Lawns, Voiles & Batiste

Your Guide To Lightweight Cotton Fabrics

Cotton is one of the most used fabric fibres in the world. It finds regular applications in apparel, but also bedding and home decorations. As it is one of the most used fabric fibres in the world, it is no surprise that one can find various types of cotton fabrics. Today, we take a closer look at lightweight cotton fabrics and their applications.

What Are The Characteristics Of Cotton?

Many crafters choose cotton as their primary fabric, mainly because of its large amount of benefits. Cotton is often associated with being soft and comfortable, but there is much more to cotton than that.

Cotton is a fabric fibre that can easily be blended with other fabric fibres, this includes polyester, nylon, and other manmade fibres. Manufacturers combine fabrics to gain more positive properties. For example, polyester is often combined with cotton for additional durability.

Crafters also use cotton for its high breathability, this is why these fibres are often used in apparel. Breathable cotton is suitable to wear in warmer temperatures, as it easily conducts heat away from the body.

Of course, there is one thing crafters need to take into consideration when they work with cotton. It is necessary to always prewash cotton fabric, as they will shrink during the first wash. By washing your cotton fabrics beforehand, you can prevent some serious sewing problems.

What Are The Lightweight Cotton Fabrics Offered By Spotlight?

Spotlight provides three lightweight cotton fabrics in this category, this includes batiste, lawns, voiles, and cheesecloth. If you wish to learn more about each lightweight fabric, please check the following detailed descriptions.

Voile - This cotton fabric is characterised by its lightweight nature, making it a great choice for draping effects. In most cases, voile cotton has sheer properties.

Batiste - Opposed to voile cotton fabric, batiste is semi-sheer. It means it still has some sheer properties, but not as pronounced as those of voile cotton fabric.

Lawn - This is a woven fabric that can be made from cotton, but also linen. It has a relatively crisp texture with a fine weave, which makes it lightweight as well as breathable. Because of its breathability, texture, and lightweight, many crafters use this fabric for blouses, collars and even underlining.

Cheesecloth - As the name suggests, this cotton fabric is often used during cheese production. As it has a very loose weave, it is not used for permanent apparel. However, it does find some applications in practice pieces.

How Do I Make Sure I Have The Right Fabric?

Choosing the right fabric is not always the easiest thing, especially if you are relatively inexperienced in your craft. Dressmaking and tailoring can be the main challenges where fabric is concerned, as you must consider factors such as drape, stretch, durability and more.

One of the ways to ensure you have the right fabric is checking your pattern for suggested fabric types. Most patterns list their recommendations on the bottom of the pattern. Most patterns list several fabrics too, which means you have plenty of choice.

Some patterns will list very specific fabrics, which limit your choices somewhat. However, as a beginner, it is extremely important to stick to these recommendations. When a fabric deviates too much from the recommendation, it could cause problems with the results.

Spotlight are experts when it comes to fabrics. If you are struggling to find the right fabric, you can always contact the Spotlight team for some assistance.

All The Fabrics For Your Crafting Needs

When you shop at Spotlight, you will have loads of choice where fabrics are concerned. You might find what you are looking for in this section with lightweight cotton fabrics, but you can count on Spotlight for other fabrics too. In our extensive catalogue, you can find dress & apparel fabrics, trims, haberdashery, quilting fabrics, licensed fabrics, and even specialist fabrics such as Christmas quilting fabrics.

Naturally, you can also count on Spotlight for all other supplies for your crafting, this includes sewing machines, yarn, manual sewing needles, crafting scissors and so much more. With the low prices at Spotlight, you can always count on a great deal, so be sure to check out the catalogue today.