Denim fabric guide
Denim Jeans Design with AI
For a denim jeans, most mills quote rigid denim at 340 to 470 g/m²: a classic pairing.
Of the 14 cloths this guide lists for this cut, it sits between scuba knit and wool tweed in weight.
Next to wool tweed, it is lighter, cooler to wear and easier to care for.
Denim Jeans at a glance
- Cloth to ask your mill for
- Rigid denim
- Typical weight
- 340 to 470 g/m²
- Drape
- Structured, holds its own shape
- Stretch
- Slight
- Breathability
- Medium
- Warmth
- Neutral
- Care
- Machine wash cold, inside out
- How common
- A classic pairing
- Typical cloth price
- $8-30/yard
Typical trade ranges, not one mill's figures: confirm them with your mill.
The jeans, in numbers
- Typical length
- 100 to 110 cm, from the waist
- Defining details
- Five pockets, back yoke, rivets, zip or button fly, felled seams
- Cloth needed
- about 1.4 to 1.8 m of 150 cm cloth, roughly $12 to $59 of cloth at typical prices
Typical figures for an adult size M. The pattern tier is set from the real piece count when you order.
How denim behaves on a jeans
Cut into jeans, it holds the shape of the cut on its own: seat, pockets and leg line stay where the pattern puts them.
Cut long, a structured cloth is heavy and stiff, so it suits a straight, coat-like line more than a flowing one.
It is neither warm nor cool, so it works across most of the year.
Wash it cold and inside out to keep the color.
It fades where the body creases, and rigid denim shrinks unless it is sanforised, so the mill's shrinkage figure belongs on the spec sheet.
About denim
Denim is a cotton twill woven with indigo-dyed warp yarns and an undyed weft, which is why it is blue on the face and pale on the back. Its weight, in ounces per square yard, decides how it wears.
Selvedge denim from narrow shuttle looms is a specialist product, made notably in Japan, Italy and the United States; most denim comes from wide looms in Turkey, Pakistan, India and China.
It is almost never lined; seams are flat-felled or bound so the inside looks finished.
Cutting, sewing and color
A 100/16 or 110/18 jeans needle and a heavier thread; flat-felled seams and bar tacks at the stress points.
Indigo is the classic dye, and washes from rinse to bleach change the shade after the garment is sewn.
Its surface is matte, so it photographs evenly under flat light.
A description to start from
A jeans in rigid denim, 340 to 470 g/m², with a structured drape and a matte surface, for most of the year.
If denim is not quite right
- Lighter: Neoprene, in scuba knit
- Heavier: Tweed, in wool tweed
- Warmer: Wool, in tropical wool
Also: how the studio works, prices and questions and answers.
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