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Transcript: 

Helen: We are recording today on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Coast Salish and Kwakwaka’wakw peoples, including Tsleil-Waututh, Squamish, Musqueam, and K’ómoks first nations.

Caroline: Hello, and welcome to Love to Sew. I’m Caroline, the owner of Blackbird Fabrics.

Helen: And I’m Helen, the designer behind Helen’s Closet Patterns.

Caroline: We’re two sewing buds who love to sew our own clothes and want to encourage you on your sewing journey, too.

Helen: Join us for today’s topic: How Fabric Gets Made.

Caroline: Hi, Helen.

Helen: Hi, Caroline.

Caroline: How are you today?

Helen: I’m doing well, thanks. How are you?

Caroline: I’m good. I’m excited to talk about fabric. You know I love these fabric episodes.

Helen: I know you do. And this one is a beast of an episode, y’all. Our assistant Lisa went to town prepping for this one, along with Caroline’s expert advice, and we’ve got a great show for you today.

Caroline: We really, really do. I can’t wait to jump in, but before we start, we wanted to share some great tips that listeners sent in after we released our Pockets Episode.

So I’ll start off with this feedback from Abby, “My favourite tip for making identical (mirrored) patch pockets: finish the top edge of each pocket, baste the two pockets right sides together along the bottom and sides, turn the pocket sandwich right side out (using a point turner to poke out any corners), press, then seam rip the pockets apart. Ta-da – perfectly pressed and identical pockets! (And easier than using a pressing guide/jig, in my opinion).”

Okay. This is a really cool idea and useful for anyone who doesn’t love jigs, or maybe doesn’t have a jig. What do you think, Helen? I feel like this is really cool.

Helen: Yeah, this, kind of, blew my mind. I had to stop and think about it for a moment to follow along, but it makes perfect sense that you would end up with mirrored pockets, like, two pockets that are actually identical, which, as we know, can be, kind of, challenging to get them perfect. And yeah, the added benefit of not having to, like, fiddle, press those sides in, it just happens automatically.

Caroline: I love it.

Helen: Very cool. Listener Judy wrote, “If your fabric is lightweight, the pocket bag may show through on the outside if using the same fashion fabric to make them. I made some white linen pants and used the same fabric for the pockets, and you could see the pockets through the pants. It wasn’t really sheer fabric. The white pocket was a different colour than my body, so it made the pocket show through. A better choice of fabric would have been something close to body colour. I ended up buying fusible nude colored interfacing and ironing it on to the pocket side that faced the pants front. It was not easy and the pockets are sort of stiff, but at least they don’t show through when I wear the pants.”

Judy, I’ve never thought of this before, but it’s a great idea to choose a pocket bag fabric and a colour that’s close to your specific skin tone so that, yeah, it doesn’t show through the pants. Even if you think that those pants aren’t transparent when you put them on, you might notice just that little bit of a hint because of that contrast with your skintone.

Caroline: Yeah, absolutely. It’s a great idea. Okay. Several listeners wrote to us about the Pocket Patterns and Instructions PDF by Waffle Patterns. So this includes patterns and instructions for a wide variety of patch, in-seam, and welt pockets that you can add on to other patterns. Very cool.

Helen: Oh, love this. Waffle Patterns has the coolest pockets in their designs, too. If you’re looking for jackets or vests, kind of, their specialty, and the pockets are always amazing.

Listeners also recommended the 99% Invisible podcast episode “Pockets: Articles of Interest #3.” Iit looks really cool talking about pockets and culture. I don’t know how I missed this one. I’m a big 99% Invisible fan, so I got to go check this one out.

Caroline: Yes. Okay. Thank you to all of our listeners who wrote to us with great info about pockets. Pockets forever.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: Okay. Let’s get to the main show because I just can’t wait to talk about fabric. So, sewists love fabric and for good reason, right? Fabric choice is one way we can express our creativity.

There is SO much variety out there: different fibres, weaves, weights, drapes, colours, prints! You can make the same pattern in 10 different fabrics, and it will look different each time. And fabric is an essential part of the sewing process. It shouldn’t be an afterthought. It’s not an afterthought.

And the fabrics that we use have passed through many hands and often travelled very far before they arrive at a fabric shop. So today we want to fill you in on how fabrics actually get made from raw materials to finished cloths. And it’s a big topic.

Helen: Yes! We do want to note that this episode is necessarily an overview! Even though we’ve packed it full of information, you could write several large books about all the details of fabric production. We’ve provided specific examples to illustrate some of the processes, but each fibre and each process is a little different. If you’re interested in learning more, we hope you can use this episode as a jumping off point to explore!

And we also want to note that fabric production, like other industries involved with farming and manufacturing, has many labour and environmental issues. We are going to have a short discussion of that at the end of this episode as well as actions you can take and certifications you can look at, but for the beginning of the episode, we’re going to be focusing on how fibre becomes fabric.

