FAQ in cotton spinning-5

FAQ in Cotton Spinning-5

Question: What is the function of calender rollers.
Answer: The function of calender rollers primarily is:
a. To draw the web away from the doffer at a uniform rate as fast as it is stripped.
b. It exerts sufficient pressure on the sliver in order to reduce the bulkiness of this sliver.

Question: How diameter of trumpet hole varies with the thickness of the sliver.
Answer:

Diameter of hole in inches= constant x sqrt (grains/yard of sliver)

constant= 0.022

Question : How does the setting to the following pair of card points affect the quality of sliver produced.
Answer:
Taker in to cylinder: wider settings: creates neps and licker-in gets covered with fibres.
Back Plate to cylinder: wider setting causes fly to blow between flats.
Flats to cylinder: Closer settings gives better quality.
Front Plate to cylinder: closer setting-> reduces the weight of flat strip. wider setting-> results in heavier flat strips.
Doffer to cylinder: wider settings-> creates more neps as fibres go round the cylinder unnecessarily more times.
Feed plate to Licker in : wider settings-> lap is plucked without sufficient opening. So web quality is reduced.

Question: What are different types of carding wastes and their constituents
Answer: Licker- in waste-> short fibres, trash.
Flat Strips-> cotton fibres (short)
Stripping waste ( on cylinder and doffer wire)-> short fibres and trash

Question: Why flexible wire clothing is preferred over metallic wire clothing for running long fibres.
Answer: It is observed that flexible fillet has a more gentle carding action and gives lesser damage to good fibres.

Question: Why draw frame is needed
Answer: The fibres in a card web lie haphazardly criss cross to the web. Besides, fibres have either one or both end bent into the form of hooks. These haphazard fibres are required to be straightened and parallelised to the possible extent, also evenness and regularity of sliver is improved.

Process Control in Cotton Mixing

Process Control in Cotton Mixing

These two lectures answer the following questions:

1. How can I decide about cotton mixing for denim.

2. How can I decide about cotton mixing for making knitted fabric.

3. What is information required for an optimum cotton mixing.

4. What is an ideal cotton mix.

5. What are the steps to create an optimum cotton mix.

6. What are the four components of yarn quality. How each of these is affected by fiber quality.

7. What values of yarn quality parameters can be obtained from a cotton mix of particular fiber attribute.

8. For some pre specified values of yarn characteristics, what are the average values of fibre attributes that we should in cotton mix.

9. What are the various problems due to cotton mixing vairations, case study of fabric barre.

The answers to the above questions will be found here.

FAQ in cotton spinning-4

FAQs in Cotton Spinning
Q. Discuss about the feed rolls used in opening machine with given headings.
(i) Definition, (ii) Construction, (iii) Fundamental, and, (iv) Types of feeding
Q. Define the beater in opening machine.
Q. What are the objects of beater?
Q. Express the drafts and their calculation. What is the difference between the actual draft and mechanical draft?
Q. What are the objects of carding? How are these objects fulfilled
Q. What is meant by card clothing? With a neat sketch show the parts of a card clothing.
Q. What is meant by neps in carding?
Q. Mention and briefly explain the factors in judging the quality of carding.
Q. What are the effects of doubling
Q. Explain about the function of drawing rolls used in drawing frame.
Q. What is meant by cotton combing?
Q. What are the objects of combing? Explain briefly how these objects are fulfilled.
Q. List the various yarn characteristics improved by combing.

Please see the answers to these questions here

FAQ in cotton Spinning-3

FAQ in cotton spinning-3

Q: What are condensers, what is their role ?
Answer: These are perforated cage rollers. They supply a current of air at a high velocity, convey the cotton uniformly from stage to stage and incidently, perform a bit of cleaning by carrying away the floating dust, impurities and short fibres to a separate collection centre.

Q. What is difference between the conventional and the modern blow room lines.
Answer: Modern blowroom lines have more opening points and fewer beating points.

Q. What is the object of carding.
Answer: The objects of carding are three:
1. To open out thoroughly the tiny lumps so that every fibre becomes individualised and the cotton is no more in an entangled state.
2. To remove all impurities, neps, short fibres etc. which have escaped the blowroom action.
3. To prepare the well cleaned material into a compact sliver form and lay into containers for subsequent processes.

