Fabric 101: Corduroy

Corduroy is a durable type of woven fabric that is known for its vertical ridges with a soft velveteen texture. It is thick and sturdy with a stiff drape that is well-suited for bottom-weight apparel (pants, overalls, jackets, etc.). It’s also used in home decor for pillows and decorative items.

The ridges on corduroy (known as wales) can be thin and close together or wide and farther apart, but they will always run vertically along the straight grain of the fabric. The wales of corduroy fabric add considerable thickness to it, making it a good choice for warm-weather attire.

Fabric	Corduroy
Texture?	Velvety and ridged (wales)
Stretch?	Not stretchy
Heavy or light?	Heavy weight fabric
Stiff or flowy drape?	Stiff drape
Nap?	Napped on one side of the fabric (the ridges/wales)
Typical fiber content?	Usually cotton, can also contain percentages of polyester or spandex
Opaque or sheer?	Opaque fabric
Shiny?	Non-shiny, but sometimes there is a slight sheen
Fraying?	Corduroy frays, but not too easily. It sheds though
Pilling?	Somewhat resistant to pilling
Other identifying properties?	Corduroy has vertical, napped wales along the length of the fabric. The wales can vary in width.
Cool or warm weather?	Better for cooler weather
What to make?	Pants, overalls, coats, blazers, structured skirts or dresses, home decor (pillows, upholstery)
What needle to use?	A universal needle or a heavy-duty needle

What kind of fabric is corduroy?

Corduroy is a fabric with a napped, velvet-like texture that is cut into distinct ridges along the length of the material. The ridges, called wales, can be narrow or wide and are measured by the number of wales per inch. Standard corduroy will be somewhere around 12 wales, while pinwale corduroy is around 14 to 16. The smaller the number, the wider the ridges on your corduroy will be.

The backing for corduroy can be either plain weave or twill weave. Twill-backed corduroy tends to be more durable and less likely to shed than the plain weave kind.

You’ve probably seen corduroy used for overalls at some point in your life. At least, that was my first introduction to the material. It’s a medium to heavy-weight type of fabric that’s most often used for pants or outerwear garments (such as blazers).

Corduroy is almost always made from cotton fibers, and it’s easy to dye and print various designs on the fabric. Between the durability of the fabric, the fun designs, and the interesting texture, this is often a fun choice for children’s clothes.

What can you make with corduroy fabric?

Corduroy with narrow wales (10+ wales per inch) is typically used for garments. This includes pants, overalls, structured skirts and dresses, blazers, and jackets. Corduroy with wide wales is more often used for upholstery items, like pillows.

Properties of corduroy fabric

• Texture: Corduroy has a soft, velvet-like texture with a pile that you can push one way or the other for a slightly different look.
• Weight: Corduroy is a medium to heavy-weight fabric. The fabric on the more medium-weight side can be appropriate for structured skirts and jackets, while the heavy-weight material is best suited for pants and upholstery.
• Drape: Corduroy is a fairly stiff and structured material.
• Fiber content: Most corduroy is made from cotton or some sort of cotton blend. However, you can also find polyester or even wool corduroy.
• Wales: Corduroy fabric has a napped texture on one face of the fabric with signature wales that run along the length. The wales can be wide or narrow, depending on how they are cut.
• Opacity: Corduroy is an opaque fabric.
• Shine: Corduroy is not a shiny fabric, but often the fibers will have a slight sheen on the surface. when you move the pile fibers around, you’ll find that in one direction the fibers seem slightly shiny while in the other they are not.
• Fraying: Corduroy does fray, but it’s usually not too bad. However, the fabric does shed quite a bit. As you cut the fabric and sew with corduroy, you’ll find teeny tiny bits of the fabric everywhere. This is because the pile will shed fibers along the edge of the fabric.
• Durability: For the most part, corduroy is a fairly durable fabric. It doesn’t snag or rip easily. However, the pile can be crushed in areas, causing it to look a little worn out. Over time, the napped fibers will also shed and cause threadbare sections on the fabric.
• Wrinkling: Corduroy is resistant to wrinkling, which is good because ironing corduroy is a bit of a challenge. However, just because it’s resistant doesn’t mean corduroy will never wrinkle. If it’s stored folded or stuffed into drawers or a suitcase for a while, you’ll likely end up with some creases to work out.
• Breathability: The heavy weight of the fabric combined with the pile means corduroy has insulating properties and is not very breathable.

How to sew with corduroy fabric

Because of the napped texture, corduroy can be kind of a pain to sew. You have to make sure you don’t crush the pile while you’re sewing, and you should avoid pushing the fibers in the wrong direction. The other problem you may come across is with the thickness of the fabric since multiple layers of corduroy can be difficult for sewing machines to handle.

Be sure to do tests on some scrap fabric so you know what setting to use on your actual pattern pieces. Some tips for sewing with corduroy:

• Cut your pattern pieces all in the same direction (using the napped layout of sewing patterns)
• Decrease the pressure on your presser foot
• Switch to a zipper foot and place it on the seam allowance side of the seam (so you’re only crushing the seam allowance)
• Sew in the direction of the pile. There will always be one direction where the fibers will lay flatter than the other. Make sure to sew your seams pushing the fabric in that direction.
• You may need to use a heavy duty needle. You might be able to use a universal needle size 90 or 100. However, some materials will require a jeans or heavy-duty needle to get through all the thick layers of fabric.
• use a wider stitch length, about 3mm, to get through the thick layers of fabric.

More tips for how to sew with pile fabric (like corduroy)

How to care for corduroy fabric

Since corduroy is typically made from cotton fibers, it’s actually fairly easy to care for. The material cleans up well, and there should be no problem putting your corduroy garments through the washing machine and dryer. Polyester corduroy is similarly durable when put through the wash.

When it comes to ironing corduroy, you need to be a little more careful because you can crush the pile. Steam will usually be a little less risky, so you may want to get a little handheld steamer to use for garments like this (this is the one that I use and it works well). (always steam from the back of the fabric to avoid ruining the pile)

If you do want to iron or press the fabric, make sure to only use the iron on the reverse side of the fabric (the non-wale side). It’s also a good idea to place your corduroy face down on a towel or spare length of the corduroy (or velvet). This will allow you to have a little more give when ironing and prevent you from crushing it.