Handbook of Textile Design

J Wilson

• Publisher: Woodhead Publishing
• Year: 2001
• ISBN:
  9781855737532
• Topic: Design
• Subtopic: Industrial Design

Designers in the textile industry have a wide range of roles and responsibilities and are frequently required to make design decisions throughout the manufacturing process. This very practical handbook provides a comprehensive overview of the role of the textile designer within the textile industry. It deals with the all aspects of the design process from the beginning – from how to go about attracting clients through range planning and development to presentation. It firmly locates the work of the textile designer within the wider context of the global textile and clothing industries and considers the process of design for both freelance and in-house designers. Commercial considerations are also covered, together with trend forecasting and the factors influencing purchasing decisions.Based on the author's experience as a textile designer in industry and as a lecturer at UMIST, Manchester, UK, this book covers the entire textile design process from briefing through initial ideas, research and design development, to finished fabrics being sold to garment manufacturers and to retail. The Handbook of textile design is an invaluable reference for students of textile design as well as buyers and merchandisers of textile products, and anyone requiring an understanding of the textile design process.

• The range and diversity of textile design techniques available to the designer
• The professional practice of running a textile design studio
• How design work is carried out from the initial brief all the way through to invoicing the client

1

An overview of textiles and textile design from fibre to product purchase

1.1 The global textile and clothing industries

Textile making is a very ancient craft, with a history almost as old as mankind itself. Remembered and recorded in poetry and ancient stories and myths, textiles have always been important to man. As well as providing protection from the elements, the first textiles were used as decoration, providing status for the owner. They were also used as tools; bags for transporting belongings and for holding food as it was gathered.

Textiles are produced in almost every country of the world, sometimes for consumption exclusively in the country of manufacture, sometimes mainly for export. From cottage industry to multi-national corporation, textiles and clothing are truly global industries.

In 1782, the invention of the steam engine gave the world a new power source and started the Industrial Revolution. Previous to this the production of textiles had been a domestic system, a cottage industry with textiles spun, knitted and woven in the home. By the middle of the nineteenth century, however, there was a whole range of new machines and inventions that were to take textiles into an era of mass production in factories. The development of man-made fibres and new dyestuffs in the early part of the twentieth century, and continuing technological developments, have led and continue to lead to new products and applications. The actual processes of textile manufacture, however, are still very much as they have always been, with the vast majority of cloth being woven or knitted from yarn spun from fibre. And, while much production may be very technologically advanced, hand-produced textiles are still made in many countries exactly as they were many, many years ago.

Nowadays, many different types of companies are involved in the production of textiles and clothing world-wide; some companies own many huge manufacturing plants in many different countries while others will have only a few employees and some may not actually manufacture at all.

1.2 Textile materials, processes, and products

Fibres are manufactured or processed into yarns, and yarns are made into fabrics. Fabrics may be manufactured by a variety of processes including knitting, weaving, lace-making, felt-making, knotting (as in some rug and carpet manufacture), and stitch bonding. These fabrics may be industrial textiles with detailed technical and performance specifications, or they may be sold either to retail or contract as apparel, furnishings or household textiles, where aesthetics may be as, or sometimes even more important than performance. The fabrics may be coloured by dyeing or printing, or be finished to enhance their appearance (such as by brushing) or performance (such as by application of a flame-retardant). A wide diversity of products are made from textile products or have some textile components; textiles go into car tyres, and geotextiles are used for lining reservoirs, while medical applications include artificial ligaments and replacement arteries. Figure 1.1 summarises textile materials, processes and products in chart form.

Fig. 1.1 Textile materials, processes and products.

1.2.1 Design in textiles and clothing

Every textile product is designed: that is, it is made specifically to some kind of plan. Design decisions are made at every stage in the manufacturing process – what fibres should be used in a yarn, what yarns in a fabric, what weight of fabric should be produced, what colours should the yarn or fabric be produced in, what fabric structures should be used and what finishes applied. These decisions may be made by engineers and technologists in the case of industrial or medical textiles where performance requirements are paramount, or, more often in the case of apparel, furnishings and household textiles, by designers trained in aesthetics, technology and marketing. The designers found in the textile and clothing industries are frequently involved throughout the design process, from initial identification of a need/requirement, through research, generation of initial design ideas, design development and testing to ultimate product specification.

1.2.2 Designers found in the textiles and clothing industries

The designers found in textiles and clothing include:

• colourists predicting and forecasting future colour ranges

• yarn designers

• knitted fabric designers

• woven fabric designers

• carpet designers

• print designers

• embroidery designers

• knitwear designers

• garment designers

• accessory designers

• print producers

• stylists

• colourists developing colourways

• repeat artists

1.2.3 Fibres

Fabric is made from yarn, and yarn is made from fibres. These fibres can be either natural or man-made.

