Arts in Daily Living - Fabric Construction

Learning Objectives

Fabric is any piece of cloth or other material produced by weaving cotton, nylon, wool, silk, or other threads together.
Fabrics are used for making things such as clothes, curtains, and sheets.
Fabric is anything that we make through weaving, crocheting, or knitting that we can use to make further goods.

Weaving:
- The indigenous Bontoc community from the mountain province is known for the Bontoc textile.
- Characterized by geometric patterns such as zigzags, diamonds, and human figures.
Crocheting:
- One of the oldest craft forms, yet younger than knitting.
- Origin claimed by countries like Arabia, South America, or China.
Knitting:
- Not merely a craft but a profound expression of culture and creativity that has evolved over centuries.

Weaving is a very common method of making fabrics that has been used since ages.
Threads or yarn go through a process called weaving to be converted into a fabric.
In weaving, two or more threads run perpendicular to each other to make a pattern called warp and weft.
- Warp threads run up and down the length of the fabric.
- Weft threads run sideways across the fabric.
The weaving of the two threads creates a woven pattern called fabric.
Weft threads go over the warp thread and then under the next warp thread.

Knitted fabric is a textile that results from knitting, the process of inter-looping of yarns or inter-meshing of loops.
Its properties are distinct from woven fabric in that it is more flexible and can be more readily constructed into smaller pieces.
Making it ideal for socks and hats.

Most of the fabrics are made by weaving or knitting.
Nonwoven fabrics are not fabrics as they have no internal structure as such.
Felting and bonding are used to create nonwoven fabrics, whereas weaving requires warp and weft threads to create an interlaced pattern like weaving in baskets.
Woven fabrics are much stronger than nonwoven fabrics.
Nonwoven fabrics are mostly used for interlining or to make hats or other handicrafts.

Warp and weft are the two basic components used in weaving to turn thread or yarn into fabric.
The lengthwise or longitudinal warp yarns are held stationary in tension on a frame or loom.
The transverse weft (sometimes woof) is drawn through and inserted over-and-under the warp.

Fabric selvage is the tightly woven edge that runs along each side of a piece of fabric's lengthwise grain, which is also called the fabric's warp.
Selvage edges can be seen on the edges of quilting fabric that are at the top and bottom of a bolt of fabric.

Fabric construction is defined as the warp and weft yarn density in a fabric sheet.
The construction of the fabric is presented as EPI (ends per inch) and PPI (picks per inch).
Cotton count: count is defined as the number of 840 yards length of yarns in one pound.
- Count = number \, of \, 840 \, yard \, lengths \, of \, yarns \, in \, one \, pound