Gal

I know it is because we all live in differerent parts of the world and call things by different names but I would really like to know what these fabrics are called in your part of the world (discriptions etc) so I can work out what you all are meaning. Things like Kona Cotton, what is that? I know about Homespun, Calico and craft Calico, but what about quilters muslin, where I live muslin is so thin you use it to strain fruit when making jam etc, can't imagine quilting with it! I would appreciate it very much if some one would take the time to explain these differences to me. I used to work in fabrics, (all kinds) so I know it is going to be a 'brand thing' and not easily described over QB but it would help me to understand what is being used for the various projects.
Thank you so much in advance!

Gal

patricej

here in US, we'd call your "straining muslin" cheesecloth.

amateur definition, here. i'm not a fibre or textiles professional. regular muslin comes in all sorts of thread-counts and "weights". to me, it's just fabric that hasn't been dyed or printed. my guess is that "quilter's muslin" has a higher threadcount and tighter weave than "regular" muslin.

Gal

Many thanks Patrice, where I live cheese cloth was a fabric used in the 70's for making 'hippy' shirts and tops, showing my age now LOL. Is your quilters muslin white and or cream?
Gal

patricej

all the muslin i've seen comes in either bleached (white) or unbleached (natural; varying degress of "cream" ).

wambrita

Kona cotton is actually a brand of 100% cotton fabric, produced by Robert Kaufman. From what I'm able to gather, it has a 60 by 60 thread count -i guess per square inch- and is considered a premium fabric. Its quite affordable, well in my shop it is, and if I need a solid, its what I grab.

I've used it for the last while and I love it. Great texture and shrinkage is very minimal, however it can vary, depending on how you wash it. Last time I preshrank some white, I threw it in the wash with my white laundry -socks, underwear that type of thing- and there was no noticeable shrinkage at all, used the bleach cycle, even threw in bleach!

Mishi

What we call muslin here in the UK is very thin fabric too. I was told by my LQS that what is called muslin in the US is called calico here - not sure if that helps or not!

Gal

Hi Mishi, that is what I suspected, thankyou, I like to read quilting pattern books/mags etc and whilst I understand the OZ lingo as I used to live there, some of the other names I have come across I am not 100% sure about.

Gal

sewcrafty

I saw a show on this a while back and I believe for a lack of a better way of saying it, basically all cotton fabric starts out as muslin. Kona cotton is a brand of solid colored fabric, I believe its Kaufman that puts it out. As there are different grades of muslin there are different grades of calicos, etc. Once they become printed on they become something else. I just woke up so I hope this makes sense.

Gal

Thanks sewcrafty, so is Kona the same as Homespun then?

Gal

patricej

Homespun is a style of fabric/weave/print.
Kona is a brand.