Cotton is a material used in traditional dress for both male and female wearers. In the past, cotton has been used to make sarees and churidar, as it is a suitable fabric for both of these styles.

There are many different kinds of cotton dress materials, from the completely plain one-colour cotton, to more plush and expensive embroidered cotton dress material, which is often created on a machine these days.

Cotton dress material is often bought in a large amount, and then cut down to suit the wearer; the maker will cut the cloth to suitable sizes before the clothing is made.

Plain cotton dress material is the most cost-effective cotton for making clothes from. This is a simple one-tone fabric; most common colours for this type of cotton dress materials are the primary colours; red, blue and yellow, Plain cotton fabric allows the cloth to be cut in any direction, which means that the amount of cloth used can be smaller.

Cotton dress material with only one colour also means that any clothing made out of this fabric is easily co-ordinated with other attire – no need to worry about clashing with the pattern.

Patterned cotton dress material also has many positive attributes. Embroidered material makes a plain cut into an attractive suit, as well as providing interesting fabric patterns.

Some types of patterned cotton dress material are hand-milled, and this kind of expensive and detailed work makes it ideal cloth to fashion a wedding outfit from.

Hand-made cotton dress material is obviously a lot more expensive than machine milled fabric, so the former cotton is usually use in making suits and costumes for special occasions. Simply embroidered and patterned fabrics can be used for more everyday items of clothing, and with the right kind of cut and stitching, can make very attractive outfits.