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There’s nothing quite like shopping in a fabric store. You can touch any bolt—or all of the bolts—and unroll the fabric a bit to see how it hangs on your body. You can compare colors and textures side by side, and the fabric contents and care instructions are spelled out right on the bolt.
But when you’re shopping for fabric online, you lose that tactile experience. So, how do you make sure you’re choosing the right fabric for your project?
It can be tricky to judge true colors on a screen, and how do you know if the fabric will be soft, clingy, or stiff just by looking at photos? Without the ability to touch and feel, it’s easy to feel uncertain about your choice.
This guide will walk you through everything you need to know to confidently shop for fabric online.
You’ll learn how to interpret product descriptions and visualize how fabrics will look and feel, so you can choose the perfect fabric for your next project—no in-person shopping required.
Learn As You Go
Before diving into all the tips and terms in this article, remember that when you’re shopping for fabric online, you have access to all the information you need right at your fingertips.
If you come across an unfamiliar term on a fabric shop’s website, simply open a new browser tab and look it up. It’s a quick and easy way to learn as you go.
Another tip is to check the tags of your favorite garments in your closet. Look up the fiber content listed and see what you can find out about those materials.
As you look up all these terms, take notes. You can jot down your favorite fibers and even make a do-not-buy list of fabrics you know you’ll never wear. Add swatches to this list, and you’ll have your own custom fabric library to reference any time you go shopping.
How to Understand Different Types of Fabric
Knowing the basics about different types of fabrics and their characteristics is the very first step to successfully buying fabric online.
Although your quest for fabric facts can feel neverending, you don't need a degree in textiles to figure out what you like. You’re probably already familiar with a bunch of common fabrics, like cotton, polyester, rayon, wool, jersey knits, and denim.
Here are some other fabric guides you can use to get a good start:
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A Guide to Sewing Denim: Tips and tricks for sewing professional denim garments. -
A Guide to Sewing with Corduroy: This fabric always has a little bit of a retro vibe, and it never goes out of style. -
A Guide to Sewing with Sherpa: Soft, fluffy, warm, and vegan—how to sew with this snuggly knit fabric. -
The Ultimate Guide to Sewing with Silk: Everything you need to know about sewing with silk. -
A Beginner's Guide to Sewing Velvet: Make sumptuous velvet frocks with ease. -
Swimwear Basics: Everything you need to know about sewing your own swimsuit. -
How to Sew With Rib Knit Fabric: What is rib knit, what can you sew with it, and how is it different from ribbing? -
A Guide to Loungewear Fabrics and Patterns: What fabrics are best for lounging and sleeping? -
How to Sew with Rayon: Expert Tips and Inspiring Projects: Discover the different kinds of rayon, how to sew with them, and what projects are best for this versatile fabric. -
What is Twill?: How to sew with twill fabrics. -
All About Sweatshirt Fleece: What makes this fabric so cozy? Get tips and a bunch of inspiring project ideas for sewing with fleece.
If you're a Seamwork member, you get up to 20% off at dozens of fabric shops worldwide. See a list of our fabric store partners here.
How to Read Fabric Descriptions Effectively
Product descriptions are like your personal shopping guides when you’re browsing fabric online. They provide crucial information about the fabric’s characteristics.
Every fabric store has their own writing style. Some might use bulleted lists while others paint a vivid picture of how the fabric will wear. All of them will be packed with terms that you’re supposed to know.
Here’s the key terminology to help you decode online fabric descriptions.
Fiber Content
The fiber content is the type of fibers that make up the fabric. You need to know about the fibers to understand the fabric's properties, including its breathability, durability, texture, and how you should care for it.
Understanding the fiber content will help you predict how the fabric will behave on your body and how it will feel in different seasons.
When you are shopping online and you see a few different fiber contents in a fabric, look up each of them to find their qualities and take note of their pros and cons.
Natural fibers come from nature, like plants and animals. They include cotton, linen, silk, and wool. They’re often breathable and comfortable, but they do tend to shrink.
Other natural fibers include silk, hemp, cashmere, alpaca, angora, jute, bamboo, and flax.
Synthetic fibers are made by humans. Polyester and spandex are examples you’re likely familar with. They tend to be more durable and wrinkle-resistant but may lack the breathability of natural fibers, and can come with a steeper environmental cost.
