Voile fabric

What is voile fabric?

What kind of fabric is voile? Voile is a very sheer fabric, traditionally made from cotton. If you look closely at voile, you can see a characteristic grid-like pattern – a result of the plain weave.

Voile owes its transparent, soft texture to the crêpe fibers used to make it. Crêpe fibers are made by plying together fibers – twisting them very tightly together – and then shrinking them.

However, there isn’t just one voile material fabric. There’s both cotton voile fabric, and polyester voile fabric. Both have their upsides and downsides, and the best choice depends on what project you want to use voile fabric for.

Advantages and disadvantages of voile fabric

Voile is a very particular fabric, which can be great if you use it properly! Here are some advantages and disadvantages of voile fabric:

This fabric is very soft to the touch and drapes lightly. It’s also slightly transparent, which makes it perfect for evening gowns or lingerie. The texture is very crisp and stiff (but still flexible), but can also feel a bit wiry.

If the voile fabric is made from cotton, however, the material isn’t very stretchy – but on the upside, it is breathable. Polyester changes this around, increasing the stretchiness but making the material less breathable. Additionally, voile wrinkles very easily and, perhaps the biggest downside, it cannot be machine washed.

What is voile fabric used for?

Voile is quite versatile. Historically, it has been used to make clothing, such as shirts, tunics, skirts, sundresses, lingerie, nightgowns, and blouses. However, if the transparent nature of voile isn’t to your liking, using voile as lining in clothes is also a great option, because of its silky soft texture.

But voile isn’t just limited to clothes! Pillowcases, cushions, doilies, voile fabric curtains – all ways to incorporate this gorgeous fabric into your interior design.

Voile fabric at House of U

Now that you know a bit more about voile fabric, you might be looking for a place where you can buy printed voile fabric. Look no further than House of U! We carry a variety of voile fabrics, completely tailored to your needs.

If you want to print your own design onto voile, all you need to do is upload your design to our generator, select your preferred fabric, and we’ll do the rest! But if you’re looking to actually feel the fabric before ordering it, you can always try our fabric book and Eco Fabric kit.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any more questions or if you want some fabric tips! We’re always happy to help.