Removing Fabric Glue

There are different types of glues on the market. If you are removing a glue that is not a water-based craft glue, contact the glue manufacturer for stain-removal recommendations.

Books on Textile

Below are some Recommended Books on Textile;

Digital Textile Design: Portfolio Skills (Portfolio Skills: Fashion & Textiles)
by Melanie Bowles and Ceri Isaac (May 6, 2009)

Adobe Photoshop for Textile Design - for Adobe Photoshop CS3
by Frederick L Chipkin (May 2007)

TEXNETT for Textile Business

TEXNETT for Textile Business

Texnett.com, a division of 'Fascination Infotech' is the one stop shop for all your apparel and textile needs! It is an industry specific site and lends itself to promotion of business to business transactions in the apparel and textile industry.

The main aim of the site is to provide information in order to facilitate a good buy and a competitive sale. The information can be retrieved through data that is already available on texnett in the form of member listings in the various categories, products and services placed in the section for the same, deals that have already been placed, etc. Alternatively you can publish your requirements through a free membership in the form of deals, etc.

Pintuck Bedding, Linen, Shirts & Dresses

Twin needles are perfect for many different types of mbellishing and utilitarian uses. One of the most common uses of this handy notion is to make pintucks—those tiny raised ridges featured on heirloom garments, or as accents on contemporary clothing and home decorating projects. Pintucks are often used in combination with laces and trims on heirloom garments, and they can also be used as accents on garment sections, such as collars or yokes.

 

The best pintucks are made on lightweight fabrics, such as batiste or lawn, though with some thread tension adjustments they can be equally as stunning on denim or satin. Very heavy or pile fabrics generally don't tuck well, though twin-needle stitching can still be used for accent.

Pintucks are created using a combination of a double needle and a grooved pintucking foot. The twin needles are available in various spacings (from 1.6 to 8.0mm apart) and the smaller the space, the tinier the tuck. Pintucking feet are available for most sewing machine brands, and they often come in a choice of groove configurations — 3, 5, 7 or 9 indentations across the underside of the foot; the higher the number, the smaller the grooves

Cross Stitch

Cross-stitch is a counted-thread embroidery stitch in which X-style stitches in a tiled, raster-like pattern are sewed to make a picture. Cross-stitch is usually executed on easily countable evenweave fabric called aida cloth. The stitcher counts the threads in each direction so that the stitches are of uniform size and appearance. This form of cross-stitch is also called counted cross-stitch in order to distinguish it from other forms of cross-stitch. Sometimes cross-stitch is done on designs printed on the fabric (stamped cross-stitch); the stitcher simply stitches over the printed pattern.

Straight Stitch

A straight stitch is the most common stitch in sewing. It is a simple way to connect two pieces of fabric. Straight stitch is the basic stitch used for sewing garments, home dec and craft projects

On most machines the straight stitch length can be adjusted from zero (stitching in one place without moving the fabric) to up to 6mm long. When sewing seams, use a straight stitch 2mm to 2.5mm long, depending on the fabric. A shorter stitch length is used on lightweight fabrics that tend to pucker. A length of 6mm is used for gathering and for basting. Some machines offer an even longer straight stitch variation specifically for basting. A length of zero, where the needle actually stitches up and down in the same place, is used to anchor a seam at the beginning and end of the stitching line.

Textile Textures

One definition of texture is the surface of a material as perceived by touch. Running a hand over a surface may find it to be smooth, rough, dull, glossy, hairy, sandy or bumpy. Texture is very important in textiles, and how fabric feels is an important consideration in product choice. Texture can be seen as well as touched and artists and designers can use a variety of techniques to convey textures when none is actually there. Repetition of design elements can often create a visual illusion of texture.

Value and Tones in Textile Designing

Between the whitest white and the blackest black there are countless degrees of light and dark values.
Value is important to the designer. Shapes that are close in value or tone appear to merge together. Visually dark values appear to come forward and light values tend to recede, but the reverse can occur. Sharply contrasting values attract attention and the use of light against dark or dark against light can create the illusion of size difference.

Colour psychology

There is a commonly held belief that red is exciting and green calming. But which red and which green? Research has shown that strong greens, yellows and blues are all seen to be as exciting as strong red. The same research also showed that pale and dark versions of the same hues have quite the reverse effect. Pink has a calming effect on violent people. 

A common belief is that blue increases the size of a room while red has the opposite effect. Recent research, however, has shown that it is not the colour itself that has this effect but rather its value, the amount of whiteness or blackness. However, with regard to temperature, colour does have a very definite effect. Red and yellow rooms are perceived to be warmer than blue and green rooms.

Textile Colour Systems

As the human eye can distinguish between 10 million colours, it is clear that to describe colour experiences by name is imprecise. While everyone knows what is meant by tomato red, different people have different ideas as to exactly what colours are meant by beige and sand; mauve and lilac. In order to accurately describe or pinpoint colours, a reference or colour system is required.

