Some Facts about Linen

1. Flax yarns and fabrics increase about 20% in strength on wetting. Linen is therefore stronger than cotton when it comes to washing.

2. Linen can absorb upto 20% of its own weight of moisture while still feeling dry to the touch. That explains why Linen cloth are always fresh and cool.

3. The tensile strength of Linen is twice as high as that of cotton and 3 times as that of wool.

4. Linen reduces gamma radiation almost by half and protects humans against solar radiation.

5. Linen Cloth does not accumulate static electricity- even 10% of linen in a blend is enough to eliminate the static electricity effect.

6. Heat conductivity of Linen is 5 times as high as that of wool and 19 times as that of silk. In hot weather, those dressed in Linen clothes are found to show the skin temperature 3-4 deg below those wearing silk and cotton.

 Among all the linens, Irish Linen is always known to be the best. Linen is an important fiber for Ireland, so much so that stamps and coins are minted showing linen leaves. Source

You can view the production process of Linen from here

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Varanasi Saris- Process Notes

Notes on Varanasi Silk Saris

A Scenic View of the Ganges

Warp and Weft

Loom- Note the two Jacquards

A Close-up view of the Cloth Roll

Rangkaat Sari - Different Colored weft - Interlock technique

Card for Jacquard- Not Interchangeable for other machines

Temple- 6 nails- Unlike Chanderi come from Below

Dyeing of Body and Palla

A View of the Karkhaana- No Jaalas anymore

The warp used is 20/22 denier filament silk. 20/22 is called so because normally a silk fiber is of 2 denier. When 11 such filaments are taken then it becomes 22 denier. However, while reeling one filament may get broaken which means the denier is 20. Hence it is called 20/22 denier. Apart from this 14/18, spun, tussar , 16/18 and Pashmina are also used in the warp. Weft normally used is Katan. Normally for plain weave base 4 heald shafts are used in groups of 2. For Tanchui with Satin base more heald shafts are used. Jacquards are used for extra weft figuring. There can be upto three jacquards, one for weaving body motif, one for palla and one to set Konia etc. Min. warp size can be two saris. Jacquard can be 120 hooks or 160 hooks depending upon the design. Cards cut for one jacquard cannot be interchanged for the other.

Zari

Zari comes in 220 grams bundle and the fineness is denoted by Gajas. If 220 grams has 1200 yards, it is called 1200 gaja if this bundle has 1750 yards, it is called 1750 Gaja. and if it has 3700 yards, it is called 3700 gaja. 1750 and 3700 yard zaris are most commonly used. Zari comes in four quality plastic, Powder, Tested and Real Zari. Plastic zari is also called Kalabattu. Poweder zari has a thinner coating then tested zari and plastic has a synthetic base. In all the zaris except Real, the copper wire is wrapped over a cotton, viscose or synthetic and it is coated with gold or silver. Generally tested zari is also called half fine zari. Also in powder zari the inner core is twisted rayon over which artificial gold color powder is super imposed to obtain the lustrous appearance.However this lace get blacken after some use.3700 Gaja tested Zari has polyester as a base ( 30 denier) with copper covering and siliver or gold electroplating. The thicker zaris has cotton as the core. The Silver coated zari is called Rupa and Gold coated sari is called Sona. The best zari suppliers are AVJ from Surat or Locat supppliers like Uma. Zari comes in three shades; dark, light and medium. To subdue the effect of zari, it can be twised with Resham and used.  An amazing presentation on Zardozi work can be seen here.

Dyes

Dyes used are acid and metal complex for silk and Vat/reactive for cotton.  The colors of Varanasi Saris are fast and no staining is observed.

Preserving Varanasi Saris

The best way to preserve a Varanasi Sari is to keep it in the Mull cloth ( no starch, washed). Plastic is not recommened. It should be dry cleaned.

Finishing of Varanasi Saris

Generally after sari is finished it is then passed through cold calendar to give it a sheen and delivered.  

Other Notes

Maximum weight variation in two Varanasi saris willl be 20-50 grams per sari. Organza sari is called Kora. 

Other Readings:

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An interesting reading is about the use of Condoms in making Varanasi Saris. 

