Our Loxton Leggings are here and since it's our first time recommending athletic fabric, it deserved a deep dive on the blog.
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What kind of fabric for the Loxton Leggings?
There's a lot of different names for athletic fabrics and it can be very hard to decipher it all- especially when you're trying to shop online!
The Loxton Leggings are designed to be sewn with bottomweight knit fabrics with good recovery and, 4-way stretch. Athletic knits with spandex, cotton/spandex jersey, other bottomweight spandex-blend knits. These are often called “technical knits/jersey”.
However, if you are wearing your leggings layered under other pieces, you can choose another fabric with spandex (4-way stretch, good recovery), as it's less of an issue that they may not be fully opaque when wearing!
Supplex is a great fabric which wicks moisture away from the body (like merino does) and with excellent stretch and recovery. It's basically the best case scenario if you're planning on being quite active in your leggings.
If high energy activity isn't high on your list then Lycra/spandex jerseys, and even swimwear fabrics, could be perfect for you. They're often relatively cheap, come in lots of colours, and can often be found locally (or at least, more easily than the branded Supplex).
Above, lilac Supplex from Nellie Joans (which was much easier to sew than the shiny/slippery dark blue lycra).
Where to find activewear fabric?
Of course, we know our customers are based all over the world, so we've rounded up some places so there will hopefully be something here that's local to you! If you know about some great shops that aren't listed here, please let us know in the comments below.
In the USA/Canada
- Bluemoon Fabrics
- Discovery Fabrics
- Fabric Snob
- Fashion Fabrics Club
- Girl Charlee
- Rockwoods
- Spandex World
- Surge Fabrics
- The Makehouse Co Op
Discovery Fabrics in Canada has a great stock of fabrics that are leftover from big-name athleticwear brands. Surge Fabrics in the US has a great guide on the different athletic knits that they stock.
Hot tip: Never use fabric softener on your activewear fabrics, or on your natural fibre clothes either. Basically, never use fabric softener!
In Aus/NZ
Test the wick: With wicking fabrics, it’s important to get your right and wrong-sides right so that the moisture wicks away from your body and not towards it. If you can’t tell by looking at the fabric, then you can test by spraying one side with water and timing how long it takes to line-dry, before repeating with the opposite side. The side which dries the quickest should be go against your skin. Of course, if your leggings aren't for intense activity, then right and wrong-sides don't really matter.
In UK/EU
- Active Stoff / Active Fabrics
- Fun Fabric
- Funki Fabrics
- Guthrie & Ghani
- Hello Reflectives
- Ma Petite Mercerie
- Stoff Handel
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1 comment
I highly recommend Fabric Fairy in the US – I’m in Australia, and they have a huge range I can’t get elsewhere, lots of information on each fabric, and are happy to post to Australia.