Buying of Indian Ethnic Fabrics- Weaving Issues

Weaving flaws come naturally with Indian traditional fabrics. Some of these are inevitable and some of these are avoidable. Below are the details of the common weaving issues that come with the Indian traditional fabrics:

Fabric Weight

Weaving defects in the traditional fabrics arise due to techniques used in weaving them as well as the manual operations involved in it. They also occur as the quality of yarn used in warp and weft is compromised or the yarn itself is handspun. In Handloom fabrics, the usual defects are holes, mending, missing end and missing and broken picks. The fabric weight also varies as the fabric is getting woven with variable beat up depending upon the person and also varies during the course of the day of weaving. In the morning, the weaver is fresh, and the beat up is more compact. As the day progresses the picks may spread farther apart.

From the facts given above, it can be inferred. The usual method of finding GSM by using GSM cutter is no longer valid when evaluating handloom fabric. The best way to evaluate is to weight it thaan by thaan and average it out. 

Chira ( Missing End)

This effect occurs in all the fabrics, but it is more severe in powerlooms which are without warp stop motion. Chira is not prevalent in South looms as they are equipped with warp stop motion. However, for woven fabrics of north India, it is quite a common defect. 

Banding

Banding in the weft occurs due to particular contrast of colors, it is more visible in fabrics with cross colors. Also banding is visible when yarns are hand dyed and after the finish of one pirn, the next pirn contains different dyed lot of yarn. It also is visible in dyed fabrics when the count in the weft changes appreciably. It is more common in Khadis where the yarns of weft ( Amber) come in different lots. 

Tight End and Reed Mark

This forms a series of warp wise faint lines in the fabric. It occurs due to uneven tension in the warp beam which can happen when making the warp beam manually. It also occurs due to not cleaning, damaged heald wires or some problems in the reed. Often reed marks come in these fabrics. 

Holes

The main cause of holes is the pointed scale used all across the country to measure the length and fold the cloth. If a center point is used to hold the fabrics, and the point gets blunt it can cause appreciably visible holes and sometimes makes the whole fabric amenable to rejecting. 

Slippage of the Warp or weft ends

This takes place in almose all the fabrics loosly woven but it is more appreciable in silks and especially unions of silks with Viscose. The unions from Bhagalpur are more susceptible to this defect. To counter this the fabric after weaving is given a special starch finish, but that too is unsustainable and gives way in three or four washes. The cause of this defect is the smooth surface of viscose which can slip easily on silk. This damage leads to seam slippage which is easily noticeable in the stress areas of the garment(neck and arm whole) The solution is to improve the construction of the fabric or use a better quality viscose. To control this problem in garments at the nect, moon patches are applied

Specs

This defect is observed in handloom fabrics which use handspun yarn. Based on the quality of roving they are using these will contain foreign fibers which do not catch dyes leading to this defect. 

Rough appearance

Rough appearance occurs due to the nature of yarn. In most of the cases carded yarn is used, which contain short fibers which come at the top in the process of weaving. This also due to the uneven count of yarn and slubs present therein. This defect is not a defect as such rather than a mark of true ethnic fabrics. Moreover, hand feel of two garments made from identical fabrics will be different as they may be woven on different looms and subject to different treatments.

Pilling

Pilling in cotton fabric is observed in cross colors where one of the yarn is of dark color. The short fibers come to the surface and form a pill type structure. This defect is aggravated when one of the yarns is sulphur dyed. This is also present in Matka silk which is handspun and handwoven. In yarn dyed Matka, the problem is further aggravated. Silk Noil fabrics are also a victim to this defect as they by default contain short fibers.  

Buying of Indian Traditional Fabrics- Dyes

Every region of India comes with a characteristics of technique of textiles that has perfected one particular class of dyes. For a buyer it poses a significant challenge to maintain the quality of fabrics over time as each class of dyes has its own strength and limitations. 

