Most sewing patterns, ours included, offer fabric suggestions to help you get the best results from your project. In general, those fabric suggestions are a guideline to help you select a fabric similar to what the designer had in mind, to get similar results from that design. If you know a little bit about fabrics, the list of suggested fabrics is like a mood board to help send you in the right direction. If you need more guidance, that list can be your shopping list to send you to the right part of the fabric store when you start looking. But as you start to gain confidence you certainly don’t need to stick with what they suggest!
For example, our Cannes Trousers pattern suggests “light- to medium-weight drapey woven fabrics like cotton rayon, linen, silk, tropical wool, or crepe.” And that’s mostly what I’ve chosen for myself when I’ve sewn this style for myself.
Recently I made the same pattern with less drapey fabrics, and I thought you might be interested in seeing the results. Consider it to be a little non-scientific experiment.
I chose two significantly less drapey fabrics: a stretch cotton and a lightweight, very dry denim. Here’s how they turned out:
And here are the lightweight denim Cannes Trousers.
I am virtually NEVER a fan of stretch wovens — the elastane changes the hand of the fabric and also makes the fabric much less resilient. Eventually it will give out and the fabric will be destroyed, whereas without it the fabric could last much longer. But I wanted this particular shade of khaki in a lightweight twill, and this was the only one I could find.
The denim is drapier than heavier denims, for sure, but it’s still closer in drape to the cotton-elastane than to the viscose. We’ll see how it wears. I’m looking forward to seeing some fading and patina on the denim.
Here are my viscose trousers, for comparison. I posted about these here.
And here are my much-worn tropical wool trousers:
In any case, when you compare these new trousers to my viscose and tropical wool trousers you can see how differently the fabric drapes or, really, doesn’t drape. If you can’t see it immediately, look at the front pleats and the way the legs hang. The viscose and tropical wool fall from the hips without a lot of volume in the leg. In contrast, the cotton/elastane and denim trousers have much stiffer pleats and the legs appear wider.
For other styles, a fabric with more body and volume will look better than something with a lot of drape. It really depends on the style. And that’s why we always give recommendations–to give you a little guidance when you choose fabric. If you’re not very familiar with fabric you can stick closely to the suggestions and feel relatively secure that you’ll have success. If you’re better versed, you’ll know which family of fabrics to choose from, and the suggestions will send you in the right direction. But you can also go in a completely different direction if you understand fabric well enough.
Lifestyle is something else to take into account when you choose fabrics. Where and how will you wear the item you’re making? My lifestyle tends to be a little more dressy: I live in a big city, I spend my free time in museums and cafes and at concerts and things. If my lifestyle was different I might choose different fabrics.
So what does all this mean? Basically, just to show you that you CAN go off-piste when you choose your fabrics. Just be prepared for a different look to the garment when you do it. And be sure you understand the fabrics that you choose well enough to know what to expect.
Do I have a favorite fabric for the Cannes Trousers? I think probably the tropical wool or the viscose. But I’ll let you know after I’ve worn these trousers a bit!
You can pick up your own Cannes Trousers in paper and in digital format right here.
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