Fabric 101: Crepe de chine

Crepe de chine fabric is a sleek, matte fabric with a beautiful drape. It is named for having a very subtle crinkle texture on the surface of the material. This type of crepe has a somewhat ethereal quality to it, making it a common fabric that’s used for elegant gowns and evening wear as well as other types of lightweight, flowy garments and accessories (like scarfs).

Learn more about crepe fabrics

Fabric	Crepe de chine
Texture?	Pebbled or crinkled surface
Heavy or light?	Lightweight
Stiff or flowy drape?	Flowy drape
Nap?	No nap
Typical fiber content?	Traditionally silk, now often synthetic (rayon or polyester)
Opaque or sheer?	Opaque or semi-sheer
Shiny?	Matte surface
Fraying?	Frays easily
Pilling or pulling?	Pulls threads easily
Cool or warm weather?	Better for warm weather
What to make?	Elegant skirts and dresses, cardigans, scarves
What needle to use?	Use a small size needle (60 or 70) or a microtex needle

What kind of fabric is crepe de chine?

Crepe de chine is a type of lightweight crepe that is known for its flowy almost fluid-like drape. Like other types of crepe fabric, crepe de chine has a somewhat rough, pebbled texture on the surface. However, the texture of crepe de chine material is a little smoother and less distinct than other types of crepe fabric.

What can you make with crepe de chine fabric?

Crepe de chine is most commonly used for elegant and flowy garments. Think of a typical bridesmaid’s dress or a skirt that swishes and flows almost like water. You can also make drapey kimono-style cardigans with crepe de chine, lightweight blouses, and other accessories, such as lightweight scarves.

Properties of crepe de chine fabric

• Texture: Crepe de chine has a distinct pebbled texture to the surface making it slightly rough to the touch. However, it’s not at all scratchy.
• Weight: Crepe de chine is a lightweight type of material. That being said, the yarns that make up the fabric are tightly twisted and woven together, making it a suitable material to use for dresses, skirts, and blouses. r.
• Drape: Crepe de chine is a type of fabric that has one of the most fluid and graceful drapes you can find.
• Fiber compositions: Traditionally, crepe de chine was made from silk. This is still the fiber you can expect in the highest quality crepe de chine. However, it’s more common to see crepe de chine made from synthetic fibers like polyester or rayon.
• Opacity: Usually, crepe de chine is tightly woven enough to make the fabric opaque. However, sometimes you’ll find that lighter colors are semi-sheer and may require a lining.
• Shine: Crepe de chine is a mostly matte fabric. It doesn’t have a distinct shine, but it may have a slight sheen or glow to the fabric, especially if it’s made with silk or rayon.
• Fraying: Unfortunately, crepe de chine is a type of fabric that frays quite easily. When sewing with it, you’ll want to make sure that you are careful not to handle the pieces too much, since this will lead to extra fraying along the edges of the fabric.
• Durability: Crepe de chine is not particularly durable. It’s easy for threads to get caught and pulled out of place, causing damage to the surface of the fabric. Lower-quality fabric with a looser weave is more likely to run into this problem.
• Wrinkling: Due to the way the yarns are twisted and woven together, crepe de chine is a wrinkle-resistant fabric. It will still wrinkle a little, especially rayon crepe de chine since that fiber is particularly prone to wrinkling. However, it generally won’t wrinkle too much over the course of the day wearing the garment.
• Breathability: Since crepe de chine is such a lightweight fabric, it’s generally better for garments made for warmer weather. The silk fabric, in particular, is quite breathable and appropriate to wear in very hot weather. Polyester and synthetic crepe de chine is probably better for milder weather since it’s not as breathable.

what to know before sewing with crepe de chine

Crepe de chine can be frustrating to sew because of its fluid drape that can cause the fabric to move out of place. Sometimes crepe de chine will also pucker a little under the needle while sewing or get caught under the sewing machine needle.

Use these tips to help when sewing with crepe de chine fabric:

• Switch to a straight stitch plate. this makes the hole on the sewing plate smaller so it won’t munch up the fabric.
• Use a small needle. Generally, size 60 or 70 will be best. If you’re still getting puckering around the stitches of your seam line, you can switch to an extra sharp microtex needle instead.
• use a rotary cutter with crepe fabric to make it easier to get a precise cut. (I recommend OLFA brand rotary cutters, they have extra sharp blades). Place pattern weights on top of the fabric to keep it from moving around while you cut.
• Remember to test the needle and stitch settings on a scrap piece of fabric before sewing your final garment pieces. This will ensure you have the correct settings and won’t damage your fabric before you even start.
• Use short-length stitches when sewing with crepe de chine. I’ll usually use lengths 1.5 to 2mm on my machine. Since it’s a fairly delicate fabric, the short stitch length will help to make the seams a little more sturdy and durable.

How to care for crepe de chine fabric

The care for crepe de chine fabric depends entirely on the type of fiber it’s made from. Silk and rayon fabric, in particular, are a lot more delicate than polyester. You may want to get crepe de chine garments made from these fibers dry-cleaned to better preserve them. 

If not, hand washing is best, and sometimes a delicate cycle on the washing machine is appropriate with a mesh wash bag(but maybe try washing a scrap piece of fabric first to see how it goes). It’s best to hang dry the garments to avoid damaging the fabric in a tumble dryer.

Polyester and other synthetic types of crepe de chine are more durable, and you can wash them as you normally would for your other clothes.

How to iron or steam crepe de chine

Crepe de chine should generally be ironed on a low setting. Silk and rayon can take a bit more heat than polyester, but you should still keep the heat settings of your iron in the low to medium area. Polyester can melt if it gets too hot (since polyester is a type of plastic fiber), so be sure to keep your iron on a low heat setting.

You can also steam your garment made from crepe de chine. This is probably the better option since it won’t stress out the material quite as much as ironing does. Just be sure your steamer doesn’t spit, especially when using silk crepe de chine so as to avoid staining the fabric.

If you’ve never used a steamer before, I highly recommend adding it to your garment care routine. I recently did a test to see if a steamer really worked as well as an iron, and I was surprised at how well it did. You can read more about my experiment here and decide if a steamer is right for you.