7 Golden Cloth Rules

Basic rules for clothing

1. Only make the cloth mesh as dense as necessary
   If you want small creases you will need higher subdivisions, for anything else try to make the cloths polygon size as big as possible while still being able to bend enough for the needed purpose.
   Don't forget, a single polygon cannot be bent.
   This becomes very visible when doing the old cloth on a table routine. You can either bevel the table or use (much) higher subdivided cloth. Usually beveling or the use of a beveled proxy is the better way.
   
   
2. For fabric use very small flexion and high stiffness values
   Real fabric has very low Flexion forces. You can easily bend it to small radiuses. In Cloth this is reflected by the Flexion setting. Values smaller then 5% will do fine. Also common fabric is rather stiff (will not elongate much when pulled). Using Stiffness values of 100% will ensure this.
   
   
3. Make the eps settings depending on the object size
   EPS (Epsilon) values determine the area around a surface in which a collision will be detected. Usually this should be set to values of 1/10 - 1/100 of the object size.
   Polygon EPS < Edge EPS < Point eps
   If the colliding meshes are equally subdivided you might only need point or edge collision, thus speeding up calculation.
   
   
4. Don't use specular materials if you don't want a rubber like look
   Regardless of the physical behavior of your cloth it will most likely look like rubber if you use materials with speculars. If possible use textures and bump maps to give the cloth structure and a more natural appeal.
   
   
5. Use as few polygons as possible
   The number of polygons in the cloth and collider determine the speed of calculation. Always try to use only as much as needed. If necessary replace the original collider object with a low poly proxy. This might conflict with rule 2. A combination of 0 subdivision Cloth object and Subdivision Surfaces for the cloth might help to smooth out minor problems.
6. Choose correct size
   
   
7. Optimal topology
   When modeling the original cloth you have to keep the largest possible elongation in mind. If you create a skirt you have to model it so there is enough material to allow for leg movement. Especially with long dresses this can be a real problem if you try to keep the fit tight and then create large leg movements. The only other solution for this is to allow for stretching (lower stiffness and higher rubber values. Stretching will show very obviously though.
   To create predictable and visually appealing folds and bending try to use polygons that are equal in size and as square as possible. A square plane will give very good results while a disc with the very differently sized segments and edge lengths will easily lead to problems.