Q. Name the three major regions where cleaning takes place.
Answer: Taker-in and flats.

Q. What are the constituents of flat strips.
Answer: The flat strips are mostly short fibres with some of the impurities like kitty leaf bits etc.

Q. Why speed of licker-in is kept less for longer staples.
Answer: Longer fibres are held for longer time by the bite of the feed roller after the licker-in starts working on them. As a result more teeth act on the fringe of the fibres and there is every chance of fibres getting damaged.

Q. What is back plate. What is its function.
Answer: This ia a curved plate covering the cylinder just above the licker-in and its main function is to keep the fibre bunches delivered by licker-in, remain on the cylinder wire till they are taken by the flats. This also helps to prevent the development of undesirable air currents.

Q. What is front plate. What are its purposes. Why it is called percentage plate.
Answer: This is a plate similar to back plate and is fitted at the front just above the front door. This has a three fold purpose namely:
1. To keep the cylinder surface covered in order to prevent the fibres from flying off.
2. To keep all other material away from cylinder.
3. To provide the opening for stripping and grinding the cylinder.

It is known in America as 'percentage plate' as its adjustment helps to regulate the quantity of flat strips.

FAQs in cotton Spinning-2

FAQs in Cotton Spinning

Question: What are the causes of Cotton Fibre degradation

Light in the presence of moisture has a degrading effect on cotton fibres. Heat also affects strength, stretch and life of cotton.

Q: What are neps. How they are formed

Neps are fine specks in the form of tiny balls of entangled fibres. They are formed due to bad mechanical processing conditions. Longer and immature cottons are more prone to neppiness.

Q: What are naps. Hw they are different from neps


Naps contain fibres whcih are entangled together, but much more loosly than those in neps. A nap can open out while it is not possible to open out a nep.

Q. What is the necessity of a blowroom.

Textile mills are generally located far away from the fields where cotton is grown. Therefore, compressing loose cotton into a compact bale form is unavoidable for economic transportation. This cotton has to be opened in the blowroom.

Also during picking and ginning quite a number of impurities get associated with such cotton, to remove all such impurities from the cotton, blowroom sequence of machines is quite necessary.

Q. Why there are so many machines in the blowroom sequence

The real work of opening, cleaning and blending is done by the blowroom machines. The action of opening and cleaning should be gradual. Therefore, a number of machines are required which gradually open and clean the cotton. The machines in the beginning of the line are mostly expected to reduce the lump size, and the latter machines are expected to open out or still reduce the size of fringes or tufts.

Q. What are lattices in blow room line, what is their purpose

Lattices are made up of wooden legs which are either plain or spiked. Horizontally arranged lattices are mostly plain while spiked ones are meant for lifting purposes. They help to move the cotton ahead in regular and uniform quantities.

Q. What is the purpose of beaters.

The object of beating is to shake out the impurities and force them through specially arranged gridbars and perforated sheets.

Q. Why a three bladed beater is better than a two bladed beater

It is heavier in weight and each blow is more forcible than a two bladed beater. Besides, it gives 50% more beats, which means that this can be run at a lower speed than a two bladed beater and incidently reduces vibrations, wear and tear in the machine.

Introduction to textile sizing

Necessity of Warp Sizing
During the weaving process, the yarns are subjected to three basic physical stresses. These are stretch, strain and abrasion. Although these forces exist in varyiing proportions depending upon the type of loom and the fabric styling,all three are forces that must be considered in all cases.Therefore, the ideal sizing material would produce a smooth, tough, elastic film which would adhere to the yarn. It should smooth to friction and abrasion. It should be tough to endure the load or strain and it should be elastic to allow flexibility and sufficient stretch.

Advantage of using Polyvinyl Alcohol in Warp Sizing

PVA is an excellent film provider. Its tough film is easily removed (desized) with hot water. It leads to the following benefits:

-Superior Abrasion resistance
- Adhesion to synthetic fibres
-flexibility/ elongation
-strength
- user friendly slashing performance.