Other synthetic fibers include nylon, acrylic, elastane, and microfibers.
Semi-synthetic fibers are often derived from natural sources, most commonly plant cellulose, but chemically processed. Rayon is an example of a semi-synthetic fiber. It’s usually plant pulp that is heavily processed to take its final form.
Other semi-synthetic fibers include PLA (a type of polyester made from plant starch), acetate, viscose, lyocell, cupro, acetate, and modal.
Blends. Many fabrics are blends of natural and synthetic fibers, combining the best properties of both. The more you explore fabric, the more you will understand the percentages you like. You might find you prefer fabrics that mostly contain natural fibers with some synthetics added—like spandex or elastane for stretch.
How to shop for the right fiber content:
This is highly personal, so make note of your preferences.
- Do I want breathability?
- Do I want to avoid wrinkles?
- Do I want a natural fiber for environmental reasons?
- Are there certain blends in my closet that I love to wear?
Weave
The weave describes the structure of woven fabric, or how the fibers are interlaced together.
It’s important to understand different weaves, because they affect the fabric's texture, strength, durability, drape, and overall appearance.
Plain weave fabrics have a smooth surface created by interlacing one warp thread and one weft thread. This weave is strong and durable. Plain weave is common in fabrics like cotton poplin, muslin, canvas, linen, voile, and chambray.
Fabrics with a twill weave have diagonal ribs that you can see, like on a pair of your favorite jeans. This weave is formed when weft threads go over and under two or more warp threads. This makes twill weaves very strong and more flexible.
Denim is perhaps the most well-known twill weave. Other examples are gabardine, chino, herringbone (which has a chevron twill pattern), drill, tartan, wool twill, and tweed.
Jacquard is a more complex weave, which creates intricate patterns and often results in reversible fabric. Common examples are damask and brocade.
Pile weave has looped threads that stand upright, which give velvet, terry cloth, and corduroy their signature textures.
Satin weave fabrics have a smooth and shiny surface created when the weft thread goes over four or more warp threads (or vice versa). Satin weave fabrics have a lovely drape, but they aren’t as strong or durable as the weaves above. Examples of satin weave fabrics include satin, charmeuse, and sateen.
As with any terminology for textiles, there are even more weaves you can find, and you can keep drilling down.
Basketweaves have a loose, textured appearance that almost looks like a basket. Herringbone is a diagonal twill weave, and houndstooth is a weave that creates the broken-tooth appearance of its namesake.
When you are shopping for fabric online, see if the fabric is described as having a “loose weave” or a “tight weave.” These terms describe how much space is between the fibers as they are woven together—and they are pretty self-explanatory.
Loose weave means there is more space beetween the threads, so these fabrics have a more airy, open structure, and they are more likely to drape, hang, and float on your body. They are also more breathable. A great example is gauze. You can see with your naked eye how the fibers are loosely woven together.
Tight weave means the fibers are woven close together, making it more durable and less stretchy. These fabrics are more likely to maintain their structure when you wear them. Twill, tweed, and satin often have a tight weaves.
Weight and Drape
Can see any differences in the way these two fabrics hang on a dress form? The one on the left is medium weight with a lot of drape. It's a linen and rayon blend, and the rayon adds drape. The one on the right is medium weight without as much drape. It's 100% cotton.
Weight and drape are two crucial terms to understand when you’re shopping for fabric online. We have an entire detailed article dedicated to them here: How to Buy Fabric Online: Know Your Terms | Weight and Drape.
The weight of a fabric is how much it weighs—how light or heavy it is when you hold it. You will see fabrics described casually as lightweight, medium weight, or heavyweight.
Every fabric also has a specific, numerical weight measured in ounces per square yard (OYS) or grams per square meter (GSM). You’ll find details about all these terms in the article linked above.
So, what do these numbers mean when shopping for fabric for a specific sewing project? Here are some general examples of how you can think about weight for your sewing project:
- Lightweight fabrics might be thinner, more breathable, drapier, and less opaque than their heavyweight counterparts. These fabrics are up to about 7oz or 237 GSM.
- Similarly, heavyweight fabrics might be thicker, more durable, more opaque, and more structured than their lightweight counterparts. These fabrics are more than 11oz or 475 GSM.
- Medium-weight fabrics will be somewhere between the two, at about 7-11oz or 373-475 GSM.