Napthol Color

All over in south and in Bengal, Napthol colors are used to dye Ikats and Cottons. Generally vat colors are used to dye the dull shades. However, to achieve the required saturation in the darker shades, napthol colors are used. Due to process restrictions and the conditions when dyeing locally, the colorfastness to rubbing is a big problem when working with these colors. A case needs to be pointed out in this regard. When asked about the colorfastness issue for a certain sari from a vendor, it was found that even after washing the yarn after dyeing and washing the fabric after weaving, the colorfastness to rubbing was not improving for napthol dyes. Napthol colors are also being used in Maheshwari Saris for red and other dark colors.

Please see also the following links in this regard:

http://mytextilenotes.blogspot.com/2011/02/dyeing-of-ikat-orissa-yarn-with-vat-and.html

http://mytextilenotes.blogspot.com/2009/07/dyeing-some-practical-notes.html

http://mytextilenotes.blogspot.com/2011/01/types-of-dyes-used-in-handblock.html

Vat Colors

Vat colors are the most commonly used colors all across the country in dyeing traditional fabrics. Vat colors are easy to apply, the process can be done at a temperature achievable in the open furnaces. The colors are fast to rubbing and washing. The main issue is in the achieving of bright and saturated shades which vat colors cannot produce using ordinary condition.

Sulphur Colors

Sulphur dyes are often used to dye black. Cheaper and easy to apply, they have a very good colorfastness to washing. The drawback is that the fabric starts to tear after a prolonged storage.

Reactive Colors

Reactive colors are increasingly being used in woven yarn dyed stripes and dobbies, thanks to the chambers used in dyeing hank yarn. They have good colorfastness properties overall.

Direct Colors

Direct dyes are used extensively in the Indian traditional textile industry. These are easy to apply and cheap. Almost all the tie and dye fabrics whether, Bandhni, Lehariya, Mothra, Ikat and  Shibori have these dyes. These are also being used in the Tussar/Viscose blends in piece dyed form. The colorfastness to washing is good or acceptable but to that of rubbing is poor. A challenge for a bulk buyers of the fabric of these dyes is to convert the dyers to reactive or vat dyes.

Acid/Metal Complex Colors

These are used in pure silk and wool. They pose no problems for the buyer. These are colorfast to washing and stable to fading. 

Natural Dyes

Natural Dyes are obtained from plant extract. The problem with natural dyed fabrics is that the volumes cannot be obtained and quality is not consistent. Patchiness, tonal variation across the length and listing ( Center to Selvedge variations) are some of the defects that come naturally with natural dyes. Also the choice of colors is limited to a very restricted pallete; beige, black, maroon, mustard, rust, green and indigo are the colors that can be got in these dyes. Color fastness is a big issue with these dyes. These are often sold in the market with the disclaimer tag. 

Factors to Consider While Buying Indian Traditional Fabrics –Khadi

Khadi is a handspun and handwoven fabric. The following issues often come up when buying this fabric:

1. It is difficult to source these yarns. As these yarns are concentrated in the unorganized sector with regard to their production and the process is immensely labor oriented. 

2. Handspun yarn is of two varieties. One variety is called the original Charkha variety in which the raw cotton is drawn and twisted by hand on a charkha and wound. This quality is most difficult to find and bulk production is not possible. This is most suited for coarse counts suitable for hand spinning. The other quality is called the Amber quality, in which the yarn is twisted by hand by a process  called Amber Charkha in which the input material is roving from mills. Moreover the final  twisting and drawing operation is done by ring and traveler arrangement. The only difference from ring frame is that this ring and traveler is rotated with the help of a handle. Here bulk production is possible, finer counts are also possible and most of the handspun yarn is made using this process. There is this fabric called “Malkha” where the pre spinning part is done using a small scale machine developed by Vortex, however the yarn is Z twisted, as that of a milspun yarn. 

