Cotton is a natural, stain- and wrinkle-resistant fiber that allows for a smooth and soft finish and texture, perfect for things like napkins or tablecloths. This is the fabric of t-shirts. Cotton is machine washable and dryable on low heat and can be ironed or dry cleaned as needed, making it a useful and versatile fabric for a variety of events. Designers use tulle as wedding dress linings to create a ball gown silhouette or they drape the fabric as a top layer for an airy, diaphanous feeling.
It can also be used to create table skirts and enliven wedding pews. Tulle hides wrinkles fairly well, but it is delicate and will need to be hand washed and drip dried. Silk is a strong, soft natural animal fiber obtained from the cocoon of the silkworm. This premium fabric often accompanied by premium pricing requires additional TLC as it needs to be spot cleaned for stains and hand washed instead of machine washed.
Silk is one of the most popular wedding gown materials, and is also used in very formal events for tablecloths, overlays, and runners. Velvet is a type of weave made of silk, cotton, or polyester blends with a thick and short pile on one side for a downy texture and sheen.
Its heavy weight makes it a great winter fabric. Depending on the fibers used to make the velvet, you may need to treat it like a silk and hand wash only, or you maybe be able to wash it in the machine if the velvet has been made with polyester or cotton fibers.
Linen has a grainy texture and becomes supple through handling. Not to be confused with the plural form table linens which describes all cloth fabrics, linen fibers are great for a rustic-barn design or feel. Hand wash linen to prevent loosely woven linen fabric from becoming damaged by a washing machine. Linen becomes creased and crumpled easily, which gives the cloth a relaxed feel. You will need to iron if you prefer a more smooth fabric. With time, they tend to over-stretch , meaning that they start to lose their ability to recoil back to the original length.
For this reason, clothes that contain a high percentage of elastane fibers need to be repurchased much more so than those made of mainly polyester. Polyester , on the other hand, is really durable in terms of lasting long and being resistant to wear. This is the other main difference between these two materials, apart from the difference in elasticity.
When it comes to pilling , which is an issue with some low-quality polyester garments and some nylon ones, elastane does not have that problem at all. Polyester is also considerably anti-pilling overall. Pilling, in case you are unfamiliar with the term, refers to the tiny balls of fabric fluff that can be found on the surface of your clothing.
It does not affect the performance of the fabric at all, but it is not really pleasant to look at, regardless. We will discuss these two materials together because they are very often used together when it comes to jackets. Most commonly, Polyester and Elastane can be found in softshell jackets , which are designed to not solely be adaptable to body shape and movement, but also to be breathable.
Considering that polyester is really useful as a breathable fabric, but it lacks stretch, the use of elastane helps the fabric become stretchable and a lot more comfortable. Polyester also exhibits adequate weather resistance and its commendable durability, as well as resistance to sunlight and common chemicals, make it a preferred material for jackets that are made for high performance. The way these two materials are used is by weaving of the fibers together, which is why you cannot really tell them apart and why they perform so well together as a fabric.
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Polyurethane has such versatility that you can find it in millions of different uses today. Today, polyurethane fills mattresses and provides insulation inside walls. It also mixes into paints and even makes roller blade wheels! The invention of this adaptive plastic inspired the development of spandex.
As you know from the previous section, making spandex involves altering polyurethane. It turns this plastic into elastomers through complex chemical synthesis. The original invention of polyurethane had its roots in a wartime need for a replacement for rubber. In contrast, DuPont had peacetime and fashion in mind when they created spandex. Spandex massively revolutionized the way women wore clothing, especially undergarments!
Plus, DuPont wanted to save money and avoid depending on the natural resource of rubber trees. Like most synthetic fabrics, it costs a lot less to make spandex than it does to grow and harvest rubber trees. Whether you call it Lycra, spandex, or elastane, this stretchy fabric has several special characteristics. These include its elasticity, its resistance to heat, and its durability. The unique characteristic of this material is its ability to stretch and return to its original size.
Think of a bungee jumper plunging off a tower. The cord stretches when the jumper reaches the end of the rope. Then the elastic cord snaps back into its original, shorter size, bringing the jumper back up to the top! This force is what yanks the jumper back to the top, as the elastic returns to its original shape!
That said, multiple factors make any given piece of cloth more or less stretchy. Woven cloth can stretch on the bias diagonally but not vertically or horizontally. On the other hand, knitted cloth has a lot of inherent stretch because of the way the threads loop together. For this reason, adding spandex to a knitted fabric will create a super-stretchy material.
Adding spandex to a woven material will give it a little stretch but not so much. This shows that while elastane, spandex, and Lycra have amazing elasticity in their pure form, the amount of stretch varies when they get added into another kind of material. Spandex has no breathability. Fortunately, manufacturers typically blend a tiny percentage of spandex into other materials.
These materials, like cotton, do have some natural breathability. This offsets the moisture-trapping, body-heat sealing properties of spandex! Instead, popular athletic wear blends cotton and spandex, polyester and elastane, and nylon and Lycra. As a pro tip, look for looser weaves or knits when you want more breathable sportswear.
The tiny gaps between threads will allow for great airflow. Also, many synthetic fabrics like polyester provide moisture-wicking. This means that the fabric will suck away your sweat and allow it to evaporate into the air! You can find varying opinions on whether or not spandex is a sustainable material. The invention of elastane did seriously cut back on the harvesting of rubber. Rubber plantations unquestionably cause serious environmental harm, so this is a plus!
On the other side of the argument, producing spandex requires the use of lots of toxic chemicals. Disposing of these chemicals can also harm the environment. Ideally, companies follow strict guidelines around this disposal. But the chemicals still exist even when safely stored away. That said, you would find it difficult to take a principled stance against spandex. Spandex has quite an impressive durability. It has greater strength and more stretch than rubber.
It can lose its elasticity over time, though proper care will delay this process. In terms of longevity, Lycra and spandex can outlast anything but another kind of plastic. It also has great resistance to body oils and perspiration, making it easy to keep fresh-smelling! Of course, outside forces like too much exposure to heat or improper care can eventually damage these materials. On its own, spandex does not provide much insulation. Twisting spandex fibers with the thicker, softer polyester fibers or cotton will create a warm and stretchy fabric, though!
Spandex will never compete with cotton or acrylic cloth for warmth. Spandex is just too thin to insulate you! Despite that, you can put spandex to good use on cold days by using a spandex blend garment as a base layer. A good base layer rests snug against your skin to seal in as much heat as possible, so you need fabric that contains a good stretch for this purpose! But it does have a smooth, light silkiness to it.
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