Woven Fabric

Woven, not knitted

Woven cloth is made from threads crossing at right angles, which is what makes it stable: it does not stretch along the grain, it holds a pressed crease, and it keeps the shape you cut. Almost every tailored garment relies on that behaviour.

It does stretch on the bias, the 45 degree diagonal, which is what lets a bias-cut skirt skim a body and a bias binding curve around a neckline. Work with the grain rather than against it: cut along the straight grain for structure and on the bias only when you want the give, and finish raw edges, because woven fabric frays where a knit will not.