Caroline: Love it. I can’t wait. Okay, so, Fabric production goes through many stages in its journey from raw material to finished product. And these stages often all happen at different plants or factories across many countries. Each farm, plant, or factory is gonna specialise in a specific step of the process. So, at Blackbird, we made a graphic to, kind of, illustrate the textile supply chain that we’re gonna put in the show notes if you want to check it out. It’s helpful to see, like, the different paths a textile can take from field to fabric shop.

Helen: Yes, and every fabric starts with those raw materials. These materials are farmed, wild harvested, or even made in a laboratory. Some fabrics are made of farmed plant materials. Those would include things like linen, cotton, and hemp.

Each plant has different needs in terms of climate, soil, and moisture. For example, cotton farming is particularly water-intensive, while hemp can be raised with only rainwater. There are also differences in farming practices; while some growers use conventional pesticides and farming methods, others pursue organic certification and follow those guidelines.

Each plant is harvested differently, as well. The preferred way to harvest flax is to pull it from the ground; this keeps the fibres inside the stems for as long as possible. This is usually done by workers, although there are machines that can do it as well.

Cotton can be either stripped or picked. A cotton stripper machine pulls the entire boll off the plant – that’s the white, fluffy part, plus the leaves and the branches. A cotton picker machine picks only the white, fluffy part, leaving the boll leaves and branches on the plant.

These jobs can also be done by hand. Like linen, hemp fibres can be found in the stems of the plant. They are cut by machines in swaths, like hay. And we’re going to have sources for all of this stuff in the show notes if you want to read more.

Caroline: And some fabrics are made of fur, fleece, or hair of animals. These include wool, silk, mohair, cashmere, and alpaca. Sheep are normally shorn once a year with machine shears, or, sometimes, blade shears. All the wool shorn from one sheep is sold as one “fleece.” And they’re classed, or graded, based on qualities such as colour, strength, breed, and usage of chemicals.

Modern breeds have to be shorn, because they do not shed their wool naturally. But some primitive sheep, though, like many Shetlands, will have a “break” in their wool in spring. And by late spring, it will start to peel away from the sheep’s body and can be collected by workers. This is called “rooing,” which is the cutest possible word for it.

And silk filaments are collected from the cocoons of silkworms, which are boiled in water and then unspooled into long strands. There are some silk producers who collect the filaments from cocoons after the silk moths have emerged, or they open the cocoon to release the moth before they collect the filaments.

And we have a whole episode about wool, a whole episode all about silk, where you can learn a little bit more about each of those fibres.

Helen: Yes. Some fabrics are made from wood pulp, and these include viscose, rayon, Tencel, lyocell, Modal, and bamboo. These woods can be wild-harvested or farmed.

And some fabrics are made from petroleum products. These would include polyester, nylon, acrylic, spandex. The main raw material used in producing polyester is ethylene, which is derived from petroleum. Petroleum is also known as “crude oil.” It’s a complex liquid mixture of hydrocarbons, which is drawn from geological formations under the surface of the earth. You probably already know this, but petroleum is most often refined into various fuels, like gas for your car, lighter fluid for your barbecue, or jet fuel for your long trips. But it’s also used to make plastics and fabrics.

Caroline: Mhm, and some fabrics are made of recycled materials. There is recycled cotton, polyester, wool, nylon, Tencel, and viscose! The raw materials for most of these are pre- and post-consumer waste, as well as post-industrial waste; so that includes fabric scraps, thread, and finished garments. And some recycled polyesters are made out of recycled plastics, like plastic bottles, and recycled nylon is often made from fishing nets.

Helen: Ooh. By the way, Caroline did mention this, but we do have several episodes on the fabrics we’re talking about in this episode, so if you want a deeper dive into some of these fabrics, you can check out our Linen, Wool, Silk and our Tencel/Lyocell Episodes for more info. We’ll link it all up in the show notes.

Caroline: Awesome. The next step in the process is to extract or create fibres from the raw materials we just talked about. So, flax and hemp go through a process called retting. This process separates the fibres from the woody parts of the stem. And flax fibres are in the inner part of the stem, and hemp fibres are in the outer part.

So there are three types of retting: chemical retting, water retting, and dew retting. In chemical retting, stems are placed in an acidic solution and then pressurised and boiled. In water retting, stems are soaked in vats of water to decompose faster and then crushed between rollers. And in dew retting, stems are left in the fields or in stagnant ponds to decompose for a couple of weeks. After the stems are retted, the stems are crushed and all the woody material is removed. And then the fibres are combed to separate them and get them ready to spin into yarns.

Helen: Ooh, I like the sound of dew retting. It sounds, kind of, magical.

Caroline: It does, right?

Helen: Wool and cotton are cleaned of all debris and then carded, which is a combing-like process that puts all the fibres into the same direction. For rayons, woods are broken down into a pulp. The pulp is dissolved in chemical solvents and the cellulose is filtered through. Cellulose, of course, is the main component of plant cell walls. Once the cellulose is a clear liquid, it is ready to be pumped through spinnerets. As the cellulose is forced through, it forms long, thin fibres.