All the attempts to notate colour can be traced back to the work of Sir Isaac Newton. In 1660 he re-created a spectrum by directing a narrow beam of white light through a prism; he went on to develop a colour wheel by taking the two ends and bending the spectrum into a circle. This colour wheel evolved and changed over the centuries and in 1810 Otto Runge created a spherical model, with white at the North Pole and black at the South Pole and with Newton’s colour circle forming its equator. In 1915 Williem Ostwald devised his double-cone colour solid; also in 1915, Albert Munsell developed another system of colour notation that added steps to the constituent hues.

Textile Colour Mixing

There are two ways to mix colour – ‘additive’ and ‘subtractive’.
Additive colour is the mixture of coloured lights. Three primary colours of red, green and blue when mixed together in equal colours produce white light. Mixing the three additive primaries in differing amounts of coloured light can create any colour in the rainbow. Colour televisions use the principle of additive colour mixing.

In subtractive colour mixing the principle is exactly the opposite. The subtractive primary colours are cyan, yellow and magenta. When mixed together they subtract from the light producing black. When different pairs of the subtractive primaries are mixed, the colour red, green and blue are produced. These principles are used when we paint and in photography and colour printing.

Textile Colours

Under normal light conditions, well over 10 million different colours can be seen. Throughout history, the study of colour and the development of colour theories were frequently undertaken by artists and designers, and many artists have spent their lives attempting to understand colour. Seurat wanted to apply a scientific system to the methods of the Impressionists, and his Pointillist theories, where dots of colour from a restricted colour palette were used to create the impression of a wide range of colour, clearly show his fascination with analyzing colours.

Essence of Space in Textile Designing

Space flows in, around and between forms or shapes. A flat surface has only two-dimensional space. This means that it has length and width but no depth. It is impossible to create actual depth or space on a flat surface but an illusion of space, distance or depth is possible. There are many methods used by artists and designers to create this sense of space, and to convince the observer that there is space and depth when, in fact, they are victims of a type of visual deception. Objects placed higher up can create the feeling of depth of distance. Overlapping shapes can also create the feeling of depth, as can converging lines.

If, in two-dimensional art and design, space exists purely as an idea or concept, it leaves the artist or designer free to compress or stretch it as they wish, to portray the particular feeling that is desired.

Forms in Textile Designing

Form is structure. In art and design, form is the illusion of three-dimensional volume or mass seen in two dimensions. Careful observation of the forms around reveals that, in nature and in man-made objects, many forms can be described as combinations of the basic geometric structures; spheres, cylinders, cones, cubes and pyramids. Paul Cezanne, the impressionist artist, in his landscapes and still lifes, explored how these basic geometric shapes combined to make more complex shapes.

Shapes in Textile Designing

When a line turns and meets up with its start point, a shape is created. A shape or figure is a positive thing and occupies positive space. The area surrounding a shape is called the background or ground. It is a negative thing and occupies negative space. Shapes can be clearly defined with hard edges but often they are not clearly defined, which means that it is more difficult to see where shape ends and background begins.

Lines in Textile Designing

A line can be a mark made by a pen or drawing instrument or it can be any continuous mark that causes the eye to follow along its path. The viewer’s eye travels along the path of a line because a line is longer than it is wide. A line moves, and as it does so it indicates direction. A straight line leads the eye swiftly across the picture plane but the eye travels more slowly when following the path of a jagged line.

Lines appear in different ways. There are curved lines and straight lines. These can be long or short, thick or thin, ragged, sharp, light dark, simple or complex. Lines can be made from repeating similar elements, as diverse as dots people, in a lengthways direction. Lines can be used to create form, to give depth. Lines can be carefully controlled to create optical sensations and can be used to project feelings of sensitivity and strength.

Textile Design Elements

Design features, the elements and principles of design, can be called the language of art and design. Pick up one of the many books on design and these elements and principles will be there, although they may be detailed slightly differently in each. This is, in part, due to the way that in any one work of art no one element or principle can exist in isolation.

The design principles of balance, movement, repetition, emphasis, contrast and unity are what artists and designers do with the design elements to make the art form or design. Designing can be defined as relating and visually arranging components or elements to create effects. Some of basic elements are as under;

Textile Designing Basic Concepts

Textiles are frequently made to be decorative and are used to embellish and decorate both people and objects. The designers responsible for such textiles have to balance many factors when answering a design brief. What is the fabric for? How must it perform? Who is the customer? What are the economic restraints? How is the fabric to be produced? Etc.

Research into how people select products shows that colour and appearance are two of the most significant factors, with handle, performance and price coming lower down in terms of importance. Textile designers therefore need to have a good understanding and sensitivity to colour and aesthetics.
The same design elements and principles apply to design as to fine art, and an understanding of and an ability to use these are as vital to the designer as to the fine artist.

20 Best Fashion Sketches Samples

Presentation Tips for Fashion and Textile Designer

Measuring

Measurement should be accurate. Time taken to measure with a ruler will save time in re-sticking and re-mounting work. If a piece of artwork is intended to be in the middle of a board, then measure to ensure it is. If a right angle is intended,  then make sure it is right angle.

Cutting

Sharp scissors and cutting knives should be used. The modeling knives that have blades with a series of removable sections are excellent. Ragged cutting lines can be avoided by a cutting on a suitable surface. Where available, use a guillotine. Paperwork that is deliberately torn should look as if this is intended and not that the mounting is just careless. For cutting fabrics, sharp scissors are a must.