Natural fibres include animal fibres (e.g. wool and silk), vegetable fibres (e.g. jute and cotton) and mineral fibres (e.g. asbestos). Man-made fibres are either regenerated or synthetic; viscose rayon, based on regenerated cellulose, is man-made but not synthetic while polyester, polypropylene and nylon are all synthetic fibres.

Synthetic fibres are produced by the large chemical companies including Dupont, Bayer, Hoechst and Astra Zeneca. Many of these companies produce no fabric but specialise in the production of certain types of fibre which they sell on as fibres or manufacture into yarns.

1.2.4 Yarns

Yarn producers or spinners buy in natural and/or man-made fibres to make these into yarns of different sizes and characters; regular and fancy yarns. For many years the main spinning systems could be given as woollen, worsted and cotton, and these systems gave rise to the woollen, worsted and cotton industries. Developments in spinning, however, have led to new spinning systems including ‘open-end’, ‘self-twist’ and ‘jet’ spinning.

At its simplest, yarn production is essentially about taking fibres, organising them so that they lie in a lengthways direction and twisting them to create a yarn. By combining fibre types, and using different spinning systems and machinery, yarns can be developed with individual profiles suitable for a vast range of end uses. Regular yarns are those which have a regular straight profile and these can be twisted together, making ‘two-fold’ or ‘three-fold’ yarns for example. Fancy yarns can be created by deliberately introducing irregularities or intermittent effects along their length. Yarns can be combined together as components of new yarns with different effects and properties from their component parts. As well as changing the appearance of a fabric, the introduction of a fancy yarn will affect the handle and performance of that fabric.

1.2.5 Woven fabrics

Strictly speaking, the definition of a textile is ‘a woven fabric’ but the term textile is now considered to cover any product that uses textile materials or is made by textile processes.

Essentially, woven fabrics are structures produced by interlacing two sets of threads; the warp which runs in a lengthways direction and the weft which runs in a widthways direction. Weaving methods include tapestry and jacquard.

1.2.6 Knitted fabrics

Knitted fabrics are produced by interlacing loops of yarn. In weft knitting, loops are formed one at a time in a weft-ways direction as the fabric is formed. Hand-knitting with a pair of knitting needles is weft knitting. In warp knitting there is a set of warp yarns which are simultaneously formed into loops. To connect these chains of loops the warp threads are moved sideways in such a way as to cause the loops to interlink.

1.2.7 Lace and non-woven fabrics

Fabrics may also be produced by methods other than weaving and knitting. Lace is an open-work fabric made by looping, plaiting or twisting threads by means of a needle or a set of bobbins. Fabrics produced by crochet and macramé are often called lace, although strictly speaking they are not. Knotting is another way of making fabrics. Knotting was a popular pastime for women in eighteenth-century Europe and colonial North America, and one method still seen today is macramé. A knotting process is also used for fishing nets, and some rugs and carpets are knotted — made by tying yarns onto a foundation weave.

There is also a group of fabrics called non-wovens which include true felt (where animal fibres are matted together) and fabrics produced by bonding webs of fibres together by stitching or by sticking with adhesive. However, in terms of volume produced, knitted and woven fabrics are by far the most common methods of fabric production.

1.2.8 Fabric terms

A length of woven or knitted fabric is usually referred to as a ‘piece’. Often, fabric woven by a mill will not be coloured and this undyed fabric is called ‘grey cloth’. Colour can be added by dyeing the piece, and such fabric is referred to as being ‘piecedyed’. Colour can also be added to a fabric by applying pigments or dyes in a printing or other colouring process after weaving or knitting, or by using already dyed yarns in the construction of the fabric. Cloth made from dyed yarns will not normally be dyed again or printed.

‘Finishing’ is what happens after the fabric has been made. The finishing processes employed will be determined by the type of fabric and its performance requirements. Any excess dye will normally be removed, any applied pigment will normally be set, and any dye will be fixed. Fabrics may be brushed or raised to enhance appearance and handle, or fire-retardant and soil-resist treatments may be applied. Fire retardancy may be a product performance prerequisite; ...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright page
• Dedication
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• 1: An overview of textiles and textile design from fibre to product purchase
• 2: Textile designers
• 3: The textile design function
• 4: The principles and elements of textile design
• 5: Commercial aspects of design
• 6: The professional practice of design – 1
• 7: The professional practice of design – 2
• 8: Designing for the future
• 9: Weave and woven textile design
• 10: Weft knitting, weft-knitted fabric and knitwear design
• 11: Printing and printed textile design
• Appendix A: Sample Gantt chart for a textile design project
• Appendix B: Some tips for presenting work
• Appendix C: Example of a simple structure for letters
• Appendix D: Example fabric specification sheet for a woven fabric
• Appendix E: Example fabric specification sheet for a knitted fabric
• Appendix F: Calculating percentage compositions
• Appendix G: Getting press coverage
• Appendix H: A structure for fee letters
• Appendix I: Sample fee letter
• Appendix J: Calculating an hourly rate
• Glossary
• Index