Caroline: I like that word, too, spinneret.

Helen: Spinneret.

Caroline: Petroleum-based synthetic fabrics must go through some interesting chemistry to become fibres. So, for polyester, ethylene glycol is combined with dimethyl terephthalate, and I probably said that wrong, but I tried, and a catalyst at a hot temperature. And then that mixture is combined with terephthalic…

Helen: You can do it!

Caroline: I’m trying, y’all, I’m trying.

Then that mixture is combined with terephthalic acid and heated further. The resulting chemical is polyester – “poly” meaning “many” and “ester” meaning “organic chemical compound.” Because the esters repeat in long strands, you are able to get long, smooth fibres out of this process.

And once the polyester is created, it is a molten, clear liquid. It’s extruded in ribbons, which are left to cool. And once they’re cool and brittle, they’re broken into tiny chips and dried even further. Then, they’re melted and extruded through spinnerets to create long fibres. The spinneret stretches the polyester strands so that they are soft and flexible, not brittle.

This is fascinating.

Helen: Yeah. It’s, like, it gets extruded and, and, like, pulled into those ribbons twice.

Caroline: Yeah. And then it becomes fabric. We’ll get to that, but it’s really cool.

Helen: It is pretty amazing. And recycled materials can go through several different processes to become spinnable fibres. Cotton materials can be shredded back into raw fibre, which is then carded, once again, to prepare it for spinning. This makes a pretty rough and low-quality cotton, so a lot of recycled cotton fibres are combined with other fibres or new cotton to improve the quality for wearing.

Sometimes cellulose-based materials, basically anything made of plants, are processed like rayons; they are dissolved back into that pulp, then extruded to create fibres. Plastic bottles can be recycled into polyester by melting them down and then following the polyester production process with the dimethyl terephthal-, telephthal-, terephthalate. I did it!

Caroline: You did it! Okay, so the next stage of creating a textile is spinning the yarns. So, yarns: they’re not just for knitters! All fabric is made of yarns – the ones used to make fabrics you can buy are just thinner versions of the ones hand knitters use.

So, why is it preferable to make fabric from yarns rather than individual fibres? Yarn consists of several filaments twisted together. Each filament is made of fibres that are twisted together. So, it’s like twists on twists! Yarns are much, much stronger than the fibres that make them up.

So, if you take a bit of wool roving (which is the soft, loosely-twisted wool that needle felters use), you can pull it apart very easily to make smaller pieces. If you try the same thing with a finished wool yarn, you’ll see it takes a lot more force to pull it apart. Yarns take weaving and knitting well, and strong yarns make strong fabrics.

Helen: It makes so much sense, and we’ve all handled yarn at some point, whether you’re a knitter or not. So, you know exactly what this looks like, those twists on twists and how strong it can really feel, especially when you’re making it with a strong fibre.

The first step of making yarns is carding and combing the fibres. After the fibres are all smooth and facing in the same direction, they become a mass called the “sliver.” Slivers are pulled through rollers that elongate them into uniform strands and give them a very small twist. This is called “drawing.” Slivers can be drawn two to four times.

Caroline: And then finished slivers are fed through a roving frame, which elongates them even more and gives them an additional twist. Now it’s called roving, and it’s ready to spin!

And there are two main types of spinning: ring spinning and open-end spinning. Ring spinning requires roving. It twists and spins the yarn at the same time. And open-end spinning skips the roving step, so it takes the slivers and feeds them directly into the spinner.

Helen: And not all yarns have the same amount of twist. Tightly twisted yarns will be strong; loosely twisted yarns will be weaker, but have more lustre. And super-tightly twisted yarns have almost, like, a crepe-y texture to them.

Caroline: And yarns also may have a different number of plys. So, a ply is one strand of spun yarn. Two-ply yarn is two yarns twisted together. There can be any number of plys! There can even be cord yarns, which are made of two or more ply yarns twisted together.

Helen: Twists on twists on plies on twists.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: I just think of toilet paper whenever anyone says two-ply.

Caroline: Oh, yeah.

Helen: Okay. Yarns are one step closer to the finished fabric, but…they still don’t look much like fabric. But it’s not for long, though, because the next step is the culmination of the process: when the yarns are woven, knit, or bonded together to form metres and metres of fabric!

Weaving is a way of interlacing yarns to create a fabric. The warp of the loom goes vertically, and the weft of the loom goes horizontally. An easy way to remember this is that the “weft” goes “right and left.” And I don’t have a clever rhyme for the warp. It’d be like the “warp” goes “down and orp?”

Caroline: I love it! I will remember that forever. The warp goes down and orp.

Helen: Woven fabric does not stretch on the grain or across the grain unless there are elastic threads woven into it. There is some stretch on the bias, though, and we are familiar with that from using bias tape in our garment sewing. There are so many different weaves that fabrics can have! Caroline, you want to walk us through these?

