Fabric for coats: how to choose it, what fabric to sew from, their names and composition? We'll tell you all about the types, range and properties of coat fabrics in our article! Coat fabric is a fairly broad concept that includes many names. Modern manufacturers make multi-colored, melange, and plain-dyed materials for sewing outerwear.
In this case, coat fabric is usually woven using plain, satin, twill, and combined weaves. It can be single-faced or double-faced.
The most important characteristic of the material in this case is its high level of thermal insulation. In addition, increased demands are placed on fabric for women's coats in terms of elasticity, wear resistance, resistance to stretching and shrinkage, durability, reliability and color fastness. To study all materials for clothing, read the special section.
Wool coat materials
There are quite a lot of woolen fabric materials that can be used for sewing coats, so they are usually classified according to weaving technology, thread composition and other characteristics. In total, there are several groups: pile, cloth, thin cloth, worsted, so asking about what fabric the products are made from is not entirely correct. A common characteristic is that textiles of this type are dense and have fairly high thermal insulation characteristics.
At the same time, the following types of coat fabrics are most in demand:
- Gabardine. Plain and dense, with a small textured corner rib on the outer surface. Production is carried out from merino wool. Textiles do not wrinkle. The water-repellent properties of this thick coat fabric attract a lot of buyers. It is also used to make uniforms and suits.
- Diagonal. Elastic, smoothly dyed, dense material. The outer surface has a small double corner scar. The standard version is produced from 100% wool, so the composition of the coat fabric does not raise any questions.
- Crepe. Wool-blend textiles, which in addition to wool include: nitron, viscose or nylon. The main characteristics are that the coat drapes and stretches perfectly. Finely patterned or plain weave technology is used. An important feature of crepe is the presence of significantly twisted threads along the weft and warp, due to which it has a rough surface and a low degree of creasing of the coat.
- Boucle. When talking about what fabric a coat is made from, we can’t help but mention boucle. Its production is carried out using the technology of finely patterned or complex weave. Everything is made from wool and artificial fibers (usually mohair or acrylic). This is a multi-colored textile with a textured surface.
- Tweed. The name of coat fabric “tweed” is familiar to many, but few people know that in its production a combined weave is used, which makes it possible to obtain a material with a textured and dense texture. Its composition is usually mixed: wool, viscose, acrylic, etc.
- Cashmere. Expensive and elegant. Production is carried out using twill weave of the finest threads. The base is the undercoat of cashmere goats, and synthetic threads are used to improve the characteristics.
- Drap. Common and famous. It is made from wool, but often with the addition of artificial threads. The material turns out dense, thick, heavy. It is very difficult to imagine an assortment of coat fabrics without drape.
- Look at another article about an angora coat, we will tell you about its properties and advantages.
Coat fabrics
Category: Clothing
Cotton coat fabrics are dense, massive, smooth-dyed fabrics made from twisted carded yarn of medium linear density, produced in complex and finely patterned weaves. On the surface of the fabrics there are relief wavy longitudinal patterns, large herringbones, patterns in the form of squares, stripes, diamonds, honeycombs or waffles. For youth coats, corduroy, velvet, pique, denim, and diagonals can be used.
Woolen coat fabrics are divided into worsted and fine cloth. Drapes, cloth and pile fabrics are divided into special subgroups.
Worsted fabrics have a clear weave pattern on the front side. These are gabardines, diagonals, crepes, boucle and coat fabrics of a new range.
Gabardine is a classic smooth-dyed dense elastic fabric of diagonal weave with a small convex rib running from left to right at an angle of 75-78°. Gabardine, used for uniforms, has a rib at an angle of 30°; in wool-blend gabardines, the rib can be inclined at an angle of 45°.
Diagonal is a classic smooth-dyed pure wool dense elastic fabric of diagonal weave with a small double rib running at an angle of 75-78°.
Crepe is a plain-dyed, dense pure wool or wool blend fabric similar to suit crepe, but thicker.
Boucle is a classic plain-dyed fabric for women's coats with a finely textured front surface obtained by weaving or using fancy yarn. It comes in pure wool and half-wool, in complex and finely patterned weaves, and has increased extensibility.
The new assortment includes gabardine-like and worsted-cloth fabrics, on the reverse surface of which hardware yarn is brought out and subjected to napping.
Fine-woven coat fabrics are produced with simple single-layer, complex, large-patterned weaves from single-thread, twisted and shaped pure wool or mixed wool yarn of various linear densities, which can be combined with chemical threads. The front side of the fabrics usually has a clear pattern of small or large patterned weave, checks or stripes of fancy yarn, and can be boucle. They produce coat fabrics with short or pressed pile, similar in design to drapes on the front side, but inferior to them in density, good quality and massiveness.
Classic men's fabrics include tweed, chevron, shetland, and women's fabrics include boucle.
