Denim weight, non-denim fabric.

Erm?? Black denim perhaps........darfc! ;-)

Denim-weight twill? A large fabric store local to me has several colors:

" This fabric is 97% cotton and 3% lycra. Weight: 6.7 oz per square yard. Width is 50 inches; $9.99 per yard. Great weight for pants or jackets."

Same store carries at least three different weights in black denim.

HTH,

Beverly

No, I don't want denim at all. Can't stand the stuff, and black is too close to blue.

there are some varied weights of duck that might be close in weight to denim.

The other problem you have year is "what's 'denim weight'?" Denim weighs from a few ounces a yard up to about 14, which I swear can be used in place of kevlar.

If you're after a twill weave, denim does come in various colors other than indigo blue; black and tan are probably the most common. Most denims have a white, lightly twisted filler, but I've also seen denims made with colored fill yarns. From there you could go on to more standard twills (I presume you want to stay with all cotton?) -- usually higher twist fill yarns and warp and weft match. Jean, if you can find it, is nice.

If you want a plain weave, you could consider duck or canvas.

Look at

and see if they have any of the heavy weight twills in a color you would like. If you don't see it under the apparel section, look in the upholstery section. I have some to recover a chair (mine's blue though lol) I've thought about making some pants out of it too if I have enough left over. It's certainly heavy enough. Don't know that it would wear as long as a pair of Levi's, but I think it would stand up to most regular use for a good long while.

HTH

Sharon (don't worry the stuff IS heavy, but it's not as heavy as a normal upholstery fabric....I would never dress you like a couch. )

What I am looking for is abrasion resistance in a fabric that will still wear as a garment without feeling like a coat of armor. Sorry I can't be more specific on the NG, but little pitchers have big ears and at this point all I am doing is investigating possibilities. (Full details available via email on request).

Sounds like you want a heavy twill or a light duck.

Denim comes in a full range of colors. I bought some in red a few years back to make gear carry totes for a rock band.

NightMist

Which weight of denim is "denim weight" -- I've seen everything from denim as thin as sheeting to denim you could make into a trampoline. And denim comes in every possible color.

I think my sheets are heavier than my denim shirt, come to think of it, but they are made of a heavy muslin.

The heavy indigo-dyed denims used to be called "work denim", but all I've seen advertised lately is "bull denim" -- glossaries are coy about exactly what "bull denim" means; one website said "bull" meant dyed after weaving, but the piece of bull denim I have was woven with black warp and undyed weft, just like the indigo warp/undyed weft denims I used to know. Well, it is rougher and doesn't wash soft -- as if the threads had been twisted too much in the spinning.

I made jeans from undyed cotton duck once, but they didn't hold up very well -- and I thought I was coming down with some mysterious skin ailment until I found the splinter of steel that had been spun into one of the threads.

The most durable jeans I've made so far were made from an all-cotton herringbone twill -- not nearly as thick as the duck was, but very tightly woven. I bought it, alas, very cheaply because it had been discontinued -- but I bought enough that I should be able to make two more pairs of jeans.

Lately I've been using only linen to make jeans -- but it's more likely than not that a random "linen" will really be tow -- the lint combed out of linen fibers and once considered valuable mainly for starting fires with flint and steel is now known as "cottonized linen"; tow makes a lovely and comfortable fabric with a strong tendency to turn back into lint. But I got a lot of wear out of jeans made from the gray linen that Jas. Townsend & Sons sells for making haversacks. (I sure hope that they still get it from the same mill, and that the mill hasn't updated its equipment, because the pants have finally worn out and I want to make another pair.)

the haversack linen the twill the muslin sheets Joy Beeson

Then the most abrasion resistant fibers are nylon and polyester. Good quality poly gabardine? One of the microfiber polys?

Choose a hemp fabric or hemp/cotton blend in similar weight as denim and you'll be happy with the result: easy to sew and wears like iron, looks and feels good. Available in colors and many weights. JPBill

Where did you find them? My brought-from-England wedding present ones are finally all wearing out, and I'd love to get some more. I did make a couple of top sheets from expensive muslin from the quilt shop, but would love to find bottom sheets ready made if they are available.

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans

Have you considered kettle cloth or Trigger?

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans.

I don't think they are going to cut the mustard for this -- they are terribly abrasion-resistant.

Several people have mentioned twill. I also like gabardine. Both come in lots of colors, are easy to work with and wear well. Good luck

Shana

At the time, the only wide fabric I could find (aside from an expensive and fragile quilt lining that lasted only a few months) was Dharma's "scenery muslin". Since it's meant for painting backdrops, it's really a very light canvas. But they'll wear for ages -- the sheets had been around a long time when we moved five years ago -- and they did wash soft.

One sheet has expired, but I suspect cat-claw damage. I patched the hole and tore the sheet into pillow cases.

I don't distinguish between top and bottom sheets. When you've been making beds for sixty years, flat sheets are easier to tuck in than "contoured" sheets.

If these sheets ever wear out, I'll look at the wide fabrics at Phoenix Textiles/fabric.com.

Joy Beeson

Denim is always somewhat "denim coloured". By its very nature it's a serge, a twill weave woven with different warp and weft threads. One thread appears to dominate on each side. Traditionally only one is dyed, giving the typical denim appearance of a dark right side and a pale wrong side. It might not always be blue, but there's usually a recognisable "denim quality" to it.

My trousers right now are a heavy cotton moleskin (khaki, and I have black too). Nice to sew, lovely quality fabric, hard wearing and warm in today's weather. I bought it from Croft last year and wish I'd bought a lot more of it.

It sounds like you are looking for a nice heavy weight fabric. Twill and Gabardines are types of weaves and they come in many weights. Denim is a gabardine weave made of cotton fiber.

It sounds like what you are looking for can be described as:

Cotton Duck SailCloth Doubleknit polyester upholstery twill

Or ,what would be really great is Ultrasuede. Polyester content, you can find it in upholstery stores. Great for patches, lots of colors, nice hand.

If the ultra suede is too heavy try "Facile" its a lighter weight version used as a dress fabric.

Hope that helps... :)

Non-blue denim weight cloth is usually called "twill". It has the same type weave. Cotton duck is also a heavy, dense cloth.

Jane in NE Ohio

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