Lightness, Weightlessness, Transparency, Softness... these are the qualities that I love most about thin cloth.  It's nature makes layering and stitching so much easier.  And Thin-ness itself is part of my Spirit Cloth Language system.   I love thin cloth and  I want to share my favorites.

Inspired by the spider's web, early on, I realized thin-ness is not always weakness.

It's important to know that Fabric Names  are not always a way to know exactly what kind of cloth  is actually being described,  many names are used loosely  especially in the fashion field.  Usually  it is a very broad category and actual nature of the cloth can vary widely  especially in terms of  weight  and feel. Theses days most purchases are made through the internet.  It is so sad that there are so few little fabric shops to visit these days.  I miss them.  Maybe when I move, I will open one.

Harem Cloth

I am reviewing this product even though it is no longer available.  I used it a lot  as a basic thin cloth and it has been mentioned in almost all my classes.  Just wanted to put more information here as to it's nature.  I think you might find something similar under another name if you have a sense of what it is.  I have some dyed bits that might end up in the shop  but these days, who knows...

Cotton Voile

A very fine cotton cloth,  woven from very fine combed cotton.  The cloth is  perfectly weightless and soft,  but pricey.

Voile on the left compared to harem cloth on the right.  The cloths are about the same weight believe it or not,  the thread size if way finer in the voile.

Voile is a women's blouse and dress fabric.   Because I work with small pieces, I rarely buy yardage, if anything at all.  I often purchase samples of cloth just for research.  It is really easy to find this cloth in garments in thrift shops  or maybe even your own discarded clothing.  Sometimes it is used in curtains  as well.  Voile is often used to describe non cotton cloth, like polyester sheers  so always be careful to read labels.  Cotton blends can be tricky to identify by touch.

Whenever you purchase cloth online, you usually have an opportunity  to  ask for a sample swatch first, if you are unsure.

Silk

Silk cloth comes in many weights and qualities.  Some are very hard to handle.  I avoid the hard shiny kind,

My favorite silks are the  thin ones,  the kind you might remember from your grandma's scarves.  Do you? I can even remember how they smelled.  Old silk scarves are a treasure.   Thin, often sheer and crepey in texture,  the prints are really fun to cut from, and well, I've kept grandma's  and found great ones here and there for pennies in  thrift stores and yard sales.  Silk gauze and silk organza are  a great addition to  a thin cloth palette.  Silk can be layered and blended like watercolors.  I love to use it for " painting" with cloth.

Thin gauzy silk is not hard to handle wen stitching.  It can snag a bit though  in a quilt or something like that.  But the old silk carves can be quite smooth and hardy.  Silk is not as fragile as it seems.  Silk . the spider shows us, can be thin, but strong.