Yarn sized with PVA can run at lower add-on because of the adhesion and strength advantage PVA provides over natural binders. It requires in quantity only 1/3 rd of the starch.

The excellent abrasion resistance means less shedding on the slasher and in the weave room.

The inherent flexibility of films of PVA resins eliminates the need for high Relative humidity in the weave room. A RH of 65-75% are recommended

PVA solutions are thermally stable and can be maintained for lower periods of time at high temperature.

PVA are widely reclaimed and reused for sizing, thus reducing effluent levels from the finishing plant.

PVA and wax together will provide the optimal size performance. Wax is needed to reduce dryer can sticking, weaker film for easier split, minimize clinging on looms and improved lubrication for the size coating. However, excessive use of waxes can lead to poor adhesion, brittleness, roughness and decreased abrasion resistance. Also waxes can be difficult to remove at desizing stage which can lead to quality problems in desized fabrics. It is important to select a wax that contains an effective emulsifier. It will act to prevent wax from redepositing back on the fabric during desizing. Common wax is tallow.

Starch is primarily used as an extender for PVA to reduce formulation cost. However antistats are needed with starch containing formulations to minimize static on warp yarns. Generally they are not needed with 100% PVA sizes. Antistats funciton as humectants, helping to retain moisture in the film while simulatneously plasticising the film. It includes urea, ethylene glycol and glycerol. Recommended level is 3-7%.

Defomers: Size solution can exhibit foam. For this we need defoamers in the levels of 0.25 to 1.00% based on the weight.

Binders- They are used for synthetic fibres- two major types are polyester or polyacrylic solution.

To avoid lappets warp density: For ring Spun 100% cotton - Spacing between adjecent ends should not be less than the diameter of the yarn. For Ring spun P/C blend spacing should not be less than 1.5 times the yarn diameter. For open end yarns, number of yarns per inch should be 10% less than the ring spun yarns of comparable count.

Viscosity: A properly sized warp will have completely encapsulating (360o) the yarn surface to hold down loose fibres. Internal penetration must be sufficient (15-25%) to anchor the size film to the surface of the yarn. Too low a size viscosity allows liquid to penetrate too deeply into the yarn. Too high a viscosity will not allow sufficient penetration to anchor the size. If ends are tightly packed in the size box, viscosity should be lowered to improve penetration.

Temperature of the size box is important for the right viscosity. High temperature may cause PVA to form skin- causing hard size formation when the slasher is stopped. Recommended temperature is 160-185 o F.

Drying can temperature should be set at the minimum to dry the yarn to hte desired moisture content of 5-8%.

Yarn stretch in cotton should be 1-6%, PC should be 1-1.5%, and Rayon/ Acrylic should be 3-5%.

Desizing agents: Can be water for PVA, NaoH for oils/waxes, HCL for starch, Enzyme for starch, Solvents for oils/waxes or peroxide for PVA.

For more details about textile sizing please click here.

Dyeing of silk with lac dye

Dyeing of Silk with Lac Dye

To extract dye, stick lac is crushed into pieces but not into powder form because at the time of boiling, the sticky resin substance melts and sticks to silk fiber thus damaging the material. These small pieces of stick lac are wetted with water overnight and then churned by which dyes with water come out easily in the form of solution as the dyes are water soluble. It is filtered well and care should be taken that even a small piece of resin is not present in the solution. Depending upon conditions, dyes are extracted from 50% to 98%.

Silk is treated with 2-5% solution( on the weight of the material) of mordant (generally alum) at the boiling temperature for 45-60 minutes. Some times the dyer add turmeric powder (curcuma longa) to get the orange tone. Silk is squeezed only, not washed by fresh water, at this stage. If potash alum is used as mordant then purple color is produced. If copper oxide with ammonia is used then bluish violet is obtained. To get dark red, lead acetate is used, to get reddish yellow, pot. dichromate is used. Copper sulphate produces violet. Barium Hydroxide gives dark red, Tinchloride with Oxalic acid gives pink. Ferrous Sulphate gives a color ranging from grey to black. K2SO4 with Cream of tartar gives violet color.

