the labeling has to do with non-fire retardant status. That said, i made clothes for my girls out of all cotton fabric all the time. still make sun dresses etc out of the nice prints. a way to decrease the wrinkling is to use "easy knit" interfacing and underlay the entire outfit. When you go to cut out the outfit, lay the easy knit under the fashion fabric and cut as one unit, then fuse all the pieces together, then start sewing. I don't mind ironing but this method was taught by Claire Schaeffer of Silhouette Patterns for her things made with cotton or linen.

Years ago I bought some 'quilting fabric' to make myself a jumper. Here in Pennsylvania, fabric for clothing does not get charged sales tax but quilting fabric does. I got it at a quilt shop and the owner had overheard me telling my sister I really like this piece for a jumper, and when I checked out she told me that.

i just made my dgd's birthday dress out of quilting cotton and it looks adorable on her. and she looks adorable in it. i'm pretty sure her mom is planning on this being a family heirloom, so i have no fear about it lasting through the years. look how old some quilts are. it's a great fabric, but may need to be ironed-- it's size 1/2, how bad can that be? it took me 5 minutes or less. go ahead and use it. it's great fabric!

Hi Kim,

Cotton is cotton. It is fine for clothing, quilts. or projects. The only issue I see is that it is not treated with a flame- retardant and thus may not be recommended for childrens' sleep-wear. Back in the days of my youth ('70's), when I learned to sew, I only had new clothes -if I sewed. I also made my 1st quilt in `1977, from the same fabric cotton that was available for sewing. I think fewer folks sew kids clothes now b/c you can buy them so cheap, and since they grow so fast, 2nd hand stores are filled with expensive brands for often less than you can buy the fabric to make them.

So I encourage you to just "go for it!," if you enjoy sewing and ironing for the wee ones. Cheers! Cathy vJ in MA

HI. The same is true in MA re taxing. All one needs to do is tell the cashier the fabric is for clothing. ;D

There are fewer and fewer places to buy garment fabrics. Used to be you could go to Sears and Penny's for yes fabric, every one sewed... I can't stand the things they have on the rack now days for me to wear. I have sewn all of my own clothes for years and will continue to. I get more complements on my quilters cotton dresses and I am not a little girl any more. Enjoy sewing for your children little girls have always loved pretty dresses.

I agree 100% with you!

Also, if you are sewing for a child that has eczema, 100% cotton is better for them because the fabric breaths so they are less likely to have a flare up.

Someone mentioned the issue of fading. I would suggest using Retayne on the fabric. I believe it works well at keeping the fabric colorfast.

Tate

I wear 100% cotton clothing, anything with polyester in it makes me feel too hot. I use my quilting fabrics for clothing, just pre-wash the fabrics so that my finished garment doesn't shrink after I wash it. You can also use the scraps in quilts!
I made some shirts for myself many years ago from batiks and novelty prints. One of my favorites was made from "Jungle Songs" by Laurel Burch, it has snakes on the collar and on the sleeves. My friend said it was creepy, the snakes go down one sleeve and up the other. It was great fun to make!

http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/...45965719xdaBsR

http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/...45965719SDBDCw

http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/...45965719BLhDul

I made my girls clothing through sixth grade. They picked out the fabric from the Montgomery Ward catalog and the pattern. No one had clothing like theirs. The 100% cotton wore well and had wonderful patterns.