It's Time to Try Athletic Knit

Everything You Need to Know About Our Athletic Knit Fabric

If you’re searching for the perfect fabric for activewear, leggings, or sports bras, our Athletic Knit might just be what you’ve been looking for. With its ultra-soft peached finish, excellent compression, and four-way stretch, it’s designed to perform beautifully whether you’re at the gym, on a run, or simply enjoying everyday comfort.

What is Athletic Knit?

Athletic Knit is a Synthetic fiber with exceptional color vibrancy. Our Athletic Knit fabric is made of 77% polyester and 23% spandex, weighing in at 250gsm with a 60-inch fabric width.

Polyester is a man-made fiber created from petroleum-based polymers. It’s prized for its strength, durability, and ability to hold vibrant color without fading, which is why it’s a favorite for performance wear and digital fabric printing.

Blending polyester with spandex gives you the best of both worlds: long-lasting structure and brilliant color from polyester, plus stretch and flexibility from spandex.

What really sets our fabric apart is the peached finish, a light sanding process that makes the surface buttery-soft against the skin while preserving strength. The result? No scratchy or stiff activewear, just smooth, comfortable performance fabric that moves with you all day.

Why We Print Cross Grain

One of the challenges with stretchy fabrics is “white out,” which happens when a print stretches and the white fibers underneath become visible. Which is particularly important to avoid with athletic wear. To prevent this, we print our Athletic Knit cross grain, so your colors stay vibrant and bold even during those high-impact workouts.

Don't Want Your Athletic Knit Printed Cross Grain?

If you don’t want your Athletic Knit printed cross-grain, simply leave a note on your order indicating that you’d like the design printed on grain.

Forgot to leave a note? No problem, just email us and request your order be printed on grain. Be sure to include your order number. Send emails to info@waymakerfabrics.com and we’ll take care of it.

Why skip cross-grain?
Some patterns or projects need extra length, especially when the print is directional like the one shown above. Printing on grain ensures you can use the full fabric length without worrying that the design will run the wrong way or come up short.

Popular Uses for Athletic Knit

Thanks to its compression, recovery, and stretch, this fabric works beautifully for:

• Leggings – smooths, sculpts, and stretches with you

• Sports Bras – supportive with excellent recovery

• Dresses and Skirts – drapes well with a structured yet soft feel

• Athletic Tops and T-Shirts – lightweight comfort with movement

• Swimwear – water-friendly with quick-drying properties

  • 👉 Note: Our Athletic Knit is NOT chlorine resistant.

If you love DIY fashion or custom sewing, Athletic Knit is one of the most versatile fabrics you can add to your stash.

The Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Excellent compression and recovery for a smoothing effect

• Ultra-soft peached finish for comfort

• Vibrant, long-lasting colors- Polyester is engineered to provide the most vibrant colors.

• Printed cross grain to minimize white out

Cons:

• Polyester content (some sewists prefer natural fibers)

• Since the fabric is printed cross grain, you may need to size up your pattern for a comfortable fit

• The length of the directional design is limited to the fabric width when printed cross-grain. 

How to Purchase Athletic Knit

We make shopping simple! We digitally print all of our designs onto your choice of 11 base fabrics including Athletic Knit. Here’s how:

1. Shop by design – Browse our available collections:

   • All Available Fabrics

2. Select the base fabric you want the design printed on (choose Athletic Knit!)

3. Add to cart, continue shopping, or head to checkout

👉 Note: Because photos are often taken by sewists in different lighting, colors may look slightly different in person. Also, keep in mind that different fabrics absorb color differently, so there may be slight variations between bases.

Final Thoughts

If you’re looking for a high-quality, stretchy activewear fabric that combines durability, comfort, and vibrant prints, our Athletic Knit fabric is a must-try. Whether you’re sewing leggings, sports bras, or even a swimsuit, you’ll love the way this fabric performs.

Ready to start your next project? Browse our designs today and have them printed on our Athletic Knit base fabric for your one-of-a-kind creation.