Caroline: Oh, yeah. Okay, so, plain weave, also known as tabby weave, calico weave, or basic weave, is the simplest one. The yarns are interlaced perpendicularly. And this weave is very common! Most quilting cottons are plain weave fabrics.

Twill weave is another common weave. It creates a diagonal rib on the fabric. Twill weaves are common in denims and other bottom weight fabrics. And gabardine, herringbone, and corduroy are all twill weaves.

And the third category of weaves are: fancy weaves! There are some really cool ones, including satin, jacquard, and brocade.

Helen: Oh, those are all the good ones.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Knitting is another way to create fabric. Huge industrial knitting machines create big loops of knit fabrics. Knitted fabric is basically yarns that are looped together into rows and columns. Lots of connected loops!

Again, if you’re a knitter, it’s exactly what you’re doing when you’re making stockinette stitch just on a huge scale and much, much, much tinier little stitches.

Knit fabric has natural stretch to it. Knits have different levels of stretch depending on how tightly they’re knit, the fibres the yarns are made of, and the pattern that they’re knit into.

Caroline: And there are two main categories of knits: weft knits and warp knits. So weft knits are made of a single yarn, and that yarn is looped into horizontal rows. In knitting, “rows” are called “courses” and vertical columns are called “wales.” So, in weft knits, courses are built one on top of the other. This is the way that hand knitting works, too.

Weft knits typically have a lot of stretch. The stretch and recovery of weft knit fabrics can be even better with the addition of elastic threads like spandex. And, by the way, the spandex is generally combined with another fibre in the yarn phase of production.

Some types of weft knit fabrics are: jersey, interlock, rib knit, and double knit.

Helen: Warp knits are made of several yarns that are looped and interconnected vertically. They are less common than weft knits.

Warp knits typically have no vertical stretch and varying degrees of horizontal stretch.

Some types of warp knit fabrics are: tricot, raschel, and milanese. If you see a really intricate knit fabric, like a lacy or piled fabric, chances are it is a warp knit. And I guess just stretch it vertically and see what happens.

Caroline: Yeah, very cool.

Helen: Alright, next, we want to talk about bonding. This is a process which can make fibres into fabric without any yarns. Bonded fabrics don’t have a grain; they are made of fibres or materials which are stuck, or “bonded” together.

So felting is the first thing that comes to mind. It is an ancient type of fabric bonding. Wool felt is made by adding heat and moisture to wool fibres and agitating them. The fibres are rough and they will start to cling to each other, bonding to create fabric yardage. The wool fibres are fed through several carding machines to create webs of the fibres.

Four of these webs are then layered in alternating directions, to make what is called a “batt.” And the batts go through a steam table and add heat and moisture, then go under a plate-hardener, which presses the material flat and oscillates over it to agitate it.

Then the batts are wetted continuously with a sulfuric acid solution and hot water as they go through a fulling machine with rollers that exert pressure and agitate them even more. It’s a lot of agitation happening.

The sulfuric acid is neutralised, and the batts go through a bath of soda ash and warm water. Finally, the batts are re-fulled to smooth them out, and the ends are trimmed, and the felt fabric is ready. Dang. That sounds like a lot of work. People used to do that, like, by hand.

Caroline: Yeah. Once upon a time. I mean, I feel like it’s great that we have machines to do this. And I would love to see a machine that does this process because you’re right, it’s, like, so much agitation, and it must be really fun to watch.

Helen: Very cool. Synthetic fibres can be bonded by heating and pressing them together. This is how most interfacing is made! If you hold non-woven interfacing up to the light, you can kind of see the swirls of the fibres in there. And quick note, it’s not usual that we would recommend non-woven interfacing on this show. I think Caroline and I both really prefer woven interfacing because it does just combine really well with the textiles that we like to use for garment making. Um, so when you’re checking out interfacing, keep an eye out for those bonded types that might not be what you’re looking for.

Caroline: Mhm, unless you’re making, like, bags or something. I think they’re more common in accessories.

Helen: Totally.

Caroline: Okay. The next steps in the fabric making process can vary in when, or even if, they take place: dyeing, printing, finishing, and testing.

Dyeing can take place at several different points. Fibres can be dyed, yarns can be dyed, or fabrics can be dyed.

And there are different types of dyes that can be chosen based on the fibres of the fabric being dyed. They include acid dyes, direct dyes, mordant dyes, sulphur dyes, azoic dyes, vat dyes, disperse dyes, and reactive dyes. Each of these dyes has certain fabrics that it should be used with. For example, mordant dyes can be used with wool, silk, or cellulosic fibres like linen, cotton, or rayon after they are treated with metal salts. The metal salts create an affinity in the fibres so that the dye will adhere.

