What is Woven Fabric? A Full Guide to Woven Fabrics

“Warp”, “weft” and “weave” are the terms that describe what defines textiles as woven fabric. So, what is woven fabric? Woven fabrics are fabrics that are produced by weaving yarns on a loom. We use a thread called a “warp”. This goes down the fabric’s entire length. And there's a “weft”, which goes across the textile.

To weave the fabric, you interlace two sets of yarns at right angles to each other, i.e., the warp or weft threads interlace this way on the loom to form the fabric.

You can include anything from natural linen fabrics and silky textiles to semi-synthetic rayon fabrics and man-made polyester to weave this type of textile.

You can even knit these fibers together.

Note: When we talk about a woven textile, this describes how we make the fabric, not what the fabric is made of.

Let’s Talk About Knit Fabrics

· Knit textiles are very similar to knitting a garment by hand, using unbroken thread.

· With knitted pieces of materials you use that one continuous thread or yarn for making interlocking loops on a knitting machine.

· If you’ve compared woven fabric to knit textiles, you’d find that the knitted fabrics create loops in the pattern whilst woven fabric interweaves.

· Knit fabrics have far more stretch or ‘give’, while woven fabric is tightly woven and only stretch diagonally.

· As with hand-knit garments if you cut knit material it will unravel. We always glue manufactured knit fabric on the cut edge of the fabric so that this doesn’t happen.

The Difference Between Knitted & Woven Fabrics

A woven textile is stronger than knit material. It's also a more hard-wearing fabric.
After washing, these fabrics don't fade or shrink.
Materials made with a loom doesn't lose shape. However, this type of fabric can be susceptible to weft distortion (a wave appears along the weft of the fabric).
We often use this type of fabric to make durable clothing and household goods.
Knit textiles are made from one or more long inter-connecting and looping yarns.
You’ll notice that knit textiles look like loosely woven fabrics. They tend to stretch easily.
Knit textiles are usually warm. They are comfortable to wear. This fabric also doesn't crease. This is why it’s a popular choice for men’s and women’s winter comfort wear.
Also, knit textiles are softer, although they aren’t as durable.

What to use Modern Woven Fabrics for?

People have used weaving for centuries to create all sorts of textile products by hand, including blankets, baskets and clothing. These days, you’d have to search to find a genuine hand loom on which to weave fabrics.

Although there are still some used to make unique and very expensive one-off weave fabric masterpieces. For instance, Japanese denim is still woven on ancient shuttle looms despite most denim being made using more modern technology using a variety of fibers. They have preserved this process of slow weaving to create hard-wearing fabric with plenty of character that has a signature selvedge.

What you use woven fabric for depends on what type of fiber you’re weaving. It depends on so many different things, including whether it’s synthetic or natural fabric as well as what makes it unique, such as the thickness of the fabric and how heavy it is.

Types of Woven Fabric

Weaves come in four basics: plain woven fabrics, panama or basket woven fabrics, twill woven fabrics and satin woven fabrics.

Each type of weave describes how we weave the fibers together to create woven fabric. Each woven fabric that is manufactured has a specific texture and appearance.

1. Plain Woven Fabric

This is the most basic type of fabric weave, the strongest and the most popular. Plain weave is used for most textiles. The method used is by interlacing one thread over another (1 x 1). This creates a tight plain weave textile that tends to crease.

We create numerous types of woven fabrics using the plain weave process. This includes a heavy-weight woven fabric type made for upholstery like canvas and those fabrics mostly produced for garments, like calico and a soft, delicate muslin or taffeta textile.

Some Examples:

Chiffon: A lightweight, sheer fabric usually made from silks, polyester or rayon. Great fabrics for summer garments and accessories.
Chintz: A medium-weight glazed textile commonly created from natural yarns. Usually has a floral print. This fabric is used for women’s dresses and pyjamas.
Georgette: A sheer, light fabric made with twisted threads that make the surface of the fabric look crinkled. This textile is created by using either silk, polyester or rayon. Ideal fabrics for women’s evening wear.
Organza: Sheer, lightweight woven fabrics made from silk in bygone days. These days we make organza out of nylon or polyester and use it to produce women’s garments. The textile finish is stiff.
Poplin: Created with coarse weft and fine warp threads. This fabric is usually lightweight, although it could be a bit heaver, depending on what the textile is made from – cotton, silk, lycra or polyester. These fabric types are commonly used to make shirts and dresses.

2. Panama or Basket Weave Textile Choices

The next type of fabric is Panama or Basketweave. It’s used for more durable fabrics, where one needs a stronger textile.

One makes Panama fabric in a similar way to plain woven fabric, although it has a softer break. In fact, instead of using one warp and weft, the fabric uses two. This gives the effect of a wicker basket. It creates a uniform structure that has a wider gap, giving a more textured look.

This is often also called Canvas fabric. This textile is very popular for internal and external use, especially when one needs a durable fabric for deck chairs or covers, or where the designer might wish to add some depth into the fabric.

Some Examples:

Canvas fabrics: Durable, Panama fabrics that are tightly woven fabrics, usually between 250 - 600 gsm. We use the lighter fabrics for artist’s canvases, towelling or home fabrics, and heavier canvas ones for more heavy-duty applications such as awnings, outdoor furniture or coverings. The fabrics can be quite stiff and unwieldy to work with.
Panama fabrics: These are medium-weight fabrics. We use these fabrics for table coverings for lighter weights and heavier weights, and woven cotton Panama for home fabrics such as cushions, aprons and tea towels that have a lot of abrasion.
Basketweave: The fabric's more open basketweave allows a softer handle and break on the fabric, with some openness as well. The fabric has a lighter look but the same texture Panama is so famous for. We use this fabric to make home fabrics and clothing items.

