OEKO-TEX certification of fabric gives buyers some comfort but it's never going to be the whole solution. The textiles industry is huge, and growing. That means we need to make smart, informed choices, do the maths and research and never ignore fabrics without an OEKO-TEX label.      

In the UK, we’re regularly told that sewing with jersey fabrics and stretch viscose fabrics is hard; that you need new techniques or equipment; that the results are unpredictable unless you're an expert with a big, white self-contained sewing room. This is just not true, and it's a shame because it puts beginners off even trying to sew with stretch fabrics.