Textile Update

How will changes in water availability impact the sustainability of cotton? With climate change, we see some changes in how much and what quality of water is available in different regions of the globe. Places that used to depend on rain to grow their crops might see less in the future while other places will deal with increased flooding or sea level changes. Cotton competes with food for water, s...

Cotton is a popular fiber and this makes it a popular topic for research and development for sustainability. In this episode, I discuss the difference between conventional and organic agriculture in the United States and how this might impact the sustainability of cotton. My goal is to introduce concepts related to agriculture to my fashion students and explain how genetic modification is used in...

I haven’t started a new season of this podcast, which is a companion to my Textiles course at Texas State University because the course is complete.  However, I know that some people are looking for a recent episode to decide if the podcast is worth the listen. I will also be uploading two episodes from a lecture I am giving at a University in Tokyo in December. So, if you new to Textil...

I start a new season of the podcast with each new session of my Textiles course. Rather than make students go back in time, I duplicate episodes from previous seasons, and put them in the proper order. Season 3 will start on January 20th, but I am going to release the first episode, on Fiber Properties, a bit early to whet your appetite. If you have been listening to Season 2, you can continue to...

Water, stains, we can repel them all! Radiation, Fire, no problem!

Changing the properties of textiles is the goal of functional finishing.

Besides Luster and Hand, we can change the Design or Texture of fabrics.

Aesthetic finishes are used to change the look or feel of fabric by changing the luster or the hand.

Routine finishes include bleaching, ironing and tentering.

Printing and dyeing can have some quality issues that it is helpful to understand.

Direct printing also includes screen printing and inkjet printing while indirect printing solves a problem we have since the invention of synthetic polymers.

The methods used for printing have developed over time.

We can dye at different stages during the production process. We can use dyes to make designs in a process called “resist printing”.

How do we improve the affinity of dyes for fibers?

We give color to textiles using dyes and pigments.

We don’t need to use fibers to make nonyarn fabrics, we can just use polymers in solution or look to nature.

The nonyarn fabrics usually have fairly descriptive names.

We can make fabrics without using yarns.

Weft and warp knits don’t have warp or weft yarns, but they do go in different directions. The warp knits include tricot and raschel knits.

The weft knits include jersey, rib and purl knits.

Knits are far newer than wovens and borrow vocabulary from wovens.

Double cloths can use 3, 4 or 5 yarns instead of the usual two. Textured weaves, on the other hand, stick to familiar methods to create a subtle pebbly surface.

Pile weaves can be made in so many ways and produce so many fabrics, including velvet, velveteen and corduroy. Plus, let’s dig into carpet!

The Jacquard Weave is pretty fancy, while the Leno weave is pretty dull looking.

The Dobby weave was very popular for several hundred years and remains a great choice for interiors.