3. Khadi yarn in a fabric is determined by the amount and frequency of slubs that are coming in the fabric as well as twist. The twist in a khadi yarn is by convention opposite to that found in a milspun yarn. However, this reverse twisted yarn is also now being made in mills, though surreptitiously. I myself have seen a cone of a kahdi yarn made of machine in a mill. 

4. The quality of khadi yarn is not so good so as to be used in warp. The cotton used to make these yarns is of short staple quality and often quite old. It is therefore, used in weft, using handspun yarns. Attempts to get the quantities in production for handspun yarns have resulted in inordinate delays in the deliveries and numerous fabric defects. 

5. The count of khadi varies sometimes as much as 10-15%, this makes it difficult to keep the GSM of the khadi consistent. 

6. Khadi yarn doesn’t lend itself to be machine dyed on a continuous range. It can be cabinet dyed but the cabinets have to be modified as the diameter of lea of khadi is less than that of a normal hank yarn.  Usually it is dyed by hand using vat dyes. As the cotton comes from various sources- sometimes recycled cotton is used- it might give specks in the form of foreign fibers. 

7. When woven in yarn dyed form, it might give bandings as the yarn spools can be from two different sources. To avoid that, on a powerloom, Khadi is made using two shuttles. 

8. Khadi white is done by bleaching the yarn using homemade furnaces. This might give yellowness to the overall fabric, which is such a characteristic color for the original khadi. However, in order to cater to the requirement of buyers who still think in an export way, it is bleached in the fabric form. However, that reduces the weight of the khadi and makes it much thinner.

9. As it is also a handloom fabrics, getting bulk production and timely deliveries are always an issue. 

Factors to Consider While Buying Indian Traditional Fabrics- Colorfastness

Colorfastness to Washing/Rubbing/Light

Every traditional fabric has Its own list of defects, some defects are inherent to the techniques, one has to live with them if they want that fabric.

All fabric indigo dyed or printed traditionally rub or bleed. It applies to Dabu and Bagru styles of printing. The dyeing is done in indigo pits, the concentration of which is kept in check by adding lime or Jaggery. Also every thaan has different shade of color in it. Traditionally these are dried in the sun and weather condition affects them. Indigo fabrics also fade, this poses a problem in storing them in stores where they can develop prominent fold marks. Kalamkari is also better in this respect except the designs which contains blue color which tends to rub or bleed. Ajraks are better in this respect. The fact that these fabrics are washed many times before the final process, make them much better as far as colorfastness to washing, rubbing or light is concerned. Dhars have very good colorfastness to washing or rubbing. Pigment prints are better in these respect, only difference is made when they are printed on traditionally handwoven fabric such as Managalgiris, where the base color often bleeds.

Ikats especially containing more than three colors are prone to bleeding as direct or napthol colors are used. Reactive dyes cannot be used as in the high temperature process of reactive dyes, the dyes will penetrate inside the rubber band used to tie the yarn. However it is possible to dye with reactive dyes warp ikats used in Andhra if the number of colors are less than three. In Orissa where weft Ikat is used, only direct or napthol colors are permitted, getting the colorfastness is a challenge.

For normal powerloom cotton fabrics woven in UP and Bihar, the yarn dyeing is often done with vat colors. However for black, sulphur black is used. It has a danger as the yarn becomes tender if the fabric is not washed properly after weaving. It leads to tearing of the fabric. Tearing is also observed in Patri print of Jaipur done with Aniline Black dyes, if the fabric is stored for longer time.Luckily, most of the weavers are shifting to the chamber dyeing, where the yarn hanks are dyed with reactive dyes and a colorfastness of the range of 4-5 is obtainable.

Silks from Varanasi has no problems whatsoever with drycleaning. However Silk when blended with viscose problems poses a problem with colorfastness when piece dyed. The people in Patna, Bhagalpur and Purnia still are using direct dyes which make the fabric vulnerable to the colorfastness. Silk Matkas, Mugas and Ghicha do not pose any problems.

Traditional fabrics of south are dyed with reactive dyes so colorfastness is not a problem there.