Lightweight Organic Cotton Spandex – An Overview

Summer is the season for swimming, cookouts, beach vacations, parades, and watermelons. Or, if you, like us, see the world through the lens of fabric, summer is the season for lightweight fabrics – summer dresses, light loungewear, shorts, rompers, etc… And there’s no better fabric for summer than our Lightweight Organic Cotton Spandex.

A lightweight version of our extremely popular Organic Cotton Spandex, the Lightweight CS is an amazingly comfortable and cool fabric for summer clothing. If you are needing summer dresses, shorts, pajamas, leggings, or basically any summer clothing this fabric is worth checking out.

Here’s a video we recorded of Jen discussing this fabric and its characteristics.

Characteristics of Our Lightweight Organic Cotton Spandex

The Lightweight Organic CS is a 95% Organic Cotton and 5% Spandex. It is a knit fabric with a weight of 9 oz per yard (1 oz lighter than our standard Organic Cotton Spandex) and a printable width of 57.”

American-Milled Fabric

Here at Little Cocalico, we put an emphasis on sourcing ethically-produced fabrics that are milled here in the United States. The Lightweight Organic Cotton Spandex is a high quality, sustainably produced, American-Milled fabric. This is definitely a fabric we feel good about about carrying and one you’ll feel good about wearing.

Great Stretch and Recovery

This fabric has a 5% spandex makeup giving it a 4-way stretch. It has around a 50% stretch both horizontally and vertically with an incredible recovery.

Nice Drape/Hand

As shown in the video above, the Lightweight Cotton Spandex has a nice drape that makes it work really well for summer dresses and other clothing.

Soft and Comfortable

This fabric has a very soft and comfy texture, and it will only get softer over time with more washing.

Good Opacity

Being a lightweight fabric, it makes sense that you may be worried about it being a see-thru fabric, especially in some lighting scenarios. Check out the video above for more details, but this fabric has very little transparency and when printed with most designs, you won’t be able to see through it all.

Certified Organic

Not only is it American-milled, it is also certified organic cotton and we print everything using certified organic inks. With this fabric you can rest assured that it is a non-toxic fabric and 100% organic.

Amazing Wash and Rub Durability

Before adding this fabric to our lineup, we ran it through some heavy wash and rub testing to ensure it will hold up well. This is especially important since it is a popular fabric for kid’s leggins. We all know how those knees get tested.

How to Care for Lightweight Organic Cotton Spandex

We recommend washing the lightweight organic cotton spandex in cool water on a delicate cycle. Mild, phosphate free detergent is preferable as a cleaning agent. For drying you can either hang it to air dry or tumble dry on low heat settings. With proper care, this should be a very long-lasting fabric.

Gallery of Lightweight Organic Cotton Spandex

We pulled the following photos from our community of talented customers. All these projects were made using our lightweight organic cotton spandex that was custom printed here at our print on demand fabric shop. 

Summer dress by Kattie Madden

Adorable summer outfit from Bows by Mila

Christmas Pajamas by Indigo Stitches

Outfit by Lorna Franco

Awesome kids outfit by Bev Newcomer

Patriotic Summer Dress by Katie Madden

Animal themed tops by Hannah Garcia

Matching sissy outfit by Hannah Garcia

Stack of fabric featuring designs by Charlie Rowan Designs

Leggings by Lisa Spark