Drape describes how the fabric hangs on your body—how it falls and folds. It’s often confused with weight, which makes sense because the two are highly correlated.
In other words, heavy fabrics often have less drape, and light fabrics often have more drape.
However, this is not always the case, and the relationship may not be proportional. For a bunch of examples, be sure to read the article mentioned above.
Before shopping, describe the drape you want for your project—you can even write down a few words.
Pick words like fluid, flowy, or clingy if you want a good drape, something that hangs naturally and elegantly, following the contours of your body without clinging or appearing stiff. You'll find good drape in fabrics like silk and rayon.
For less drape, look for words like structured, stiff, tailored, voluminous, crisp, and note that it should have body.
There's another helpful term: body.
In sewing, "body" in fabric means how firm or structured it feels. Fabrics with more body, like denim or wool, hold their shape well and give garments a more defined, sculpted look. Think of a sturdy pair of jeans or a tailored blazer—they keep their shape even when you’re not wearing them.
On the flip side, fabrics with less body, like silk or chiffon, feel lighter and flow more with your body, making them perfect for softer, drapey styles.
If you're looking for a fabric that isn't really drapey but will also hang nicely without looking like quilting cotton, look for the phrase "moderate drape."
Both of the blouses pictured above are the Aims pattern. The one on the left is sewn in a viscose rayon, which has a lot of drape. The one on the right is sewn in a crisp linen, which has less drape.
The blouse on the left hangs off the shoulders and the folds of the fabric are more delicate. The blouse on the right shows off the gathering on the shoulders more, because the fabric is sitting away from the dress form. The folds in this shirt are more defined and structured.
You can find clues about a fabric’s drape if there are pictures of it folded, hanging, or gently crumpled on a surface. If you see small, soft folds, the fabric likely has more drape, like in the picture above. This means any garment you make will likely skim your body.
Conversely, if you see large folds—or no folds—the fabric likely has more body and less drape. The folds might also appear more stiff or peaked. This means the fabric will likely maintain its structure and sit away from your body.
As you look at fabrics, ask yourself:
Will the fabric have enough drape to flow the way I want? Are the folds soft and delicate?
Will the fabric have enough stiffness to give the structure and crispness I want? Are the folds more defined, so the fabric has enough body?
Stretch and Recovery
If you’re working with knits, stretch and recovery are the most important things to consider.
Many fabric shops will list a stretch percentage for a fabric. This percentage tells you how much the fabric can stretch beyond its original length.
For example, if a fabric has 50% stretch, it means that a 10-inch piece of fabric can stretch an additional 5 inches.
Watch this video: How to Determine Stretch Percentage in Fabric.
This information is crucial, especially for projects like leggings, fitted tops, or activewear, where you need fabric that moves with your body. If your pattern specifies a certain stretch percentage, make sure the fabric you choose matches it to achieve the best fit.
Spandex—sometimes called elastane—is an important fiber for your knit fabric because it provides the elasticity needed for stretch and recovery.
Recovery means that the fabric will not only stretch to fit your shape but will also bounce back to its original form without sagging.
An ideal spandex percentage for good recovery in a knit fabric is typically between 3% and 8%. You’ll have enough elasticity for the fabric to stretch comfortably while ensuring it snaps back into shape.
For activewear or garments that require a lot of stretch and movement, fabrics with a higher spandex content, around 10% or more, will give you optimal recovery without popping at the seams.
When shopping, look for knits that have the right stretch percentage for your project and enough spandex or elastane to give you good recovery.
Not sure what kind of knits you like to wear? Go check your closet. Most of your garment tags will give you fiber contents and percentages.
Do Knit Fabrics Have a Weave?
Since knit fabrics are knit together, not woven, it can help to familiarize yourself with the different knit patterns. This is similar to the weaves mentioned above for woven fabrics.
If you’re a knitter, this part will be easy for you!
Some examples include jersey, which is a single knit. Rib knit, which has ribs from alternating knits and purls, interlock, which is thicker and more stable. You can also find jacquard knits, which like their woven counterparts, have intricate designs.
Understanding Color and Scale Online
When buying fabric online, understanding how color and pattern scale appear on screen versus in real life is more of an art than a science. Or rather, it depends on the quality, lighting, angle of the photos, and your screen’s ability to show you the truth.
Look for Color Variations
Computer monitors and phone screens can alter colors, so it’s important to account for potential discrepancies.
