I may need to break the pattern reading discussion in to several posts!!  Those who have no idea what all those words and diagrams mean, read on!!  Let’s make some sense of this!
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 I like the KWIK SEW brand of patterns, yes they are a little more expensive and they are printed on heavy paper which makes them a little more difficult to maneuver, but they are the only pattern company that sorts the patterns into the woven and knit categories.  There is nothing more frustrating than finding a beautiful fashion print polyester fabric, finding a blouse pattern that you love, only to find out that it is not recommended for woven.  Now, let’s say, you are new to all this, and you think, what’s the difference???  Why can’t I make this blouse with this woven fabric using this knit pattern?  First of all, it will never “lay right”, second it will be a pain is arse to sew and third it will never “fit right”.  So let’s break down the three reasons in more detail:

1.        It won’t “lay right” – when cutting a pattern out of fabric, the pieces need to lay next to each other so seams won’t bunch or gap or pull out of the seam.  If using woven fabric and a knit pattern these seams won’t ever be right and no amount of ironing will get them to lay flat.  Also, ladies, bust areas may gap or pull and we all know, that is not attractive

2.        It will be a pain in the arse to sew - Knit patterns assume you are using a knit and will have instructions to stretch to fit and wovens don’t stretch.  So attaching a sleeve to the shoulder yoke is nearly impossible because the shapes don’t “fit”.  Woven require a little more fabric in the shoulder just so the arms move after they are attached.  If using a pattern with cuffs and button placard, they will be incredibly small, again because the knit pattern assumes you have knit fabric and knit behave differently than woven.

3 .    It won’t “fit right” – so after you’ve wrangled your woven fabric into a shape resembling the photo on the pattern, you slip it on and it is WAY small.  Why?  It’s a woven fabric.  Your shoulders will be too small, the arms will not move correctly and your seams will bind and be bunchy.

Clear as mud?  I thought so.  Please please please feel free to ask questions and discuss.  Also if there is an area of interest that you would like to explore, please suggest that as a topic and I will try my best to explain it!!  Next week, we will dissect the back of the pattern package.  I will have several examples from the various pattern companies so you can see the difference and hopefully the similarity so these things will begin to feel familiar to you!