Dye bath is prepared with the extracted dye solution and rest with water with material to liquor ratio of 1:30. Dyeing is carried out for one hour at boiling temperature. A little solution of myrobalan (Terminalia Chebula retz) is added during the process to achieve greater fastness.

Acidic pH is maintained throughout the process of dyeing and if required the pH is maintained by use of acetic acid. Now dyed material is taken out from the dye bath and washed with fresh water.

About 4-5 kg of stick lack is required for dyeing 1 kg of silk.

Kullu Shawls

Kullu is a place in Himachal Pradesh. It is famous not only for entertainment and beautiful sceneries but also for its traditional textiles named Kullu Shawls throughout India. Kullu shawls are pure woollen shawls having traditional designs.

Kullu shawls are made from woollen yarns. The fibres for this yarn are collected from sheep and then sorted out (near front legs and neck, best quality of wool is found on a sheep) according to color, length, quality and feel. The fibres are processed by domestic methods. Under these methods, the fibres are sorted, scoured  and radical impurities are removed and then these fibres are dyed by tub dyeing method. Then the fibres are spun into yarn by charkha and Takhli. Now-a-days few quantities of silk and cotton are also used for borders, pallau and centre motifs. Somethimes greige fibres are also used to produce produce patterning and motifs.

Though Kullu shawls are produced in different colors like china blue, olive green, maroon coffee etc. but beauty of Kullu Shawls stands only in black shades.

Because Kullu Shawls are not made by big machines, this is an art of hand woven technology. Sometimes Zig-zag effects are also produced.

In Kullu shawls small diamonds, small dots, small squares, small triangles, plus marks etc. are found on the body of the shawls. there may be small lines of patterning on the selvedge or border with matching colors.

Kullu shawls are of woollen yarn of high count and shape just like 10s of cotton yarn. This is optimum to have better quality.

carpets and floor coverings

Panipat is famous for carpets. Regarding the origin of carpets there is no proper clue available in history about when carpet manufacturing had started in India, but it is sure that thousands of years agao, the Rishi Munis used an Ashram Cloth material which is a part of carpt of ancient days. In 15th century, carpets were available in well developed homes.

Though carpets are known as woollen carpets but woollen yarn alone is not able to produce perment structure while working without the help of cellulosic fibres, that is why carpets are woven by woollen and cotton yarns. Carpets of 15th century show that in warp wool is used and in weft cotton is used. It is a style of 'dari'. Now-a-days different types of fibres are used in carpets eg woollen, silk or cotton carpets etc.

Carpets are woven with the help of different techniques. Some of which are given below:

1. Loom carpets are woven in 'dari' style, means hundred percent warping of cotton threads and 100% woollen threads as weft yarn with extra weft yarn for loom weaving.

2. Few carpets are woven with the help of latest machinery, some computerised techniques are used for lifting the yarn and loading the yarn to produce carpet effects.

3. Hand tufted carpets are latest carpets now-a-days. Such carpets are woven with the help of tufting gun. To produce such carpets the base fabric is cotton fabric in dense weave. These carpets are produced by tufting guns according to required design.

Generally loop carpets are produced in very dark and medium colors and light colors are mainly used in tufted carpets. Light, medium and dark all types of colors are used but it depends upon taste of country to country eg. carpets of Germany are usually in medium colors and dark colors, Americans never like purple dark colors while Australians use light colors.

In India floral designs are used very much while in Western countries ( European ) geometric designs and mural designs are liked. Commonly in America the designs of latest inventions are produced on the carpets eg. trains, buses, sea coasts, dinosaur etc. Though carpet is a very much expensive style of weaving as well as precious traditional textile of India.

Kanchipuram Saris

Kanchipuram is a city near Chennai (Madras) in Tamil Nadu. Kanchipuram produces brocaded silks of superb texture, color and lustre, known as kanchipuram Sari.

The raw material for Kanchipuram sari is silk and Zari. The silk is brought in from Bangalore and Zari threads for brocading come from Surat Gujarat.

The main items of production are the silk saris with the solid brocaded borders ('korvai'). The silk is woven on a throw shuttle pitloom with a drawbox harness. Designs and patterns are woven with extra warp and extra weft and are worked into the body of the fabric by means of an indigenous device known as the 'adai' which fulfils the same function as the jacquard.

