Matching Sewing Patterns to Dressmaking Fabric

Here's a handy guide to some of the more common dressmaking fabric, along with what kind of styles they best suit and their typical fibre content.

A handy cheat sheet for matching your dressmaking patterns to the right dressmaking fabric!

Picking the perfect dressmaking fabric!

In Issue 38 of Love Sewing Magazine meet Lynda Maynard, known in the fashion design industry as a 'fit specialist'. In addition to the practical tips she shares in the magazine interview we have a useful table to share with you to help you choose which dressmaking fabric to use for which sewing pattern.

Choosing fabric can be very confusing, so bookmark or pin this handy guide for future reference!

Each dressmaking pattern will have a list of suggested fabric, but if you're still quite new to sewing, these lists can be quite confusing. Here's a guide to some of the more common dressmaking fabrics, along with what kind of styles they best suit and their typical fibre content.

If you're planning to make up a dressmaking pattern that you haven't made before, make a quick toile (a practice garment) in a similar weight, cheaper substitute fabric first to check whether you want to make any tweaks to the fit or style.

Once you've sewn with a range of different dressmaking fabrics and have an idea of how they behave, what they're like to sew and how much you enjoy wearing them, you can experiment with substituting the fabric recommended for the sewing pattern.

Do you love sewing and dressmaking? We have lots more content on CraftWorld, follow the links below!

Beginner's Guide to Dressmaking

Sewing Machine Guide for Beginners