All About Looks

This past week my interiors class went on another field trip. This time we went to an upscale interior fabrics store called All About Looks. It was a very cool store, filled with lots of different fabrics and hardware used in residential interior settings.

We were able to meet the owner who runs the shop with her two daughters. They got started by making baby bedding and other baby related items for themselves and their friends. Before long other people began requesting their work for other things like full sized bedding and drapery. None of them received an education in the field that they are now working however they were able to learn quiet aptly through trial and error. Before long they were able to grow into the thriving business they have now.

All About Looks is a unique fabric retail store that sells a wide range of fabrics used in many different interior applications. They have printed cottons to fine silks to drapery hardware. On our tour of the shop the owner first showed us some of the more fashionable and popular fabrics this year. I took pictures of some of the ones that I found most interesting.

Above is a picture of a sample book of very stylish wallpapers. The owner of All About Looks believes that wallpaper is slowly coming back into fashion and I would have to agree with her after looking at the many options. The one shown above was very interesting. It came in a wide range of patterns and designs but it only came in the color white. This is so that after it is applied to the wall it can be painted in any color desired.

Another interesting thing I found was this pillow covered in the fabric shown above. The fabric is made out of cork. It was quite soft and comfortable which was very surprising considering that it is made out of wood.

We also talked about the many different ways that fabric can be made visually appealing. There were hides that were dyed to look like zebra skin and plain cotton fabrics that a company will print it in a variety of different patterns.

Above is a picture of one of the most interesting hides that had somehow had newspaper clippings imbedded in it.

Besides selling fabrics, All About Looks provides a number of different services including upholstery. On our tour we were shown the back room and introduced to the man that does the upholstery. He does more than recover pieces of furniture however. He can also adds changes to the frame like raising the back or adding more padding to arms. We learned that it is important to find someone who really knows what they’re doing when it comes to upholstery. If you are unlucky you can end up with unsatisfactory work that will not last as long as it should.

This was an extremely fun field trip. It was a dream being surrounded by all those really cool and fascinating fabrics, while also learning about what is in style right now. The owner and her daughters were really nice and I could tell that they know what they are doing. I was also able to learn many useful things that will be a great benefit as I pursue an education and then a career in the field of interior design.

Fiber and Biopolymer Research Institute #1

On September 12^th, my interior design ---- class went on a field trip to Texas Tech’s Fiber and Biopolymer Research Institute. “FBRI occupies 110,000 square feet of space allowing researchers to conduct testing and evaluation from the raw fiber stage through the finished textile product” (“Fiber and biopolymer,”). While the primary purpose of the Fiber and Biopolymer Research Institute is research, we were able to see the different production processes involved in turning raw cotton fibers into yarn and then into fabric. The section of the tour that I found most interesting and informative was the creation of yarn.

We were first taken to the warehouse where the cotton arrives in a very unusable form. Short fibers and long fibers are mixed together along with trash, dirt, leaves and other unwanted things. This mixture is also compressed for transportation purposes. We were then taken to the first room that contained a series of machines that open up the cotton fibers and filter out the trash and unwanted short fibers. The clean long fibers are then moved to a second series of machines that are located in a separate room for a process called carding. This is a secondary cleaning process that further removes short fibers and trash. A small percent of cotton fibers are then also combed which “provides more extensive cleaning than is provided by the card” (Wakelyn). Both of these steps ultimately leave behind the long cotton fibers, “collect[ing] [them] into a rope-like form called a “sliver”” and put the sliver in a container allowing for its transfer to the next set of machines (Wakelyn).

The man giving us the tour showed us that the fibers in the sliver are crimped and wavy and not exactly parallel to each other. He explained that these are unwanted properties so a process called drawing is required in order to produce a good quality yarn. We were shown a drawing machine which uses heavy rollers to do several things to the slivers.  The machine takes several containers of slivers and blends them together while flattening and straightening the fibers and putting in a slight twist (Wakelyn). This creates a single sliver that is thinner, longer and more even throughout the length. The sliver can then either be used in open-end spinning or go through a procedure called roving. Roving again reduces the weight of a sliver and adds additional twist and “the product is now called a roving” (Wakelyn). The roving is also transferred onto a bobbin so it can be used for ring spinning.

Spinning is the process that adds a final amount of twist and a final reduction of weight producing the yarn. There are two different types of spinning and both use different machines. “Currently, over 85% of the world’s yarn is produced on ring-spinning frames” (Wakelyn). The class and I were first taken to the room where ring spinning takes place. With ring spinning the machines produce yarn from a roving, taking it off the bobbin and passing it through small rollers that add the final twist. These yarns are too short to be used in knitting or weaving and must be taken to another machine that binds together the short yarns producing a single continuous yarn of the desired length. After being shown ring spinning we were led into another room containing a single large machine. It was explained that a very small amount of yarn is created through open-end spinning. This type of spinning uses high-speed rotors and is much more efficient than ring spinning. With open-end spinning the sliver is fed directly into the machine which eliminates the need of roving. The yarn is also directly “wound onto packages ready for use in fabric formation” eliminating yet another step that is required for ring spinning (“Open-end spinning,”). However, the yarn produced is not the same quality as the yarn produced through ring spinning which is why ring spinning is still the most prevalent. “Rotor spun yarns are more even, somewhat weaker and have a harsher feel than ring spun yarns” (“Open-end spinning,”).

