Fabric by Missy Rose | Woven Fabric

Woven cotton fabric has little to no stretch. It only stretches on the bias, making it great for cutting things on the bias or with bias tape. This makes it easier to work with if you are new to sewing. 

Woven cotton has excellent drape, skirting the body without clinging. Because woven cloth can withstand high heat, it presses well, making it easier to make your completed garment have a crisp, professional finish.

Woven cotton fabric is machine washable and durable. The fabric is versatile, breathable and cool to wear. Since cotton is hypoallergenic, it is wonderful for people with sensitive skin. 

The edges of woven cotton fabrics will fray so you need to finish them with a zigzag stitch or serger. Because of this, it naturally takes more time to sew with woven fabric than it does knit fabric. 

You must pre-wash your woven fabric before sewing to avoid shrinkage after you have finished your project. 

Woven cotton is not wrinkle-resistant so it will need to be ironed to keep its crispness. 

1. If you’re just starting to learn to sew, woven material is the best choice. 

2. We recommend pre-washing all cotton fabric at least two times to shrink the fibres before you start sewing . This pre-washing will prevent your new garment from shrinking in the wash.

3. Always press your cotton fabric. 

Woven cotton, made from cellulose fibres of a cotton plant that have been spun into threads to create yarn, is a natural fabric, produced by interlacing warp and weft yarns in a crisscross pattern. The two yarns form a tight, basket-like weave, resulting in a sturdy but breathable material. 

Our woven cotton fabric is composed of 100% cotton. 

Choosing your fabric is super exciting. After all, modern sewers have access to an amazing range of patterns. However, it’s vital to choose the correct fabric type and weight to ensure your finished garment looks and feels exactly like you imagine it. 

When buying the right fabric for your sewing project, it’s crucial to consider:

1. What your fabric is made of
2. The thickness of this material
3. How it behaves with movement

Our woven cotton fabric comes in 150 GSM or grams per square metre. This means it has a ‘medium weight’ — striking the perfect balance between holding its shape and providing structure when moving and excellent drape. 

Fabrics come in two major types — woven and knit. When following a sewing tutorial or pattern, it’s important to pay attention to and stick to the family of fabric it recommends. Woven fabrics and knits are not interchangeable as they have completely different characteristics. 

Aesthetics
Looking closely at a woven fabric, you will see multiple yarns that criss-cross each other at right angles to form a basket-like grain. In contrast, knit fabric consists of one continuous yarn that loops repeatedly to create what looks like tiny rows of braids. 

Structure
Woven fabrics have a more stable structure, compared to knitted fabrics, which have a more elastic structure.

Stretch
Generally, woven cloth is non-stretch, with a small amount of stretch on the bias. A knit fabric will stretch easily in all directions. 

Wrinkle resistance
Woven cotton fabric is much more prone to wrinkles than knit fabric. 

Woven cotton fabric is soft and feels comfortable on the skin. 

Our woven cotton fabric is 150 centimetres wide. This makes it wider than most woven pattern recommendations (which typically require a width of at least 114 centimetres). Since you may not need as much fabric as the pattern recommends, this generous width means you’ll likely have plenty of leftover fabric, making it great value for money. 

Woven cotton fabric is highly breathable and absorbs moisture, rather than repelling it. 

Cotton’s breathability makes it ideal for summer. The natural fibres allow air to circulate and move freely through the fabric, making humidity or dry heat more bearable. This fabric absorbs moisture extremely well, dries quickly and can be machine washed without a problem. 

Yes, all of our woven material range is 100% cotton. 

We recommend using the smallest needle possible for your fabric. This will help reduce the size of holes or pinprick damage. Woven cotton calls for a universal needle with a weight of 80/12. 

Cotton, cotton-polyester, polyester or silk thread – these threads are perfect for sewing cotton fabric. We recommend looking for a good quality polyester thread for anything that will be washed regularly, as this type of thread is stronger than cotton and provides some stretch. 

When sewing woven fabrics, set the stitch length at 2.0 or 2.5. For cotton cut on the bias, use a short zig-zag stitch. Backstitch to reinforce at the start and end when joining any seams. Since cotton fabric has a tendency to fray, finishing the fabric edges is necessary for a neat finish inside the garment. 

Ease is the amount of extra fabric that is built into a sewing pattern to allow the garment to fit comfortably and provide ease of movement. Clothes created with our no-stretch woven fabric and a woven fabric sewing pattern will naturally have positive ease. Positive ease means your finished woven cotton garment will have a relaxed fit, with its dimensions larger than your actual body measurements. 

Of course. Simply view and select the woven fabric you’d like to buy, specify a length and quantity, and click ‘Add to Cart’.