With dainty geometric openwork designs that range from tiny dots to diamonds and stripes, cotton pointelle is a fabric lover’s dream. Its details add a touch of whimsy and charm to simple basics, and on babies and children, don’t even get us started – too cute!
Lyrical’s 20 pointelle styles fall into two fabric varieties we call Chloe and Abby.
First, some similarities. Both Chloe and Abby are 100% cotton, with openwork done on a baby rib knit with 50-60% horizontal stretch. Both fabrics are a whopping 70” to 76” wide – 30% larger than our standard 56” width! This means you can squeeze more projects out of any given length.
Both fabrics come in solids and prints. The subtle fabric differences lie in their weight and openwork details.
Chloe
Chloe pointelle features an evenly spaced, classic diamond and stripe design. Weighing 6.6 oz/sq yard, it’s completely opaque, and therefore extremely versatile. Make a tank with Chloe for the summer or a long-sleeve warm layer for the colder seasons. Chloe is also great for a casual dress (Image 2b) or even bottoms. It is relatively thick for a non-sweater knit and it doesn’t have as much openwork, making Chloe very easy to sew.

Image 2a. Chloe pointelles come in solids and prints.

Image 2b. Tina made a T shirt dress with the Peach Ditsy Floral Chloe.
Abby
Abby truly showcases the beauty of pointelles, with more elaborate openwork designs that mix dots, diamonds, lattices, and stripes. A lighter weight than Chloe, Abby at 5.4 oz/sq yard is ideal for Spring, Summer, and Fall, but would not be warm enough for winter (too many holes 😂 ). Because of its weight and greater degree of openwork, it is also a little harder to sew than Chloe. Its opacity also depends on the color with the lighter colors less ideal for bottoms.

Image 3a. Abby pointelles come in solids and prints.

Image 3b. Tina made a fitted Tee with the Dove Diamond Lattice Abby.
Which is my favorite?
Abby wins my heart with its beautiful detail, but I have a lot more projects planned with Chloe, including skirts and pants!
A testament to its versatility, the first thing I sewed when these pointelles arrived was a long sleeve T-shirt dress with the Coral Chloe Cotton Pointelle. The color is joyful and very spring but the fabric keeps me nice and warm – perfect for the current 60-degree transitional days in San Francisco.