Professional Documents
Culture Documents
TEXTILES 1
FURNISHING FABRICS:
Decorating and transforming space with fabrics is a reversible process; fabrics are
usually easily interchangeable (e.g. the old tradition of summer and winter curtains),
and therefore the use of them can be responsive to moods, weather, and occasion.
Before selecting fabrics, the functional, aesthetic and psychological aspects of the
interior you are hoping to achieve need to be taken into consideration.
Why fabrics?
to transform the spatial impression, and possibly dimensions, of an interior
to reflect the taste and interests of the occupant/s (gender, profession, cultural
background, attitude, etc)
to add colour and pattern in interior decoration
to give warmth and comfort, both thermal (insulation) and aesthetic and emotional
(texture and colour)
to control the play of light filtering, absorbing, reflecting, depending on fabric type
and use
to change the acoustics of the interior architecture, e.g. by reducing the echo
to add a sensation of comfort and luxury
to give period authenticity through colour, pattern, motifs and scale
to allow privacy
Properties of fabric
Where to find out
Some of the fabric properties listed below will be evident in the fabric swatch itself,
or on the specifications label attached to it. Others (e.g. colour fastness, rub count)
can only be got from the company, through the Customer Services, Quality Control
department, or the Production Manager (depending on the nature and the structure
of the company).
Page 1 of 6
1.
Fibres
NATURAL FIBRES
ANIMAL
Short staple
(PROTEIN)
Wool (sheep/lambs), cashmere (goats), angora (angora
rabbits), mohair (angora goats) alpaca, vicuna, camel, yak etc.,
(Must be spun to create a yarn for weaving).
Horse hair (tail hair can only be used in the weft with cotton,
linen or silk in the warp creates narrow width fabrics.)
Silk (unravelled, the cocoon produces over a kilometre of
yarn)
Medium staple
Long staple:
VEGETABLE
Seed head:
Bast or stem:
Leaf:
(CELLULOSIC)
Cotton, coir (coconut), kapok
Flax/linen, hemp, jute, ramie
Sisal, manila
(MAN MADE from regenerated/modified cellulosic
plant or paper waste)
Viscose, Modal, Acetate, Triacetate, rubber etc.,
MINERAL
2.
Yarns
Page 2 of 6
3.
Cloths: Structure
Woven fabrics of warp (lengthwise) and weft (crosswise) threads intersected at right
angles; the density, functional behaviour, drape, and texture, are all conditioned by
the cloth structure see Appendix for fabric types and uses.
Non-woven fabrics of bonded fibres, such as felt; note that baize is a woven cloth,
felted in the finishing process.
Knitted fabrics generally warp-knitted, for stretch upholstery, and also some sheer
fabrics
4.
Durability testing
a) Flame retardance: this is currently a big issue in the UK, due to new
government legislation introduced in March 1990, which applies to
domestic as well as contract use. The following flammability code is used
by many fabric manufacturers and converters:
A
B
C
G
H
L
M
N
N.B. flame proofing causes changes in colour; and therefore possible problems in
colour matching; best to send a batch cutting to the flame-proofing for testing. Some
retail stores will arrange proofing for you but you might be charged around 3.00
per metre. An alternative is to use flame-retardant backing cloth.
b) Colour fastness: many firms will not guarantee fabric against colour
fading. In the United States a 1-5 rating system is used, ranging from Class
5 (no or negligible fading or colour alteration) to class 1 (excessive fading
or alteration of colour). but in Western Europe the standard is the xenon
fadometer, registering a scale of 1-8; ratings of 6 and above are
considered good. Sunlight is the crucial factor, though heat, dust, gas
fumes and abrasion also effect change.
c) Crocking i.e. dye loss through excess dyestuff rubbing off onto another
fabric is measured on a similar scale as colour fastness; denim suffer
crocking, which is more a problem for the second fabric than itself.
d) Colour abrasion can happen with fabrics printed with thick or light
coloured pigments, does cause considerable change in the appearance of
colour. When cleaning, follow manufacturers' recommendations very
often dry cleaning will be recommended.
Page 3 of 6
e) Abrasion: the Martindale Wear and Abrasion Test is the most accurate
measure of durability, because it best simulates normal wear; normal
wear is caused by friction between clothing (apparel fabric) and
upholstery fabric. The Martindale test involves moving a foam- backed,
wool cloth abradent in a multidirectional pattern, to simultaneously test
both warp and weft. The test is measured by the number of rubs with
stood by the fabric without noticeable wear, approximately as follows:
light upholstery
medium or residential
contract or heavy-duty
10,000
20,000
40,000
5.
a dyed fabric (the discharge takes away the background colour, and substituting it
with another as in colour discharge printing) used for cloths with dark
backgrounds. The fastest dyestuffs are the vat dyes expensive.
6.
Printing
Block printing; used for furnishing textiles, from the very beginning of printed
textile production in Europe to today (though very little is done now very
expensive and a dying skill)
Copper plate printing also historic method of printing.
Copper roller printing very rarely done today: uneconomical
Screen printing is in general use (derived from stencilling): flat-bed and rotary
hand, semi automatic, and fully automatic: rotary printing is the most economical
(in conjunction with pigments) being the fastest but it does the size of repeat;
flat bed produces better quality and more versatility.
7.
Finishing
content and reduce static electricity in synthetics, especially nylons; many flame
retardant finishes have been developed recently, and are subject to much more
research due to new UK fire regulations.
8.
9.
Distribution of colour
It is possible to achieve fantastic all- over effects by mixing colour, e.g. in shot silks,
checks, stripes which can be woven with the simplest of looms i.e. with only two
shafts
In hand weaving, you have much more versatility (as in embroidery or intarsia
knitting) and can therefore place colour in an incidental way (may use up old scraps
of thread; but not economical to use too many colours in commercial production)
But in mechanized weaving, colour must be thrown across from selvedge to
selvedge, and tensioned from one end to the other of the warp; unless stripes are
deliberately intended, the designer must try to avoid annoying "banding" of colour
In printed textiles, the greater the number of colours, the more expensive the fabric.
10.
Wool
Linen
Cotton
Silk
Horsehair
Page 6 of 6