Kanchipuram Saris in the south Indian style have a pallav and/or borders, that contrast in color to the main field of the sari.

Green, blue, red, yellow, mashroom, orange or purple colors are commonly used with contrasting borders.

On the borders, small flowers, mangoes and geometrical motifs are woven with zari. Pallu is also highly decorative part of the sari. Nowadays, artificial zari is used commonly.

Kalamkari

The Coromandal coast of India was once a world renowned source of fine hand painted textiles, fortunately its textile tradition is survived in AP temple town of Kalahasti where the paintings of scenes from the Hindu Epics on cotton cloth was revived by the establishment of a training school by the All India Handicrafts Borad in 1958.

On Kalamkari cloth, printers and painters use both natural and chemical dyes. Though indigo is found in abundance in the area, but their red shades came from chemical alizarin.

Kalamkari is practiced in east of India at Masulipatnam in AP and Kalahasti in South. In Masulipatnam, the agents that control the patterning are traditionally applied with a kalam (pen). Machine loomed cloth known as Kora is bleached by repeated immersion in a solution of goat or buffalo dung and frequently rinsing in a river or a canal. The cloth is then mordanted in a myrobalan solution, to which is added fresh buffalo milk to prevent the spreading of the dye or application. Outline printing of the floral, bird and animal patterns is done with black (made of iron salts and gum) or with red ( alum with gum) or with both colours then follows the washing and the cloth is left to dry for two or three days. After washing, the cloth is scalded in a vat of alizarin and madder solution, enhancing and fixing the red patterning and removing the myrobalan and gum juice. Bleaching then takes place, leaving a white cloth patterned in red and black. Cleaning, bleaching and starching follows prior to the painting of the cloth in yellow and green colors. Yellow is achieved by boiling myrobalan flowers in water and by applying the solution with a simple Kalam made from a short pointed bamboo stick whose dye reservoir is a felt pad bound with string. Pressure on the myrobalan soaked pad allows the artist to control the release of the dyeing agent. the dyes are fixed permanently by dipping the cloth in an alum solution, after which it is part bleached in cow dung solution to give the yellow an attractive clarity and color. Finally the cloth is soaped and washed.

Unlike the Masultipatnam cloth the hangings from kalahasti are decorated entirely by free hand use of Kalam pen. Machine loomed cotton cloth is washed to remove starch and soaked in myrobalan solution ready to take the black dye. Once spread on the ground, or on a low wooden bench the cloth is ready to be sketched on by the artist. Oulines of figures and designs are first drawn freehand with charcoal sticks made of tamarind twigs. The kalam for fine linework is a pointed bamboo stick, six to eight inch long swaddled at the sharpened end with welt or wool that is tied to the cane by a net of strings. The felt pad holds the dyestuff, which may be released by slight varirations of finger pressure to run down to the point of kalam and on the cloth as the designs are drawn. Black outlines are painted with the kalam using a solution of salts of iron. An alum solution is painted as infill with a bamboo kalam. The cloth is then immersed into a solution of pobbaku leaf, surudu root bark and majistha root and the mordanted areas are coloured red. Double mordanting of figures and patterns with alum creates tones of red and the cloth is then bleached in a solution of cow's dung. The final colurs of yellow, blue and green are painted on the cloth as infill and detail with a kalam. Yellow is obtained by painting a myrobalan flower solution as areas pre-mordanted with alum, blue by applying indigo mixed with a little alum and green by coating yellow areas with indigo.

In Kalahasti, the subjects of illustration are either traditional takes from Hindu epics, or modern as scenes from company logos. Also there is a religious code for the decoration of Kalamkari fabrics. All gods are blue, female characteristics are golden yellow, bad characters and demons are red.

Jamdani

These are fine transparent cotton muslin with discontinuous supplementary weft motifs woven in heavier cotton threads.

Jamdani weaving methods employs two weavers sitting side by side at a simple handloom who add every discontinuous  supplementary weft motif separately by hand , using individual spools of threads called tilis. No special warp lifting mechanisms are required.