Helen: And dyes are sometimes mixed, especially for mixed-fibre fabrics and yarns. Dyes are usually applied in a dye bath, which is dye and water-based solution mixed together in a big vat usually made of stainless steel. Stainless steel is nonreactive, meaning that the chemicals used in dyeing will not react with it and change the dyeing process.

The dye bath must be heated to a certain temperature, depending on the dye being used. This swells the fibre and makes it more receptive to the dye. If you’ve ever done home dying again, it’s like that, but a much, much larger scale, right? You’re doing it in a pot. You need to heat it to a certain temperature. They’re doing it in a vat. Same kind of deal.

Caroline: Makes sense. There are several big machines that can be used to dye fabrics. One is the Hussong Machine, used for yarn dyeing. The dye bath is in a long square-ended vat. The vat has a perforated false bottom, and the dye vat is circulated through it with an impeller. There are steam coils underneath to heat it. Hanks of yarn hang from a system of poles that are lowered into the dye vat.

Helen: Ooh.

Caroline: Hanks of yarn. I’ve never heard that before. Hanks. Who’s Hank?

Helen: Hanks of yarn. You’ve never heard that before.

Caroline: No.

Helen: Hanks of yarn.

Caroline: Have you?

Helen: It’s a rea-, it’s a super common, no. I’m just kidding.

Caroline: Helen!

Helen: Okay. Some dyes are advertised as “azo-free”. Or is it azo?

Caroline: I have no idea.

Helen: Some dyes are advertised as “azo-free.” Azo dyes, maybe it’s azo, not 100% sure, make up a bulk of the textile dyes used. They are direct dyes, meaning that they don’t require an extra compound like a mordant dye. This also means that the waste from these dyes cannot be treated before it is discharged into rivers and the seas. Therefore, it’s considered a known carcinogen.

Mill waste discharged into rivers and the sea can contain 5-20% of the original dyestuff. This has an impact on biodiversity and the health of people who live nearby. Azo dyes are regulated in the EU, but most textile dyeing takes place in other countries that do not have as strict of regulations. Azo-free dyes are safer for workers and the environment. So this is something to look out for when you’re fabric shopping.

Caroline: Yeah. And that is why when fabrics are dyed with Azo-free dyes, it’s often part of the, like, marketing of the fabric, so people know that it’s Azo-free free.

Okay, printing. Printing must be done on finished fabric, of course. Sometimes dyed fabrics are also printed; and sometimes fabrics are just printed.

So there are five main types of printing: block, roller, screen, heat transfer, and digital.

So block printing is done by applying colour to carved blocks and pressing them onto fabric. When it is done in large quantities, the blocks are usually wood, and they are relief-carved to create the design. Blocks can also incorporate hard felt and copper strips for different effects. Colours are applied in layers, one at a time. And this process is labour- and time-intensive, but produces stunning results.

Helen: It really does. I mean, I just love the look of block printing. Has that beautiful variation and it’s mesmerising to watch these artisans do this work. They’re so incredibly fast and efficient, and I’m just impressed by the amount that they don’t mess it up.

Caroline: Yeah. And like any printing, like, similar to screen printing, it’s so fun to see a print come together as they layer the colours one on top of the other. And at first it doesn’t look like much and then it all just, kind of, comes to life as you layer on, um, those different colours.

Helen: Totally. Roller printing is done by machine. The machine runs fabric over a thick endless blanket of engraved rollers roll the print onto the fabric. There is one roller for each colour. And each roller has a colour-furnishing roller that is partially immersed in the colour and then deposits colour continuously onto it. Kind of hard to explain via audio. So again, we’ll have links in the show notes, but basically it’s the machine version of block printing.

Caroline: Very cool. And screen printing can be done by machine or by hand, though it’s almost always done by machine at an industrial scale. Each silk or nylon gauze screen is made to print part of the design – one for each colour. Only part of the screen will let ink through; the part that will be printed. A screen is laid over fabric that has been adhered to a table. And colour is applied to the screen, and the printer or machine uses a squeegee to push the ink through the screen in an even layer. And this is repeated for each colour of the design.

Helen: Heat transfer prints are done by printing a design in reverse on paper with special inks. The paper is layered on the fabric and passed through a calender, which is a type of machine with hot rollers that press the fabric as it passes through. The heat and the pressure transfers the design to the fabric, and the paper can be removed.

I think, when I was a kid, I did some, like, heat transfer printing. You could print off a saying or something and stick it on a t-shirt, and it was some kind of special printer paper you could buy at Staples, kind of, like that I imagine.

Caroline: Okay. And finally, digital printing is a cool alternative to screen printing. The fabric is pre-treated with solutions that make the fabric more receptive to the dye. And then it’s fed through a machine that is like a giant ink-jet printer. It’s sprayed with tiny droplets of colour all at once, according to the digital file that’s been uploaded. Then, the fabric is “fixed” with steam, dry heat, or pressure to make the colour permanent. Our custom print collections at Blackbird are all digital prints!

