40+ Different Types of Fabric and Their Uses (II)

I’ve written an extensive guide looking at the differences between man made fibre vs natural fibre vs synthetic fibres here!

What Is Fabric Structure?

When we talk about the structure of fabric, we’re referring to how the fabric is made:

• Woven fabrics

• Stretch fabrics

• Knitted fabrics

Woven Fabrics

Fabrics that are woven, have a warp and a weft, and are woven on looms. They often have tightly woven edges – called the selvedge – and there are many weave types to create different effects.

The most common are:

• Plain weave

• Satin weave

• Twill weave – you can learn more about what twill fabric is here

• Denim weave

• Waffle weave

• Brocade weave

But there are many, MANY more!

Now that I have a rigid heddle loom of my own, I am particularly interested in the different weave styles, so expect to see more examples and content around this in the future!

Stretch Fabrics

Stretch fabrics is it’s own type of fabric structure as it is often woven with stretch materials making up a percentage of the fibre content, giving that stretch factor.

Stretch materials that are often included are :

• Elastane

• Spandex

Fabrics that have stretch added in this way are usually better for stretch recovery than knitted fabrics.

Knitted Fabrics

Knit fabrics are constructed from connected loops and can be created from:

• One continuous yarn (weft knit)

• Many yarns but only one stitch (warp knit)

Yes, many knitted fabrics are often stretchy, with the fabric created able to mold close to the body or drape in loose folds.

Patterns created for knitted fabrics will often have ‘negative ease’ included, meaning the pattern is smaller than the intended body, to account for the additional ‘stretchiness’ of the suggested fabric.