It is unbearably hot in my part of the world during summer. With global warming reaching unprecedented levels all over the world, this is the reality of a lot of places. And in this hot weather you need to make clothes with fabrics that will help you beat the heat other than tender coconut water, water melon slices, plenty of showers and an umbrella.
Related posts : Fabrics for Sun protective clothing.
Best summer fabrics for clothes
Cotton Lawn
This is a wonderful lightweight smooth finished cotton with a slight crispy hand available in different brightly prints and colors. If you can get it near you it is the best fabric to make summer dresses for you or your kids.
Cotton absorbs moisture right off the body and can make you feel comfortable.
Cotton poplin
The poplin made with cotton fibers is a favorite for making men’s shirts. The fabric has a nice tight weave and hence very strong and durable and doesn’t wrinkle as much as other cotton fabrics.
In suitable weights it can even be made into pants and jackets.
Cotton jersey fabric
Cotton jersey fabric is made by knitting cotton fibers and this gives it a slight stretch. This is the fabric that the t-shirts are made of.
It is very comfortable to wear against the body – as you can see from the popularity of 100% cotton jersey t shirts. It can also be made into comfortable tops and dresses.
Stretch cotton jersey fabrics are a blend of cotton and spandex ( 95%-5%) with just enough spandex fibers to give it a little more stretch.
Cotton-viscose or Linen- Viscose
A blend of the viscose with natural fibers like cotton and linen gives this fabric many extra advantages. Rayon is a man made fabric and has many essential qualities needed for summer fabrics incorporated in it – breath ability, lightweight, flowy.
It is also very soft and smooth against the body and has a wonderful drape. But some features of the fabric make it less desirable – it is not very absorbent – so sweat can be repelled by the fabric surface and remain on your skin making you feel less than comfortable.
Viscose fiber also get very weak as it absorbs moisture.These disadvantages are countered by blending natural fibers with the rayon fibers.
Cotton seersucker
This is a breezy airy fabric with a puckered surface. It is a good summer fabric to make shirts and blouses.
Cotton gauze
The image of gauze as a bandage fabric sticks – but gauze comes in many qualities – it is available as a super airy summer fabric just right for making lightweight dresses, shirts, blouses.
It may be thin to the point of being see through so you may want to wear slips inside. Another disadvantage is that the fabric creases a lot.
Cotton Chambray
This is a lightweight doppelganger of denim fabric- with all the advantages of denim in the looks department as well as functionality. It can look very elegant when made into summer clothes.
Cotton Corduroy
Corduroy is a strong thicker fabric suitable for making summer pants and jackets.
Linen
This fabric is a natural summer fabric – a fabric that is meant to keep you cool whatever the temperature is. It is the high air permeability of the fabric that gives you the comfort it does.
Cotton and other natural fabrics are above par as summer fabrics – there is no dispute about that but when you are in a situation where you will sweat a lot (due to humidity or very hot weather) look for alternatives that will wick the sweat moisture away from the body. Sweat laden clothes can make you feel very uncomfortable.
Special Synthetic fabrics like polyamide
Though synthetic fabrics like nylon and polyamide have less-than-optimal moisture absorption capacities, they have a feature that is very much desired when you sweat profusely—they wick moisture away from the body. This makes them ideal fabrics for excercise and outdoor activities or other activities out in the sun in the afternoon, when you will be sweating a lot.
From what I have seen, moisture-wicking and lightweight properties make them suitable for intense activity. However, since these fabrics don’t absorb moisture the way natural fibers do, they may feel uncomfortable in humid weather without proper airflow.
The rules for summer wear are common sense – wear loose clothes preferably in light colors. Dark colors do not show sweat stains but they attract heat and retains them and make you feel more hot.
But if it is hot and windy, it is better to go for loose flowy black clothes.
And then these theories are all proclaimed nonsense in this study which says the color do not matter at all. According to this article the cooling happens by convection – “either through a bellows action, as the robes flow in the wind, or by a chimney sort of effect, as air rises between robe and skin”.
If you are directly under the sun, wear clothes that cover as much skin as possible but if not, wear clothes that cover the minimum – say shorts, tank tops, short summer dresses- all loose and airy in the fabrics given below. (You can recall the long flowy robes of men and women in Arab countries like Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar and Bahrain – they wear them for a reason).
You can read more about these fabrics here in this post on the best fabric for workout clothes.
Related posts: Fabric names- Reference.
I am about to sew my first summer dress without a pattern following your tutorials. Thank you
Dear colleagues,
“STORM Tex” is a trading company from Russia. We supply knitting equipment, knitted fabrics, finished products, socks, etc.
Covid 19 made us diversify our business. For a new business we are looking for a manufacturer of knitted fabric of 32 guage and higher and of very low density, 100 g / m2 and less, for disposable underwear (underpants). Maybe you can recommend us to the manufacturer.
Best regards,
Thank you for the education. It’s not season in Ghana and I have been wondering the kind of fabric to use for production. In am am actually thinking of ready to wear. This is my first time though. I will also appreciate it if you could give me some advice in that regard. Thanks a lot.