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Technological Institute of Textile and Sciences, Bhiwani

It would be an injustice if I do not dedicate this blog to Technological Institute of Textiles(TIT), Bhiwani - the institute where I did my graduation from.

Image: http://www.titianslive.com

I joined the institute in 1990, barely knowing anything about textiles. At that time ( and I guess still now) the institute reverberated with anything related to textiles. I still remember the first lecture we attended of Revered Mr. Dhamija about Textile Raw Material. He seemed to be knowing everything about textiles ( which we found out later he actually did). I remember attending the lectures of Introduction to Textile Processes by Mr. Bhatnagar and Mechanism of Weaving by Mr.Arya. While we struggled our way to know about textiles, we got 'helped' a lot by our seniors who taught us short cuts to pass a particular course- which sometimes worked also. Textile Testing was taken care of by Mr. Punj and yes, it was Mr. Manuja who tried to run us throuh Engineering of Textile Structure. We were particularly influenced by Mr.R.K. Singh ( aka 'Raka') whose penchant for making graphs while teaching Synthetic fibers was particularly noted ( I remembered whenever he uttered "Rheology" and "Miscelles" while lecturing, I got so frustrated that I could not take any further notes ). Then came Mr.Tyagi and Mr.Sharma who tried to take us through to the subjects of Spinning and weaving respectively. Mr.KN Chatterjee made the subject of Fabric Structure very easy for us to learn. The best part about this institute is the mill attached to it which makes the whole process of learning very fast. 

TIT has a very good alumni following, with its ex students spread all across the globe. It has this organisation called TITOBA ( TIT Old Boys Association) which after girls started coming to the institute has become TITOSA (TIT old Students Association). TITOBA is a rather loose organisation with chapters all across the cities and regions of the world. Some attempts have been made to make to online. One of them is TITOBA on the NET by Mr. Dudeja, which has been a great effort. 

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Important Factors in Judging Cotton Yarn Industries in India

Important Factors in Judging Cotton Yarn Industries in India

1. Cost Management

Raw material cost forms about 50-55% of sales, in a cotton spinning company. The ratio of indigeneous to imported cotton affects the cost, as imported cotton depends upon international cycles.

Power cost  forms a fair component of cost (about 10% of sales) and the power expenditure becomes very critical. Players using captive generation have an assured uninterrupted supply of power.

Efficient cotton procurement strategies like contract farming, proficiency in estimating the future trends in the cotton market, proximity to the cotton cultivation areas and optimal quantity of cotton procurement would help players in minimizing costs and achieving profitability.

2. Inventory management

Cotton is a seasonal crop and is harvested from October to February every year. Inventory management thus plays an important role as companies procuring optimum quantities of crop and stocking raw material

requirement for a considerable time can ensure availability of good quality raw materials at reasonable prices.

3. Economies of scale

As the industry is characterized by low margins, profitability depends on volume of sales and companies having high capacities can register satisfactory growth. High capacities can   also help players in bagging huge 

orders. Further, companies having the capacity to manufacture on multiple lines can take the advantage of simultaneous production of different counts.

4. Labour relations

Labour cost constitutes about 6% of sales. Given the labour intensive nature of the industry, the companies having cordial labour relations are better placed in terms of labour productivity and smooth operations.

5. Expansions / Modernization

Opening up of global markets in the post quota regime, requires companies to undertake expansions and modernisations at the appropriate time so as to gain advantage of the growing markets and the demand-supply gap. Ability of spinning units to replace obsolete machines with modern state-of-the-art machines will enable companies to cater to the export marketsand offer better quality products. Further, players foraying into downstream expansions can benefit from integrated operation.

6. Diversification

Product diversification

 Players having finer count yarn in their product mix, cater to the elite market segment where demand is relatively price inelastic and margins are high. Companies having capacity to produce double yarn have better product flexibility. Further, companies producing blended yarn rather than only cotton yarn, can efficiently tackle the cyclicality in the cotton yarn demand. Also,companies focusing on value added products can further improve their profitability.

Geographical diversification

A player catering to both domestic as well as export markets can diversify the risk of sluggishness in a particular market. Export oriented companies catering to various countrieshave lower country specific risk. However, a large composition of exports calls for foreignexchange management policies as fluctuations in the foreign exchange market can adversely affect such players.

View the Complete Article Here

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