Saturday, October 12, 2024

Of T-shirt Yarns & Twill: Wet Finishing the Sampler

Wet finishing was the test. It's a process of soaking and washing newly woven fabric, which serves to relax, settle, soften, full, and shrink the yarns according to fiber content and weave structure. My first two t-shirt yarn fabrics (wanna-be bathroom rug and wanna-be upholstery fabric) did not turn out as hoped after wet finishing. What I learned led to this last sampler

Fresh off the loom, unwashed, 5.75" by 24.25"

Wet finishing consisted of machine washing in tepid water and hot machine drying. Ordinarily, I line dry everything, but the dryer serves to help test the fabric to its limits.

After machine washing only. 5" by 21.25"

Most notable is the plain weave section on the right. It did not shrink as much as the remaining twill samples, with a width of 5.75 inches. This was not unexpected.

After machine washing and drying. 4.75" by 20.375" (twills)

I was much happier with how these held up than with the crackle samples. The plain weave sample was, well, plain. But the twill samples were interesting because of the patterns the warp yarn made. 

From the left: twill & reverse, balanced 2/2 twill, and plain weave

From the left: crepe weave, vertical skip twill, and vertical herringbone

The longer warp float in the twill & reverse sample (left) wasn't as much of a problem as it was in the previous samples. Even though I like the zig zags, I think this twill is better suited for finer yarns. The vertical herringbone (yellow sample) resolved that with crisp neat lines. 

Overall, I liked the density and thickness of the fabric. I think it would work well for a throw rug.

I'm happy to have come up with a good structure for this yarn! I'm happy with what I learned and have to thank the problems for that. I learn so much better through experience that by just reading a book. 

So, a t-shirt bathroom rag rug is still on the planning board. I'll just need to collect more t-shirts first. 

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