And digital printing on fabric is a little bit more accessible in that often in the industry, the minimums are a lot lower. So that’s why you’ll see a lot more digital prints in the sewing world is because those fabric stores are able to do smaller quantities and, kind of, design their own

Helen: Mhm, and get so many different results, too, like, the, kind of, world’s your oyster when it comes to digital printing. Do you have to worry about the number of colours that you’re using? Is there limitations on that?

Caroline: That’s the beauty of digital printing is that there’s no limitation on colours. We’ll say a lot of the time blacks don’t come out as black as we want them to be cause it’s really hard to get that depth of colour with a digital print. Um, but then with screen printing, minimums are a lot higher and you’re paying per screen. So basically every colour that’s in the print, you’re paying more for it. Um, which is why you might find that screen prints often have fewer colours and maybe less intricate designs, or if they are more intricate, they can be a little bit pricier.

Helen: That makes sense. And with digital printing, too, often, or maybe always, I’m not sure that the reverse side of the fabric doesn’t have the print on it, right?

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: So it might be white or it might just be, like, a paler version of the other side of the fabric, depending on the transparency. So that’s something to consider with your making versus a woven fabric, like a plaid or something, like, that has that colour and design on both sides of the fabric.

Caroline: Mm, and you’ll even notice with a screenprint that colour just, kind of, seeps through a lot more than on a digital print. So that’s an easy way to tell if something is digital or screen printed. Um, which I would say are probably the most common types of printing in the industry. Um, just by looking at the backside and seeing how, how light it is in colour. Although I have seen some companies do like a digital print, but they, like, pre-dye the base. So it’s not always the way to tell, but it’s often an indicator.

One other thing I wanted to mention is that companies like Spoonflower, like, print on demand companies are often, or almost always, using digital printers. So that giant, kind of, ink jet style printer, which is why you can just, like, order two metres online and, and get it delivered to you without having to commit to these big quantities, because it’s just, like, a printer. You’re not having to make screens for every element of the printer.

Helen: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Okay. Next, we’re going to talk about finishing, which contrary to how it sounds can actually happen at different stages of the fabric production. Finishing is a wide category of processes that make fibres, yarns, or cloth more usable. If that sounds a bit vague, that’s because it is. “Usable” can mean things like softer, brighter, shinier, or more functional.

Finishing can mean singeing yarns with an open flame to make them smoother and less “hairy.” It can also mean napping, which is brushing a fabric to create a fuzzier, fuller nap. It can also mean pre-shrinking, so a fabric does not shrink too much on a customer’s first wash. So, see? There’s a really wide variety here. Bleaching, printing, and dyeing are also all finishes!

Caroline: And then in addition to giving a fabric a better aesthetic and a more comfortable feel, there are also functional finishes that change how a fabric behaves. For example, hydrophobic finishes make fabrics water-resistant and fire resistant finishes make fabrics less flammable.

Helen: Very cool. I was looking at couches, like, a year ago. Didn’t end up buying one, but the sales rep poured water on the couch that we were looking at to prove how water resistant it was.

Caroline: And you’re like, thanks.

Helen: Made a big show of it.

Caroline: It should have been wine though. I feel like wine is, like, more effective.

Helen: I mean, she happened to be drinking water. If she had been drinking wine, I might have been concerned.

Caroline: I feel like that’s all part of the shtick though. Like, oh, always has a glass of water in their hand. I just happened to be drinking this.

Helen: Welcome to the couch store!

Okay. A final process that fabrics go through is testing! When a batch of fabric is made, a section of it can be tested for different qualities. Some of the qualities it can be tested for include: colour fastness, shrinkage rate, weight, fibre composition, and pilling.

Caroline: Yeah. Pilling is so interesting. There are pill tests that you can do in the industry. And we have actually started asking our suppliers, especially for our knit fabrics, for their pill ratings. And you can often get that information if you ask for it. And it’ll be a nice indicator of whether the fabric will pill more or less with washing. And often that will be a deciding factor of whether or not we’re going to buy a fabric if it has a low pill rating. So it’s a really interesting test that is done on a lot of fabrics and that I think fabric stores out there can maybe inquire about if you’re ever wondering.

Helen: Yeah. So some of this information will go on the label; it will determine the percentages of the fibres and the care instructions for that fabric. And some of the information will be used to describe the product for whoever might buy it; so, for example, a fabric shop might not list the weight of the fabric, but you can bet that the fabric buyer does know it!

And I feel like we have been seeing a bit of a shift in the community in the last few years. Fabric stores providing more of that kind of information, like the pill rate. I mean, that would be so cool to see on the label, but I love the care instructions, the weight. Give me all the information. I want to know where it came from. I just love having all of that information at my fingertips. So, yeah, it’s awesome when fabric stores can include that.

