What is Single Jersey Fabric

Jersey is one of the knitted textiles. For knitters like me, you will understand that this means that this fabric is made up of a stitch that is built by connecting loops together with a single thread.

Its name comes from the island of Jersey, where the word designates since the end of the 16th century products knitted with wool produced on site. And yes ! Originally the jersey was made of wool!

Now jersey is mainly produced in 100% cotton single jersey or synthetic fibers.

Please note, wool jersey is less stretchy than cotton or synthetic fiber and must have a special wash to avoid felting.

What is surprising is that the yarn used for knitting has zero elasticity and thanks to the stockinette stitch, the fabric has a natural elasticity. In the same way, when you have a thread to knit with, it is not stretchy and yet the fact of making stitches provides elasticity to the work. It's "magical" huh!

Unlike woven fabrics, jersey does not fray at the raw-cut edges, but they will tend to roll up. This is the reason why we hem them or we put the bias.

One of the qualities of jersey, and not the least, is that it does not wrinkle. No real need to iron it, a good drying by stretching the fabric well, and shoo, normally you can put the garment away!

This fine knitted stitch which has the particularity of being stretchy is therefore used in particular for sewing T-shirts, leggings, dresses or sweatshirts.

Do you want to know more about how to choose your jersey according to your project? Do you want to know why the weight of the jersey is important? Everything is already explained on our shop, by clicking here! 

Tips for sewing jersey: 

1. As jersey fabric has the particularity of being stretchy, if the seam is not stretchy as well, it will break as soon as the fabric is stretched! This is why it is absolutely necessary to sew the jersey fabric with a stitch that is also stretchy.

2. The serger is the ideal machine for sewing jersey because it makes elastic seams. But it is quite possible to sew jersey fabric with a classic sewing machine using an elastic stitch! The most classic stretch stitch is the zigzag stitch.

This stitch will keep the elasticity of the jersey fabric. And if like me you become addicted to jersey, you will end up investing in a serger "in addition" to your sewing machine! Sewing is an addiction, right?!

3. We advise you to use a special needle called “Stretch” or “Jersey”. It has the particularity of having the rounded end to pass between the stitches of the fabric without damaging them.