How to Choose Embroidery Fabric

Fabric is the foundation of all embroidery projects. It comes in a wide variety of types and colors. The type of fabric you choose for a project is largely a matter of personal taste. Before selecting fabric for an embroidery project, you should consider these features:

Woven vs. knit fabric
Thread count
Weave type
Washability
Finished or hemmed

Woven vs. Knit Fabric

Unlike knit fabrics, woven fabrics won’t stretch or pucker the embroidery design over time or after frequent handling. Woven fabrics therefore are better than knit fabrics for embroidery. Woven fabrics used often in embroidery include canvas, denim, linen, silk, a cotton fabric called Aida cloth, and many types of woven wool fabrics.

Embroidery and Knit Fabrics

Though embroidery tends to work better on woven fabric, you can embroider on certain knits, such as jersey (T-shirt fabric). Small designs—especially those that measure just a few square inches—work best with knits. Larger designs, on the other hand, are more likely to cause puckering or distortion in the fabric. If you want to embroider a larger design on a knit, you should use some sort of facing or stabilizing fabric beneath the knit (see How to Prepare Fabric for Embroidery).

Thread Count

Woven fabric is made of vertical and horizontal threads called the warp and the weft, respectively. Warp threads run vertically, while weft threads run horizontally through alternating warp threads. The thread count of a fabric is the number of warp and weft threads per square inch. Fabrics with higher thread counts are generally finer and smoother than fabrics with lower thread counts, which tend to be coarser.

Weave Type

Woven fabric can be plain weave or even weave.

Plain weave: Because their warp and weft threads have various thicknesses, these fabrics tend to differ in the number of threads per square inch. The threads are woven in an “over one, under one” pattern. Most woven fabrics fall into this group.
Even weave: These fabrics have warp and weft threads of equal thickness and the same number of threads per inch. Examples of even-weave fabrics are Aida cloth, Hardanger fabric, and needlepoint canvas.

Weave Type and Embroidery

A fabric’s weave type affects the type of embroidery you can do on it.

Free embroidery: Can be done using both plain-weave and even-weave fabrics
Counted-thread embroidery: Can be done using even-weave fabrics only

Washability

Make sure the fabric can withstand the washing it will receive. If the project you’re working on is likely to get laundered, look for a fabric labeled laundry-safe.

Finished or Unfinished

You can embroider either on fabric that’s already been finished—such as a tablecloth or denim jeans—or on fabric that you must hem yourself. If you‘re working with unfinished fabric, make sure to finish it with overcasting, zigzag machine-sewing, or pinking so the edges won’t fray.

Acknowledgments & Disclaimer

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Embroidery Thread

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