In terms of color and design, contemporary Jamdanis fall into six categories: those with

1. Natural coloured, unbleached cotton grounds with bleached white cotton supplementary work.

2. Pastel coloured grounds with white supplementary work.

3. Dark coloured grounds with white supplementary work.

4. Any of the other, with coloured threads, either of similar or contrasting tones.

5. Any of the above combinations with 'zari' supplementary threads as part of the mix.

6. Dark grounds with only zari supplementary work.

The only town in India where traditional Jamdanis are still made is Tanda in Uttar Pradesh. Here finely patterned white Jamdanis usually completely covered with vines and foliate patterns, have been created since at least the nineteenth century. Today most Tanda Jamdanis are woven into dupattas or yardage, although sais of this type were most popular among wealthy old women and widows.

Benaras Brocades

Alipura is traditionally the district of Varansi, where the famous Benaras brocades are woven, brocades are textiles woven with warp and weft threads of different colors.

The Benaras brocades are woven in silk, with profuse use of metal threads on the 'pallaus' and the field of the sari.

The weavers are muslims, known as karigars. The brocades are woven in workshops known as karkhanas which are a series of interconnected rooms, usually on the first floor. Almost every square inch of ground space in the room is taken up with looms, and above each loom hangs a crowded arrangement of strings leading down to the loom heddles. the weavers work in artificial light, in a calm and quiet atmosphere which is conducive to the concentration needed for the weaving of such complicated designs.

The Zari thread known as kalabathun consists of finely drawn gold, silver or base metal thread, wound round a silk thread. Silk traditionally come from Bengal, Central Asia and Italy, but now comes from either Malda, in Bengal or from Kashmir or Japan.

The most famous brocaded textile of Varansi is called Kinkhab woven with coarse but durable silk called Matka which is heavy enough to take brocading with gold or silk thread. A silk and zari work brocade of lighter material and less heavy ornamentation is known as 'pot-than' or 'bafta'. The name for brocades without any metal work is called Amru.

Patolas and Resist Dyed Fabrics of India

In India's legendary heritage of textiles, few are as highly prized as patola, the double ikat silk fabric, in which both warp and weft are separately tie-dyed before weaving to create patterns of unmatched richness and subtelty.

Patan, the ancient capital of Gujarat has been the centre for patola for many centuries.

In Gujarat they are traditionally worn by Hindus, Jains and Vohra Muslims. A well to do bride invariably wears a patola today. Throughout India, Patolas have become a symbol of wealth and family lineage, transcending the boundaries of Religion and community.

The complicated patola weaving procedure is naturally labourious and tedious and it is possible to complete only about 25 cm of cloth a day.

To begin with, skeins of silk are opened and wound on reels. Once this is done, eidth threads are plied together by lightly twisting them and feeding them into another hand reel. This twisting prepares the silk for the next stage- bleaching.

Bleaching is achieved by soaking the hanks of silk for a minute in boiling water mixed with soda ash and soap. Once dry, the silk is filled into bobbin and wound onto a charkha. It is then twisted and transferred to a smaller charkha. From this warp and weft are prepared.

Befor the tyeing and dyeing can start, the pattern is first traced onto a graph paper.

The warp is assembled with the help of round iron or steel pegs covered in white muslin, protruding horizontally from the wall. The number and arrangement of the pegs can be altered to suit the desired length of the warp. Twelve wooden bobbins on stand, containing the eight ply silk, ar placed in two rows in front of the pegs. The warp is spread on a rectangular wooden frame and sectioned by grouping the threads accorging to the pattern.

Once the wapr and weft are ready on the frames, the tyeing begins, always from the right with the use of thread or old cloth, exact measurements of the portions being tied are taken continuously. Of all the phases of the weaving process, this is the most delicate and often it is done by women. As different portions of the yarns are tied, it is removed from the frames and dyed. This process continues until every color in the pattern appears in the yarn.

