Find the best fabric for hand embroidery at MIssouri Star Quilt Co.

Embroidery Fabric – Linen, Tea Towels & Embroidery Panels

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Looking for the best fabric for hand embroidery? Shop Essex linen-cotton yardage, stitchery cloth, sashiko cloth and osnaburg, plus flour-sack tea towels and blank canvas pillows, aprons and stockings ready to stitch. Want the design printed for you? Try our embroidery panels. read more

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Embroidery Fabric – Linen, Tea Towels & Embroidery Panels

What's the best fabric for embroidery?

The right fabric depends on what you're stitching and how you'll use it. These are the bases we carry and what each one is good for:

  • Linen and linen blends: Essex Linen from Robert Kaufman is 55% linen and 45% cotton, 43" wide. It's a midweight fabric with the texture of linen but it's softer and easier to iron than 100% linen. That makes it our favorite for embroidered wall hangings, pillows and quilt blocks. The yarn-dyed colors give a heathered background that shows off light thread.
  • Cotton stitchery cloth: a heavier-weight 100% cotton with a linen look. It holds stitches well and doesn't pucker as easily as quilting cotton.
  • Flour-sack and tea towels: soft, tightly woven and already hemmed, so they're the classic beginner project and an easy gift. The flour-sack towels are 28" x 28" and colorfast.
  • Sashiko cloth: indigo cotton with a slight texture, made for sashiko running stitch. Darker Essex linens also work well for sashiko.
  • Osnaburg and canvas: rustic, sturdy cotton for folk-art pieces, totes, aprons and heavier crewel-style work. Our blank canvas pillow covers, aprons and stockings let you skip the sewing.

Prefer not to trace? Our pre-printed embroidery panels come with the design printed on cotton in a wash-away print. You'll also need embroidery floss and perle cotton, a hoop, and for thin fabrics, a stabilizer. Looking for a design? Browse hand embroidery patterns.

Embroidery fabric FAQ

Should I prewash embroidery fabric?+

Yes, for anything you'll wash later. Linen blends and cotton towels can shrink a little the first time, and reviewers say they embroider their towels after washing for this reason. Linen also frays, so zigzag or serge the raw edges before you prewash.

Do I need a stabilizer for tea towels?+

For lightweight towels, it helps. Customers tell us they put a stabilizer underneath so stitches don't pucker. A peel-and-stick tear-away stabilizer stays tight in the hoop and avoids hoop marks on towels, flannel and fleece. Find them with our stabilizers and transfer paper.

Is Essex Linen real linen?+

It's a blend: 55% linen and 45% cotton. You get the look and texture of linen, but it's softer, easier to press and less likely to wrinkle than 100% linen. Quilters also use it as a textured background and for bags.

What fabric is best for sashiko?+

Our indigo sashiko cloth is made for it. Reviewers also use navy and black Essex Linen for sashiko projects.

What's the easiest fabric for a beginner?+

A flour-sack tea towel or a pre-printed embroidery panel. Towels are smooth, small and already finished. On a panel the design is already printed, so you only have to follow the lines.