How to choose fabric from photos when you cannot touch it

The four photos to ask for

Each one answers a question the others cannot.

• In daylight: taken near a window or outdoors in shade, with no flash and no filter. Indoor bulbs turn everything yellow or blue. A sheet of white paper in the frame shows how far the camera has shifted the colour.
• A close-up: near enough to see the threads, with a coin, a ruler or a fingertip for scale. This shows the weave, the texture and how large the print really is.
• Draped: a length hung over a hand, a hanger or the edge of a chair. How it falls tells you more about the finished outfit than any flat picture.
• A hand behind one layer: a single thickness held up to the light with a hand behind it. If you can make out the fingers clearly, the fabric will need a lining.

How to read what you see

Once the photos arrive, look at the folds before the colour. Our guide to how fabric changes fit and drape explains why the same measurements behave differently in a crisp cloth and a fluid one.

• Sharp, angular folds mean a crisp fabric that holds its shape: good for collars, straight cuts and structured sleeves.
• Soft, rounded folds that pool at the bottom mean a fluid fabric that will skim and swing: good for flare, gathers and dupattas.
• Bright lines of light along the folds mean sheen. A matte fabric shows its folds as soft shadow only.
• Threads you can count, with gaps between them, mean an open weave: airy, but more likely to be sheer and to crease.
• A fuzzy or uneven surface in the close-up suggests a texture you will feel, such as slub or a brushed finish.

Questions that fill the gaps

Some things a camera cannot show. Ask for them in words.

• What is the fibre? Cotton, linen, viscose, silk, polyester or a blend. It decides how the fabric breathes and how you wash it.
• How heavy is it compared with something I know? “Lighter than cambric, heavier than lawn” is more useful than “medium”.
• Does it need lining for this design? And if so, is the lining in the quote?
• How does it crease? Ask for a corner to be scrunched for a few seconds and photographed.
• How should it be washed? By hand, in the machine or dry cleaned.
• Is this the cloth my outfit will be cut from, or a similar one?

How it works with Fabric + Stitching

With Fabric + Stitching, you tell us the colour, the feel and the occasion, and we send photos and a description of the fabric we suggest with your quote. Nothing is cut until you have agreed it. We do not send free samples, so the photos and your questions do the work a swatch would. If a suggestion is not right, say so and ask for another.

Two honest limits. A photo will never match the cloth exactly, because lighting, cameras and screens all shift colour, and a small difference in shade is not a fault. And no picture conveys feel, so describe what you want by comparing it with a garment you own. Our page on choosing fabric starts from climate and comfort, and the fabric guides describe the common cloths one by one. To see a suggestion for your own outfit, ask for a Fabric + Stitching quote.