The dyeing, traditionally achieved with vegetable colors, but now increasingly with chemical dyes, is carried out by both men and women. Hanks of silk are usually left soaking in cold water for a day or two before each dyeing to ensure that the colors are absorbed evenly. The yarn often needs to be vigourously rubbed by hand for it to be properly soaked. After the final color has been dyed, the yarn is yet once more returned to the frame. Now the entire pattern becomes clearly visible. The weft is separated and taken back onto bobbins for weaving.

The patola loom is very simple and tools are hand made from bamboo. The loom does not have a foot paddle but a handle by which threads are manipulated. It is placed at right angle to the floor and two people are required for weaving. The first stands on the right and passes the shuttle to the left and the second sits in front of the loom and passes the shuttle from left to right. While at the loom, the weavers hold the weft threads on both sides, constantly checking for a missmatch in the pattern between warp and weft. The process is painstakingly slow. Little wonder then that it takes roughly 20 days to finish a sari about five meters long.

There are some 10 basic patterns, mainly of plant, zoomorphic and geometrical motifs. While most motifs can be traced to traditionaly forms, some relatively modern ones certainly evolved in response to the demands of the export market. In a weaving technique so complicated, it is true that geometrical motifs should predominate. These were used in variation between the border and the body pattern. The designs most commonly found include chhabdi bhat (the basket pattern), Fulvari bhat (flowering pattern), ratan chowk bhat ( jewel mosaic), Paan bhat (pipal leaf pattern), akhrot bhat (walnut motif), nari kunjar (women and elephant), popat kunjar ( parrot and elephant), wagh bar hathi bar (tiger and twelve elephants), maharas bhat ( women dancing with sticks in hand)

Block Printing, Sanganeri saris

Block printed saris have been created throughout India over the past few centuries, but the Western region has remained the primary area of production. The most important centres of block printing are Sanganer, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Jetpur, Rajkot, Porbandar and Bhavnagar in Gujarat.

The village of Sanganer near Jaipur has been a major centre for very fine block-cutting and printing, and has produced fine muslin saris printed on both sides of the fabric. This elaborate work needs expertly cut mirror images blocks to print the usually asymmetrical Mughal style designs. Although Sanganer is well known for producing fine block printed textiles on off white or pastel backgrounds, today a wide range of textiles are produced with both dark and pale grounds.

A strong Mughal aesthetic dominates the region's printed sari designs. Borders and end pieces consist of repeated bands of undulated twines (bel) of various sizes. Field are often covered with a repeat design varying from small simple dots or geometric shape to large complex buta and kalga.

Cloth printing blocks are usually made of 'teak' or 'seesum'. These dyes are printed on a textile by means of a relief covered block( a different block for each color). In India, the blocks are usually 23-30 cm (9-12") square in size.

Temple Saris

A more traditional variation of the Kornad Sari is called Temple sari. Technically, a temple sari is any sari woven for and donated to a temple deity in any part of South Asia. Originally it had to be perfectly executed, although it has always reflected what the donor could afford. Today however all the wide bordered Kornad Saris have become popularly known as temple saris. One type of traditiona Kornard sari is the interlocked weft woven sari, that has its two borders and fields of equal width. The borders are in the usual unembellished style but in the type most often called a temple sari, the entire length of narrow field is covered with fine quality supplementary weft zari patterning woven as a series of weft wise rows which includes such motifs as elephant, peacocks, double headed eagles and foliate floral vines. The motifs are typical of Tamil Nadu south Andhra Pradesh graphic and two dimensional representations are quite unlike the more three dimensional appearance of the northern Indian Patterning typical of Benaras

Tangail saris

Tangail Sarees

Although Jamdanis were traditionally woven by Muslims, Hindu weavers who moved from Tangail during partition helped developoing India's modern Jamdani industry. They were probably originally trained in the pre partition government school that was founded at Tangail in 1930s in an effort to revive the then disapperaring craft of Jamdani weaving. Significantly West Bengal Jamdanis are often called Tangail Jamdani and they typically have many small buti woven throughout the field often diagonally. They are now woven in many areas of West Bengal in such villages as Dhatrigram, Samudragarls, Saithia, Phulia and Shantipur. Those from Shantipur have black or dark blue bodies with brightr buti. Today the Tangail Jamdanis have developed a style of its own with a distinctly Modernist Hindu Aesthetic and it is now acquiring the vibrant colours of southern India and bold animal designs of Andhra Pradesh. Many are also made in silk instead of cotton because silk is easier and faster to weave and weavers are usually paid more for weaving silk fabric than cotton.