Tweed is a dense melange fabric made from low linear density yarn containing dead hair; chevron - dense variegated fabric; Shetland is a twill weave melange and gray pile fabric. Fine cloth bouclé is more massive and more prominent than worsted boucle.
Flannel is widely used - a soft elastic fabric of plain weave that has undergone a long roll and fabrics of finely patterned weaves with long brushed pile, including coarse hair.
Drapes are the thickest, densest, most massive and high-quality cloth-made fabrics intended for coats. Drapes are made from hardware yarn, sometimes in simple, but usually complex weaves.
Draperies are produced plain-dyed, melange and in small quantities variegated. In two-layer drapes, one side can be plain-colored or melange, and the other can be variegated. The finishing of the front side of the drape can be velor (short vertical pile on the front surface), ratin (with pile laid in diagonal stripes, “herringbone” or “polka dot”) and castor (with pressed pile).
According to the fiber composition, drapes are divided into pure wool, containing 90% or more wool, and half-wool, made from mixed yarn with the addition of chemical fibers.
Broadcloth is a dense, single-layer, heavily felted fabric with a double-sided felt-like covering that completely hides the weave pattern. It is produced in plain or twill weave.
For coats from the range of silk fabrics, velvets, velors, plush and the densest shape-resistant fabrics made from chemical threads can be used.
Raincoat and jacket fabrics. For the manufacture of raincoats and jackets, thin dense fabrics made of polyamide threads with front or back film coatings made of polyurethane, fabrics with varnish finishing and at the same time with film coatings, dense fabrics made of waterproof nylon threads, twill fabrics made of polyester fibers and their combinations with cotton or textured threads. They also produce raincoat fabrics with water-repellent impregnations and rubberized fabrics.
Cotton coat materials
Cotton fibers can also be used for sewing demi-season and summer coats. The following types can be included in this group:
- Moleskin. Dense, heavy, produced using reinforced satin weave technology.
- Corduroy ribbed. A characteristic feature is the presence of small textured stripes on the outside.
- Velvet cord. Here the pile is laid along its entire length in rounded stripes, the width of which varies from 2 to 6 mm.
It is quite difficult to advise something specific, since you need to choose fabric for a summer or winter coat based on your own wishes and preferences. In general, the choice of material and tailoring of a coat taking into account the requirements is best left to professionals. We think you will learn the features of the English style of clothing.
We sew a coat for winter
Sewing a high-quality and comfortable winter coat is not a trivial task. Why? For a coat to be functional, warm, beautiful, and comfortable, it must be a kind of “layer cake.” What layers does the winter range model consist of? We will move from the outside in to consistently study all the necessary materials. 1) The main material is the coat fabric you have chosen, natural, synthetic or mixed. 2) Wind protection and air exchange are incredibly important nuances. No matter how warm and beautiful the coat is, if it is blown through, it’s all lost. You can't wear it in winter. To create a windproof layer, a membrane is often used - a breathable fabric that prevents wind and moisture from penetrating inside. A thin membrane or its analogues directly after the coat layer is an excellent choice if you plan to create something truly warm and comfortable to wear in frosty weather. 3) If in demi-season coats the ability to retain heat in cold weather depends solely on the properties of the main fabric, winter models are sewn with insulation. Today, seamstresses and designers have the opportunity to choose the thickness, insulating properties, density, and weight of insulation, because modern materials, even with minimal thickness, can have exceptional characteristics. Many insulation materials available today to a wide range of buyers do not deform and hold their shape well even without additional stitching. Some insulation materials (for example, woolpon) do not add volume to the product at all, while others (such as padding polyester) make the model “puffy”. We recommend relying on thermal protection indicators, because the functionality of winter outerwear is still a priority when sewing it. 4) Lining - a thin layer of fabric, usually slippery, on a viscose base, which is needed to protect the upper layers from abrasion, to strengthen the structure of the product and for wearing comfort. It's hard to imagine a full-fledged coat without lining! If the coat is long, the lining can be made short, but it should still be present. If you design your future product exactly according to this “layered” pattern, they will definitely delight you all winter.
How to care for products made from coat fabrics
Almost all coat fabrics are not recommended to be washed either by hand or in a machine. The priority way to get rid of dirt is chemical cleaning, and if such a radical action is not required, you can simply wash the stain with soapy water or use a clothes brush with soft bristles. If pellets form, you should use a special device to remove them. Often fine dust and hairs stick to coat fabrics. A roller with adhesive tape will help remove such stains. Before sewing coat fabric yourself, decating is required - for natural shrinkage of the material. How to iron coat fabrics? If the need arises, it is better to use a steamer, holding it 2-5 cm from the surface of the fabric. What is the best fabric for your project? We will be happy to help you choose the right material. Our store’s assortment includes dozens of spectacular classic and trendy natural, wool blend, and synthetic materials in the current palette!
