Journal of Textile Science & Engineering

Mechanical and Surface Properties of Thai Cotton Hand-woven Fabric Made from Hand-spun and Machine-spun Yarns

Abstract

Phoophat P and Sukigara S

In some areas in Thailand, women weave fabrics from hand-spun cotton as a cottage industry. Cotton hand-spun yarn has an uneven thickness and low twist that can give a unique appearance to the fabric and is not considered a defect. In this study, we measured the characteristic mechanical and surface properties of 16 Thai fabric samples, and divided them into six groups. The effect of using hand-spun yarn as the weft of a fabric was considered. The Kawabata evaluation system was used to compare the characteristic values with reference values to inform the future direction of hand-spun woven textiles in Thailand. The results show the differences between the characteristic values of warp and weft direction are important for tensile and bending properties and for surface roughness. Using handspun yarn in the weft direction of the woven fabric affected the surface irregularity, producing more space between yarns, affecting the air resistance value, which was in the reference range for summer suiting materials, although the thickness was larger. There were large differences between the six groups of fabrics varied in yarn count and cover factor, especially in the bending, shear, and compression properties. All characteristic values compared with the reference values show that most of the Thai handloom-woven fabrics surveyed in this study showed stiffness, crispness, and anti-drape values that were not suitable for suiting. However, Thai hand-loom woven fabrics would be suitable for summer jackets and ladies skirt with anti-drape silhouette for hot summer.