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Check for descriptions of the color. Shops will often drop clues that can help you determine if the fabric has a warm or cool tone or if there’s a sheen. -
Look at all the photos. Fabric can change its appearance in different lighting. See if additional photos are available, espcially from different angles, close-up, or of the fabric draped or folded. If you want more information, you can always message the retailer to see if they have additional photos. -
Use Pantone or hex codes. Some listings may provide Pantone or hex color codes. You can compare these standardized color references to colors on your device or a printed color card. -
Calibrate Your Screen. If you shop for fabric frequently, Google how to calibrate your monitor to improve color accuracy. This won’t eliminate all discrepancies but can help minimize them.
Scale and Patterns
It can be tricky to determine the scale of a print when you’re shopping for fabrics online.
Some stores will include coins or a measuring tape to show you the scale. If not, you can try zooming in to see if the texture or weave of the fabric will give you clues.
You can also sometimes find the dimensions of a print or motif listed in the description. It can help to draw this out so you can visualize it better.
For larger purchases, only a swatch will reveal the pattern’s true size.
Get Some Swatches
One of the best ways to make confident online fabric purchases is by ordering swatches. It’s an extra step and a small extra expense, but it’s safer than spending a bunch of money on yardage that doesn’t work for your project.
Many online fabric stores offer swatches for a small fee or even for free with certain conditions.
How to Use Swatches
When your swatches arrive, check for:
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Color Accuracy: Is it the right shade? If you shop at that online store frequently, it can help to compare the swatch to their fabric listings so you get a sense of their lighting. -
Texture: Feel the swatch to see if it matches the texture you’re looking for. If it's a knit, you can gently rub it together to see if it pills easily. -
Weight and Drape: Hold the swatch up or drape it over your hand to see how it falls. This will give you a better idea of how the fabric will behave when you wear your garment.
Use swatches to compare different options and decide which one fits your vision best. Take notes on each swatch to remember how it looks and feels—this is especially helpful when you order multiple samples.
Finding the Truth in Reviews
Much like book or movie reviews, fabric reviews are often very subjective.
Someone might find wool to be itchy while you might love the texture. You might love the stretchy, comfy feeling of rib knits for leggings, while someone else prefers a strong, stable double knit.
Use fabric reviews the same way that you would Yelp reviews for a new restaurant: take the tips and pointers and leave the extremes.
Look for how other people describe the durability, the color accuracy, how easy it is to work with, and if the fabric shop’s description matches reality.
If you notice consistent feedback, like “the fabric frays easily” or “the color fades after washing," it’s a sign to proceed with caution.
Other Fabric Shopping Tips
If you’re ever in doubt about any fabric you find online, reach out to the shop. Fabric shops are staffed by people who love sewing as much as you do, so you’ll most likely meet another fabric nerd who can’t wait to help you pick out what to get for your project.
Here are a few other fabric shopping tips that might help you.
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Check the return and exchange policies: Before finalizing your purchase, always check the store’s return and exchange policy. Some retailers accept returns only for full, uncut yards, while others may not accept returns at all due to the nature of the product. If the return policy is strict, get a swatch. -
Beware of continuous yardage: Be cautious when purchasing continuous yardage. Seamworker Kelly shared a cautionary tale about buying fabric for her daughter’s wedding dress—what she received came in two separate pieces, and the dye lots didn’t match, so the two cuts were slightly different in color. Always check if the fabric might be split into multiple pieces, especially when working with prints, to ensure consistency. -
Take notes and make a fabric journal: You can re-read this article every time you shop, but it would be easier to make a list of the qualities you want and the ones you don’t want. Keep track of fabrics you like by creating a wishlist or a spreadsheet. Record details such as fabric type, weight, color, price, and whether you’ve ordered a swatch. This organization will make it easier to compare options and make a decision.
Shopping for fabric online can feel overwhelming, but with the entire world’s fabric inventory at your fingertips, it’s an incredibly valuable skill to develop.
Remember to start small, experiment with swatches, and trust your instincts. With time, you’ll build the skills needed to navigate online fabric stores like a pro.
By the way, if this information got you ready to go fabric shopping right now, hop over to this article with a worldwide list of our favorite indie fabric shops. We update it every year!
Have your own tips for online fabric shopping? Share them in the comments below!