Kashmir Embroidery

The beautiful valley of Kashmir is justly famed for its textiles, above all the Kashmir shawl. The manufacture of embroidered shawls was started by an Armenian named Khwaja Yusuf, who introduced the concept of amli, the needlework shawls.

The classical Kashmiri shawl was made of Pashmina wool whose main source was the fleece of a central Asian species of mountain goat. Now only a fraction of these shawls are woven out of Pashmina wool, a mjority of them are made out of a yarn called ruffal which is spun out of Merino wool.

The shawl ground cloth was prepared by being rubbed with a piece of polished agate or or cornelian on the flat surface of a plank until it was prerfectly smooth. The pattern to be embroidered was then made on the the cloth with coloured power or charcoal and then embroidered with a satin or stem stitch, each stitch made to lie as flat as possible by picking up warp threads.

Whilst shwals are embroidered with a needle, much of the embroidery done in Kashmir valley is ari work. As with the weaving, embroidery is a male profession. The ari work is used to decorate clothing, wall hanging rugs, curtain covers and whole rolls of furnishing fabrics, with varying complexity of designs.

Maps of Srinagar and human figures are a very popular motif.

Advantage of Shuttleless loom over shuttle loom

Salient feature of Shuttleless looms:
1. Shuttleless weave 2 to 4 times as much as conventional looms per unit time.
2. The cost of pirn winding is eliminated
3. Strain upon the warp threads is reduced due to smaller depth of shed
4. Heavy cost of repairs and replenishment of worn out parts is reduced They can produce simpler tubes of fabrics on a large scale and provide opportunities for profitable exploitation in the long run.
5. The physical and mental strain upon the weaver is reduced
6. There is no risk of shuttle fly out owing to the absence of conventional shuttle and packing being positive
7. Quality of the fabric gets enhanced because of a positive control over the weaving process
8. The looms are easier to work and manipulate
9. Efficiency of the shuttle weaving shed is comparatively higher
10. 5% reduction in value loss for a Rs. 60/- Metre fabric would ensure an additional profit of Rs. 3/- meter
11. Higher production per loom
12. Speed is not the only criterion for the selection of shuttleless looms. Efficiency is also an important criterion.Efficiency advantage of 10-15% due to shuttle changes, Un weaving of damages, reduced time for warp changes canbe obtained from shuttleless looms. 5% higher efficiency would provide an additional profit of Rs. 1/- per metre.
13. 14 minutes stoppage per 24 hours.
14. Ex works cost is less due to less mending and inspection charges and no pirn winding charges. 15. Projectile and Air-jet looms suitable for Mass fabrics Rapier for fashion fabrics

Weaving machines flowchart

Madhubani

Madhubani is an art of fabric painting practiced in the villages of Mahdhubani. As the literal meaning of the word conveys, 'Madhu' for honey and 'Bans' for woods or forests, 'Madhubani' depicts that sweet feeling of exaltation which these amiable folks experience in their hearts-while conceiving the image of their favourite god.

The process of ritualistic Madhubani painting was very straight and clear. The images are based on age-old scriptures and epics. The Vedas, The Puranas, The Upanishads, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Sun, moon, earth and stars are also depicted in these images. They are also seeped into the environment: the trees, the animals, the birds, the fish and plants. These also depict immediate surroundings: the family, the village life, the flora and fauna, the wild life, the music of the birds, the village fairs and the fastivals, and celebrity mood. An element of environment beauty is introduced by a refreshing deluge of floral and wildlife motifs. Sunflowes, lotuses, trees, leavees and creepers convey the mute glory of flora and fauna. Tigers, elephants, tortoises, peacocks, peahens and other wildlife present the alternate form of life.

In Madhubani, children learn from their parents, while helping them out, clearing, grinding or filling in the colors. Elders on the other hand, perform the ritualistic art setting right in the midst of children so that children can also learn from their elders