3. Twill Woven Fabric

Woven fabric is solid and durable. We make this fabric using a relatively complicated weaving pattern that creates a diagonal appearance. The process involves passing the weft yarn or fiber over two, three or more weft threads before crossing over – either 2 x 1 or 3 x 1. One repeats the pattern by moving one warp thread over, which gives the fabric a diagonal look.

This type of fabric is heavier than the others and doesn’t crease as much. It’s available in several variations, depending on the thread used. Popular woven twill fabrics include polyester, cotton or silky fabrics generally used for garments and upholstery.

Examples of Twill Woven Fabric

Corduroy: Great for winter, this thick fabric has a ribbed effect on the surface. We usually make it from cotton or polyester. The textile is then made into various items of clothing including pants, skirts and shirts.
Denim: Traditional denim fabrics have blue warp and white weft yarns to give them that distinctive colour and appearance. These fabrics have become a favourite clothing fabric, used for everything from jeans to dresses, jackets, shirts, handbags and hats.
Gabardine: Twill fabrics are tightly woven fabrics; they are strong and have a raised finish. We usually make twill fabrics out of cotton yarns. You’ll find this fabric used to make coats, raincoats and suits.

4. Satin or Sateen Woven Fabric

The loosest of the four woven fabric types, satin fabric has that characteristic shiny, luxurious appearance. Weaving this fabric is quite complicated; it involves passing four or more warp yarns or fibers over one single weft yarn or yarn (4 x 1). We call this a ‘floating’ thread. The exposure of more of the same yarn gives the fabric a shine and a smooth, soft finish.

Fabrics used in this weaving process include cotton satin, polyester satin, silky satin and sateen. We usually use these fabric types for formal dresses, including wedding gowns, shirts, ties and bedding. The textile tends to snag easily due to the longer exposed yarn face, which can cause the fabric to ‘pull’ if handled roughly or created using careless sewing techniques.

Example of Satin Woven Fabric

Velvet: This sumptuous fabric is created on a special loom with a satin weave. It’s also used to make simple or twill fabrics. The fabric has a soft, smooth surface and its threads, which give it the name ‘cut pile fabric’, actually stick upwards.
Duchess Satin: A tightly woven satin fabric with a lustrous shine and heavy body, making it perfect for a sewing pattern for dresses such as ballgowns, prom dresses and wedding gowns.

Main Uses for Woven Fabric

We make plenty of clothing out of woven fabrics; we also use it for interiors, particularly soft furnishings and upholstery.

1. Making Curtains from Woven Fabric

Woven material is popular for curtains for windows, as it has an excellent drape. The curtains can also be dyed and printed on with various designs and patterns. Learn about how maake digitally prints a pattern on fabric in our comprehensive blog, Digital Printing on Fabric Made Simple.

2. Making Upholstery from Weave Fabric

Because this fabric is hard-wearing and durable, it’s a perfect upholstery fabric. You can also treat the materials to make them waterproof so that you can use items outdoors. The fabric can also be treated to be fire-resistant. (Find out all about Fabric Certifications here. And read our Comprehensive Guide on Upholstery Fabric for inspiration.

Innovations in Woven Fabrics

With the invention of smart fabrics in the past few years, woven fabrics have changed quite a lot, thanks to technology. Here are some of the changes we’ve embraced in fashion and interiors:

In our blog on Smart Clothing, we discuss the different types of fabric created for athleisure and sports garments, some with built-in sensors, others that use temperature control. This is all part of the focus on health monitoring and performance garments. These high-tech fabrics use AI in fabric manufacturing and design instead of just coatings; the process involves plenty of sustainability (less energy, less water and less waste) to create textiles digitally .

An article on the fashion trend forecaster Heuritech website discusses various fabric innovations that have taken the industry by storm, including plant- or bio-based materials like Mycelium, which is an alternative leather fabric used by designers such as Stella McCartney made from mushroom root fibres. It mentions that these technologies have been “driven by EU regulations” and that’s certainly true. The EU has taken a stand against production and manufacture of textiles and garments that aren’t environmentally friendly, and this has led to brands finding ways to cut waste and production time using AI and 3D sampling.

The article also mentions “ultra smart” and “self-healing fabrics”. It tells us that the smart clothing market has reached £7.14 billion and describes it as “exploding”.

“Next generation fabrics can now harvest energy from movement, actively regulate body temperature and even self-heal small tears without human intervention,” it says. AI is powering machinery and generative design tools to produce fabrics that are made faster using less waste.

· Recycling technologies are allowing manufacturers to create sustainable fabrics from waste as well as bio-based products.

· Instead of specialised coatings, fabrics are having properties woven into them that are microbial and fight odour, as well as regulate temperature by responding to body heat.

· Textures and patterns of woven fabrics have also changed, and now include 3D-woven textures and digitally produced patterns that are as delicate and interesting as embroidery and tweed.

More Fascinating Facts

The above is remarkable. But there’s more…

1. AI-assisted Design Tools for Creating Patterns: Generative AI is now widely used to help create unique repeat patterns and graphics on fabric in minutes, without having design skills. In fact, the maake Design Tools assist our customers in various ways to make magic happen.

2. Not Having to Buy in Bulk: It’s acceptable to buy in small batches instead of in bulk. Something maake has done from the start.

3. Printing on Demand: Another maake practice: only printing exactly what the customer needs, not requesting a large amount.

4. Personalised Products: This is no longer a luxury; offering customers products that have their initials on, or are personalised in some way to their specifications are expected. Again, something maake focuses on: customers can print their own designs on fabric or purchase our maakeHome range of products using their own designs.