tallchick

I am in the middle of reorganizing my studio and have a selection of wovens. Are wovens the same as homespuns?

Iceblossom

If I'm understanding the question, my initial guess is that "wovens" (not familiar with the term) would have yarn dyed fabrics. So a woven plaid or stripe as opposed to a printed one. Homespuns often had some thread irregularities and sometimes thicker yarn/less dense weave. I'd treat them the same and onc pre-washed would keep them together.

ktbb

wovens and homespun are similar but not quite the same. A homespun is also woven, but as Iceblossom said, the weaving is a little courser, more "vintag-y", and usually has a more "Little house on the prairie" feel to it.

Wovens in general are simply fabrics that have a warp and weft, whether printed or thread-dyed....not stretchy like knits.

Again, as Iceblossom said, they can be stored and used together unless you specifically want to separate the two styles of quilts - antique style from non-antique.

bearisgray

I sort of kept all the woven stripes and plaids together. There were sort of two groups - the fabrics from/Ike men's shirts and the coarser feeling ones. Unless they fitted in better with a color group.

Are they "the same "? Not exactly, , but close enough for my sorting method and space.

sewingpup

Yep, there is definite difference between homespun and woven. Homespuns are dyed threads that are woven after the threads have been dyed. The weave is usually coarser, and in my experience, they do not hold up as long as good quality quilting fabric. I keep mine separated.

tallchick

Thank you all for your responses, I knew I could find my answer here. The wovens have a very wonderful hand, not rough at all, I look forward to making a quilt with them.

Iceblossom

I can say that while I watch the weave and density, in my mixed scrap quilts (commercial) homespuns have held up at least as well as standard woven cottons. Sometimes better!

In a quilt I did for my husband before we were married/he moved to be with me, he overwashed the top and wore out the back which had to be replaced. The homespuns in that are still intact, although now a couple of the standard woven fabrics have frayed.

My preference was to make projects with mostly homespun, but to offset that by say Kona Cottons, but I have mixed them in with general scrap quilts.

polkweed

I think the difference is more marketing than anything. Like ktbb said, wovens are technically any fabric made on a loom rather than knitted or felted. But in the quilt shop they were any fabric with a more visible weave- shot cottons, homespuns, ikats, sometimes even gauzes were all lumped under wovens at various times. Homespuns were just any thread-dyed fabric that wasn't an ikat.