It was very fascinating to see all the machines and processes required to take cotton from a raw form and end up with a piece of fabric. In all, the trip to the Fiber and Biopolymer Research Institute was very educating. I learned a lot about the production of yarn that will be useful in the context of using different fabrics.  

WORKS CITED

Fiber and biopolymer research institute. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.pssc.ttu.edu/fbri/overview.php

Open-end spinning. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.textileschool.com/School/Spinning/RotorSpinning.aspx

Wakelyn, P. J. (n.d.). Cotton yarn manufacturing. Retrieved from http://www.ilo.org/safework_bookshelf/english?content&nd=857171055

Natural Fibers

A natural fiber is one that comes from fibrous materials found in plants, animal products and sometimes even minerals (Yates et al., 34). There are two different types of natural fibers: cellulosic, or plant, fibers and protein, or animal, fibers. Cotton and linen are cellulosic fibers, while wool and silk are protein fibers. These four commonly used natural fibers have both similar and different characteristics and manufacturing processes.

Fibers have many different characteristics. One characteristic is how well the yarn or fabric accepts dye. Wool and cotton are both absorbent, which gives them great dye affinity. Cotton especially easily absorbs rich, brilliant color. Linen holds color best when treated in a dye bath but when the fabric is printed, good dye saturation is difficult to obtain because of the density of the cellulosic fibers (Yates et al., 38). Because of this, many printed linens are designed to look worn. Another characteristic is abrasion resistance. Cotton is both resistant to abrasion and sunlight, and while silk’s smooth character makes it abrasion resistant, it is sensitive to fading. In contrast to cotton and silk, linen has a low abrasion resistance making it unpopular for upholstery. Linen is also very brittle and lacks resilience, meaning it wrinkles easily. In comparison, wool is springy and naturally regains its shape. Wool does not accept wrinkles or creases created by normal use. Both cotton and silk will blend with other fibers. Silk blends best with certain synthetics like polyester and rayon, while cotton blends well with a variety of fibers making cotton very versatile.

After being harvested, fibers go through manufacturing processes that turn the fibers into yarn and then a finished fabric. The basic manufacturing processes for wool, cotton, and linen are essentially the same because all three are naturally produced in staple form. Staple fibers are produced in “cut” lengths that vary from plant to plant and animal to animal (Yates et al., 34).Therefore, in the basic manufacturing processes of natural fibers, the length of the staple typically determines the process that will be used. For example, short-staple cotton and wool fibers are carded. This manufacturing process smoothes the fibers and arranges them approximately parallel to each other before being spun into yarn (Yates et al., 37). Long-staple cotton and wool fibers can be carded or combed. Combing is a different process that arranges the fibers more strictly parallel to create a smoother, softer, stronger, more lustrous, and more even yarn (Yates et al., 37). Longer-staple wool typically after being carded, will also be combed and then spun on different equipment than the carded wool, or woolen (Yates et al., 39). This process yields worsted yarns which are smoother and have a higher sheen than woolen. Line-linen is produced from staple fibers that typically measure almost up to a yard. These very long staples are usually combed and often mercerized creating a luxurious and durable fabric or yarn. Cotton is also typically mercerized, which is a permanent chemical process where the fiber is impregnated with a caustic soda solution that increases strength, bulk, luster, and dye affinity (Yates et al., 37).

Unlike cotton, wool, and linen, silk is a naturally produced filament fiber, which is a long continuous form of fiber (Yates et al., 35). Silk is harvested from the cocoons of moths or silkworms. Wild silk comes from wild moths that typically eat oak leaves, giving the cocoon a brownish color. These cocoons are harvested after the moth has broken out which leaves a broken filament. These filaments are then treated as staple fibers and are spun into yarn called tussah (Yates et al., 44). On the other hand, cultivated silkworms are normally fed mulberry leaves which produce an almost white cocoon. This silk is harvested before the moth matures and breaks cocoon. The filaments from the unbroken cocoon are reeled as a continuous strand creating reeled silk.

Wool, silk, cotton, and linen are all natural fibers that have both similar and dissimilar characteristics, such as dye affinity or abrasion resistance. Sometimes, these fibers also share manufacturing processes, like carding or combing. While there are similarities between these four natural fibers, their differences are what make each fiber unique and desirable in their own way for a range of functions.

BIBLOOGRAPHY
Yates, Marypaul. Fabrics: A Guide For Interior Designers and Architects. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2002. 34-44. Print