Caroline: Yeah. I think the only time it’s often not possible to include is when you’re dealing with deadstock fabric, um, which we’re going to talk about in a minute. So I won’t get too far into it, but often yeah, you’re buying fabrics you have no idea what they are. But there are ways to calculate some of these things. There’s burn tests to figure out fibre content, or at least rough fibre content. And you can, you know, weigh the fabric, and there’s calculations to figure out the ounce or GSM weight of a fabric just from weighing a piece of it. So there are ways to find that information.

And then other information is just for the mill. So it might help them maintain the same quality of fabric over time and influences future decisions they might make about dyes, fibres, and weaves.

Helen: That makes sense.

Caroline: Okay. So once the fabrics go through their final steps and they’re ready for sale, they still have a journey before they get to fabric stores. Fabrics come from all over the world, and they’re sold all over the world. They get to their final destination either by boat or by air, then delivered by train and/or truck!

Obviously, if they’re being delivered within the same country, they don’t necessarily need to go by air, but often they are, you know, crossing borders and oceans. So a boat or a plane is very often involved in shipping fabric around the world.

And fabrics can have several types of final destinations. So, some are gonna be sold to clothing manufacturers to be made into clothing. Some will be sold to wholesalers, who are middlemen that sell to retailers or clothing designers.

Helen: Mill ends, odd lots, and seconds will be sold to jobbers. Jobbers sell to small-run designers, individuals, and fabric stores. Some will be sold directly to retailers. Retailers sell to the general public.

And some fabric will be bought by clothing manufacturers and not used, for one reason or another. And this fabric is re-sold as “deadstock.” So, Caroline, tell us about deadstock

Caroline: Yeah, I mean, for fabric shoppers, deadstock can be a great deal. You can get a limited-run, stunning fabric for a much lower price than a, uh, you know, similar virgin good, let’s say. And, plus, you get a chance to use fabric that would otherwise be discarded.

So, often deadstock is extra stock from a production run, perhaps in clothing manufacturing. And what sometimes actually happens is that designers need to, or if a clothing designers or clothing manufacturers, need to reach a certain minimum to get a certain price for a fabric or maybe to reach even, like, the bare minimum of what a fabric manufacturer will require to be able to produce a fabric.

And so that does sometimes create deadstock in that they’ll buy a little bit more than what they need, and then sell off that additional fabric to a jobber or to a ware-, a deadstock warehouse, and it’ll end up there. And then, it’ll end up being sold to a fabric store like me. And I mean, deadstock can also include, like, damaged fabric seconds, mill ends, odd lots from jobbers.

It can also just honestly be leftover that happens by accident. It could be, you know, just small rolls at the end of a designer’s production if they made miscalculations, or often, they’ll calculate some wastage and that wastage doesn’t happen. So it’s not all fabric that was like overproduced on purpose or that was, you know, mistakes or, or damage.

It’s, kind of, a whole big mix of things. And, um, I think that it is a great way to get a lower price on a fabric that you would normally probably pay a lot more for. And, um, often it’s really, really beautiful, great quality fabric.

Helen: Yeah. I feel like the deadstock stuff that I see retailing in the sewing community is often very unique because it does come from these designers. So it’s not necessarily something you would buy from fabric, uh, wholesaler. It’s something that’s a little bit more special, a little bit more unique. Uh, not always, but a lot of the time when I see deadstock drops, I pay extra attention because I’m always curious to see what might be in there.

Caroline: Yeah, it is a little bit like thrift shopping, you know, the thrill of the hunt, and it’s a limited supply, or, like, if I don’t get this, now it might not show up again cause there’s really is a limited amount of it. So it’s pretty thrilling to shop for deadstock as a buyer myself, and also, I’m sure, as our customers getting to see it in our store and have to snap it up quickly.

Helen: Yes. Okay. So when you think about all of the steps it takes to make raw materials into fabric, you get more of a sense for how many people must be involved in this process. Many of the steps are done by people running machines now. However, some textile manufacturers still use traditional weaving techniques that require a lot of labour! Caroline, can you speak to this?

Caroline: Yeah. I wanted to use one of our suppliers as an example because we carry a lovely collection of handwoven cottons that are crafted using indigenous weaving techniques by skilled artisans in Bengal, India.

So our supplier works with over 300 skilled weavers from clusters in different villages around West Bengal with whom they have up to 30 years of working relationships. And these artisans are working out of their own homes. They’re skilled, and they rely on their extensive knowledge, which is often passed down between generations, to craft these fine fabrics.

And they are available in a wide range of colours and patterns. And they’re so, so beautiful and thoughtfully designed by the artisans who weave them. Each additional colour of yarn, especially darker colours, adds complexity to the weaving process so the weavers actually get to decide their rate based on the specific style being produced and the effort required to complete it.

So, for example, check designs require multiple weft shuttles to carry the different colours of yarn back and forth. And this means that this fabric is more labour intensive, as it takes more time to set up the loom and to weave the fabric. So, allowing artisans to set their own rates ensures that they are fairly compensated for the unique requirements of each design and can work at their own pace.

