School Notes

Today was difficult.  I could barely wake up this morning.  Even though I managed to not sleep through my classes, I wasn’t getting any of “it.” Probably trying to recover from an entire weekend of arm-wrestling, pigging out, gambling, drinking, cooking—or, rather, helping my mom cook—, cleaning, visiting relatives and my grandpa at Oakhill, and whatever else you’re supposed to do for Vietnamese New Year.  No, I’m not complaining, especially since my old ass still gets red envelopes.  Don’t hate.

Anyway, I’m going to use today’s post to review some of the concepts I learned in Fabrics II and Draping.

Fabrics II

Evaluating Fabric

The purpose is to become adept at choosing the appropriate fabric for a specific garment.  To do this, we go through a mental checklist of the fabric’s appearance, hand, and drapability to evaluate suitability.  Since I am not yet a veteran designer, this checklist is less mental and more written.

I.                    Appearance (color, luster, pattern). 

A.      If woven, identify colors and yarn type in the warp¹ and weft¹.

II.                  Fabric’s hand

The fabric’s hand consists of many categories and terms used within those categories.  It gets confusing because some of the categories are very similar to each other or not as straightforward as you think.

A.      Flexibility: pliable to stiff

                                                 1.      In/ability to bend

                                                 2.      Pliable: bends easily

                                                 3.      Stiff: cannot bend

B.      Compressibility: soft to hard

                                                 1.      amount you can wad into a ball—the more fabric you can fit in your hand, the more compressible it is

                                                 2.       soft:  high compressibility (you can fit most/all in your hand)

                                                 3.      hard: low compressibility (you cannot fit in your hand)

C.      Extensibility: stretchy to stable

                                                 1.      In/ability to stretch and recover

                                                 2.      Stretchy: stretches to double its length/width and when unstretched, it goes back to its original shape/size.

a.       Important because you don’t want clothes to stretch out, get baggy, or lose shape.

                                                 3.      Stable: has little or no stretch.

D.      Resilience: springy to limp  

                                                 1.      how much it wrinkles

                                                 2.      how lofty it is or how much body it has

                                                             a.      when you wad into a ball and then let go, how it springs/doesn’t spring back into shape

                                                 3.      springy: more resilient because it doesn’t wrinkle or wrinkles less, lots of body/loft

                                                 4.      limp: very little or no resilience so it wrinkles easily, no body/loft

E.       Density: compact to open

                                                 1.      Thick or thinness

                                                 2.      Compact: dense and thick, air/light cannot pass through, isn’t sheer, transparent, or “see-through”

                                                 3.      Open: thin, sheer, air/light can pass through easily, “see-through”

F.       Surface friction: slippery to harsh

                                                 1.      Slippery: smooth surface, no texture

                                                 2.      Harsh: rough surface, has a texture

G.      Surface contour: smooth to rough

                                                 1.      Smooth: no texture, no bumpiness  

                                                 2.      Rough: has a texture, bumpiness  

**Surface friction and surface contour seem very similar. And they use synonyms! Slippery and smooth, rough and harsh. I’ll have to consult my teacher on these two.

H.      Thermal character: cool to warm

                                                 1.      immediate temperature when held in hand. Don’t hold too long because, eventually, your hand will warm up the fabric.

                                                 2.      Cool: feels cool on skin

                                                             a.      example: satin

                                                 3.      Warm: feels warm on the skin  

                                                            b.      Example: wool or flannel

III.                Drapbility

A.      How does it gather?

1.  Soft folds

2.  bulky and hard to control

B.      How does it drape over the body?

1.  Hang softly and cling
2.  form stiff folds

C.      Does the fabric appear stable or flimsy?

1.  stable: structured, holds shape

     a. example: wool

2.  flimsy: doesn’t hold shape

     a. example: silk or chiffon     

3.  How does it react when hung from the bias³?

Arughhh! The formatting won't change. I'm too exhausted for the notes on draping.  I'll save that for tomorrow.

¹Warp are the yarns that go in the lengthwise, vertical direction and weft yarns run in the horizontal direction.  The way you can tell is to locate the selvage (the finished part of the fabric that does not fray) and the warp yarns will run the along the selvage direction and the weft yarns run perpendicular to the selvage. 

If there is no selvage or you cannot locate it, you can hold the fabric with both hands (each hand on opposite sides—left and right sides) and pull.  Then, place each hand on the top and bottom of the fabric and pull.  The direction that is stretchier or has more give will be the weft yarns.

² Fabric hand is the tactile sensations we get when we touch the fabric.

³Bias is the diagonal direction of the fabric.  This is where there is the most stretch.  When fabric is hung or cut on the bias, the warp and weft threads placed/cut in a diagonal direction instead of vertically and horizontally.