Stretch fabric

[frazzled101]

I have tried to buy stretch fabric in an actual shop but any I've been able to get to only have cotton.

I've never sewn anything with stretch before but have bought Tilly and the buttons book on stretch and want to make the Frankie top.

I've found 2 fabrics I like but one has 50% stretch and the other has 40% stretch. Will that make it more difficult?

Also the pattern asks for at least 10% stretch fabric so by using higher stretch material will the top be more clingy?

Thanks for any help!

Those both look great for a T shirt.

They will both be fine, but they will be more stretchy than the top needs and so you might want to size down.

Thank you both. I've ordered enough to make the top in black and white, and then another in the patterned one and white.

The Frankie T shirt is not a bad thing to sew (though I made a bit of a faff of the neck the first time I made it).

If the pattern requires 10% stretch and your fabric has 50% then it will not be tighter - but it may stretch to more than you want in some places. It would really matter if you were doing something that was really structural (collars etc) or you were expecting a compression, body hugging fit. If you're doing the sleeves in a different fabric I would want both fabrics to have a similar amount of stretch. I've actually made the Frankie in tshirt fabrics with 40 to 50% stretch and it's no problems at all.

It it was the other way round (pattern wanted 50% stretch and your material only has 10%) then you would have troubles!

@kittykarate thanks so much for the explanation. Fabric has been shipped so I'll be getting to grips with it in the next week.

Minerva crafts lets you search for fabric by % stretch

e.g the link below takes you to a search of all their 10% stretch fabrics

www.minerva.com/mp?type=Fabrics&stretch=Stretch&stretch_percentage_length=10

@pastabest thanks so much, that's really helpful to know.