Sueded Cotton?

I believe it's a twill weave fabric, which is a little lighter than denim, but brushed. In other words, it's not going to be lighter than flannel, but heavier. Stiffer, too.

You might look for a cotton broadcloth, or perhaps a quilting cotton, if you want something light and cool. That's what pj bottoms are generally made of. You can also use a lightweight cotton knit, which would also be cool. But you might need to feel a sample of that.

Hope this helps,

Karen Maslowski in Cincinnati

I'm wondering if this isn't the same thing that is a cotton called chamois cloth. I've made some shirts out of that and I think it would be great for jammie bottoms. The more you wash it the softer it gets. It may not be what you would want though since I think it's even warmer than flannel. How about some jammie bottoms out of a nice light cotton knit. You really don't need a fancy machine or serger to sew on this stuff, if you have a zig zag stitch you can adjust it so there is just barely any zigging and zagging. Your jammies would be a loose fit anyway so you probably wouldn't need to worry about popping stitches.

Val

I bought a long sleeve t-shirt for DH (he doesn't like them made; has to do with something from childhood, I guess...) for Christmas at JC Penney. The tag on the front mentioned that it was "sueded cotton") When I felt the fabric, I noticed it was a cotton knit that was very soft. The softness was similar to a high quality flannel, but the shirt was knit like a t-shirt. I think it would be excellent for pajama bottoms, but not in Florida; I live in Pennsylvania.

Jamie, if you want to learn more, there are some excellent books out that will help. My favorite is Claire Shaeffer's Fabric Sewing Guide, which has fabulous information, and inspirational photos. Another book that has good information, arranged in a completely different way, is Sandra Betzina's Fabric Savvy.

But the best way to educate yourself is to go to good, independent fabric stores, and to read the bolt ends, and feel the fabrics. I used to tell my students to "educate their fingers". Having a sense of how the fabrics feel will give you a better idea of how they will make up when sewn.

Life is one long learning process. Enjoy!

Karen Maslowski in Cincinnati

These books are good, I have both. But I also like Julie Parker's All About _____. She has three out, cotton, silk, and wool versions. The information on each fabric is less than Claire Shaeffer's, but the great thing is the book has a fabric swatch package so you can see and feel actual samples. Each page has a spot to attach the sample for permanent reference. And most synthetics and blends are based on a standard weave or process that started as a natural fabric, so they are good for more than just the natural fabrics listed.

Joy S-E

Karen you are soooo right about the touch. I always did better by going with the feel of the material than reading the top of the bolts of material. Hahahahaha

LakeUrchin

'Educate your fingers' is bang on. The DH looks at me like I'm a witch when I run my fingers over the bolts and stop at the one with silk or cashmere...

:) Trish

Was it in this most recent Threads that I read this? Someone suggested taking a digital camera to the fabric store and taking a snap of the bolt end information.

Now that requires WAY more organizational skills than I'm willing to use for my, er, hobby.

Karen Maslowski in Cincinnati

Look for a lightweight linen or cotton-linen blend to make your pajamas. (Cotton-linen blends seem to muss less than either fiber does separately -- do any of you guys know

When fabric.com marked a plaid cotton-linen shirting down to a dollar a yard, I decided that this was as close as I was going to get to all-cotton gingham at that price, and grabbed thirty yards to test patterns with.

My pattern tests are the *coolest* pajamas I've ever worn to dig potatoes! And cotton-linen drawers are cooler under my gowns than no underwear at all.

Joy Beeson

I am also a lifelong fabric-feeler and my daughter has inherited the habit. I can't take her into JoAnn's anymore because she heads straight for the satins and silks and wants to wrap them around herself. Then she wants dresses out of them. Expensive habit if I indulge her...

Sewing is, or should be, a very sensual thing.

Over the years I've found that I can actually tell the fabric content by feeling it, about 90% of the time. When G Street used to send swatches to their fabric club members, I made a game of trying to guess the fiber content before reading it, and was pleasantly surprised how often I was right. The foolers were the microfibers, and of course the blends. It was neat to see how a blended manmade fiber could imitate natural fibers, too.

Karen Maslowski in Cincinnati

The foolers

I too have this problem with microfibres. Until their appearance, I was almost always exactly right about fabric breakdowns, including poly blends. But microfibres have me fooled - I can't tell them from silk.

:) Trish

Re: Sueded Cotton? On 07 Jan 2004 14:33:07 GMT, wrote:

I can still tell, though, if silk and a microfiber are side-by-side, most of the time. Silk just has that extra something that is hard to define.

Years ago I read something about the thinness of microfibers, and how a handful of balled up fiber could literally stretch clear around the earth, that's how fine they are. Really amazing. Also, did you know that silk fiber has the same tensile strength as the same gauge of steel? Which is why you should almost never use silk thread to sew a garment; it can quite literally cut the other fibers, even some silk ones.

Ahem.

Karen Maslowski in Cincinnati

Yeah - silk's that tiny bit softer and it feels like you could disintegrate it by crushing it hard between your fingers. When microfibre is wet, though, it feels quite different from silk. That's one of the things I find odd with rayon, too, how when it's wet it's like so stiff and cardboardy but when it's dry, especially tumble-dried, it softens up so nicely. I am becoming more of a fan of rayon these days, including rayon georgette chiffon. I got some from fabric.com to make lingerie and it's worked really well.

I had a search for info on Joy's question, but I can't find why linen/cotton should crush less than either pure linen or pure cotton. Something to do with elasticity maybe? It's bugging me now.

:) Trish

I remember the first time I bought some rayon faille (does it come any other way, such as cotton?) for a work blouse. It was a beautiful periwinkle blue and I looked all over for buttons to match. I was proud of my work as I took a lot of time making it.

When I washed it for the first time (being rayon, I didn't think it was necessary to preshrink) per the instructions given on the bolt, I was shocked. What I put into the washer was what I felt a beautiful item, what I pulled out of the washer was something four sizes smaller and severely wrinkled. I could hear a shriek emerging from down inside myself.

Thinking I had no other choice but to dry this crummy thing, I threw it in the dryer, on low---I had nothing to lose. When I opened the dryer, still facing the worst, it was if a magic fairy had answered my prayers and jumped inside, softening my blouse in such a way I never felt before, even when I bought it.

I can tell you I wore that blouse until I retired and then donated it to a shelter for women who were abused and were getting into the job market. I always looked forward to washing it because the transformation was phenomenal.

Ah! this sounds wonderful! I recently learned how to make briefs and I'll be looking at this.

What I put into the

I did the exact same with two shirts belonging to the DH - they seemed so tiny and stiff when they came out and I was horrified, but of course the dryer sorted them out.

My first rayons for sewing came from Batik Butik and they recommend washing before use. Partly that's to get rid of the distortion caused by the frame pinning used in batiking, though - maybe not so much to do with the qualities of the cloth. They recommend low-temp wash, short low-temp tumble dry and it's worked perfectly for me. They also recommend a product called Eucalan, which you don't have to rinse out - I haven't tried it yet.

I was wrong about the rayon georgette - it was from fabricdirect.com. In fact it's still there, at $4.99 a yard, in five-yard increments. You can see it if you search for 'rayon georgette print cocoa' (that's a BIG print, btw). It has a very nice feel - far more natural than poly chiffon, but without the friability or expense of silk. It's quite grippy to handle (best starched for sewing, though).

How have you learned to make briefs? I can never find knickers I like, and keep meaning to try the techniques in Lingerie Secrets but haven't got round to it yet...

:) Trish