So, we love this supplier because they’re supporting these artisans and in turn supporting these communities and these families. We have a couple of articles on our blog about this process, where we even include some videos straight from our supplier. So I’m going to link that up in the show notes because it is so fascinating to see these incredibly skilled artisans weaving these fabrics. It’s just mesmerising.

Helen: Yes, and I absolutely love the end result, too. I’ve bought several of these handwoven textiles, and they’re a dream to work with, a dream to wear. You know, it’s got the print on both sides, like we were talking about earlier; that is a benefit and gorgeous colours.

And that’s so interesting about the complexity of the weave dictating the price point. I mean, it makes a lot of sense and I was thinking, checks being harder, like, what would be the easiest kind? Would it be, like, a vertical stripe?

Caroline: I am not an expert, but I would think that a vertical stripe would definitely be easier than a check or some, kind of, like, a plaid where you’re working with, like, several different colours. Um…

Helen: Wow.

Caroline: But yeah, the supplier does do stripes, as well, and some cool, kind of, like, textured ones as well. So such a, such a fun collection, and we’re always getting samples from them and, and adding new ones into our collection. Every few months, we place an order with a supplier, um, so look out for, um, I think we have a new drop out probably by the time this episode comes out. So,

Helen: Ooh!

Caroline: Very exciting. Okay, so we can’t have an episode about how fabric gets made without acknowledging the significant impact of the fashion industry on our people and planet. And textile production, in particular, concerns up and down the line, from labour exploitation to animal cruelty to environmental degradation. So we do want to touch on that in this episode.

Again, it’s a huge topic, and we could probably talk about it for several episodes. We could write a whole book about it, and there are some really interesting articles that we’ll link up in the show notes if you want to learn a little bit more about this, but we did want to talk about it today.

So, consumers are becoming more and more discerning about the origins of the products that they buy. And the sustainable fashion movement and events like Fashion Revolution Week encourage us to ask more questions and vote with our dollars, and I think this is so important. As sewists, though, it can be sometimes hard to get the answers we’re looking for.

And in my own experience as a fabric retailer, we’re so far down the line of companies involved in fabric production (and such a small customer in the grand scheme of the fashion industry!), that it can be hard to get clear – or any – information about whether a fabric was ethically produced.

Helen: Yeah. I can imagine that would be really challenging. Like, from the sewing community perspective, it seems like you’re a larger fabric company, but in the grand scheme of things in the fashion world, you’re tiny, tiny little fish in this big pond. So people aren’t always going to be jumping to answer your questions.

But one thing we can do, as citizens, is to ask for transparency. Fashion Revolution Week, as Caroline mentioned, is a yearly campaign that organises people to do just that. They have an action pack available on their website with information and actions you can take to make change in the fabric industry. We’ll link it in the show notes! Fashion Revolution Week is now, when this episode comes out. So we thought this was a great opportunity to promote this and to talk about it on the show.

Caroline: Yeah, and we can also try to support companies that show they care! Remember, we’re not striving for perfection (and honestly, I would be wary of any company or product that claims to be “completely sustainable” cause I don’t think that is actually possible). But what we can do is uplift and support companies that offer sustainable alternatives and strive for transparency in the supply chain whenever possible.

Helen: Yeah, and are focusing on continued education as well. I think that’s really important, um, sharing that with their consumers. And, like you said, offering really cool alternatives and just talking about it, being open to the conversation.

Another thing you can do is buy those deadstock fabrics we were talking about. Buy fabric secondhand or at estate sales, go to fabric swaps or purchase deadstock fabrics from the fabric store, or just use what you have. That’s one of the simplest things you can do, use what you have. You’ve already got it. And you can continue to sew with those materials that you have in your collection.

Caroline: And finally, we want to touch on another tool to consider, which is certifications. So Buying certified fabrics is one way to encourage change in the industry, but I will say, it’s not the perfect solution. So I wanted to dig into it for a sec…, even though, again, this is a huge topic, but let’s talk about it for a sec.

There are quite a few certifications available out there. Here are a few examples. There’s the Better Cotton Initiative. They have environmental and social standards to improve the impacts of cotton farming worldwide. There’s Global Organic Textile Standard (or “GOTS”), and that indicates that the product is organic through every stage of production. And then, Oeko-Tex certifies that a fabric is free from certain groups of harmful substances. That’s the Oeko-Tex Standard 100 certification. Farmed fibres can also get certifications. So some examples are Fair Trade, which ensures workers are paid a fair wage in the poorest parts of the world; and USDA Organic, which ensures that farmers follow environmentally friendly organic farming practices.

Helen: Yes. Some certifications evaluate every step of the production process and some only evaluate the end product or a single stage, so that’s something to consider when you’re looking at these certifications.

And also to get certified, mills must submit an application to a textile certification body. The body will then prepare an estimate for the cost of the certification. If the mill wants to go ahead, they will sign a year-long contract with the certification body that will need to be renewed. And an auditor will come to inspect the mill and review the documentation. The audit is sent to a reviewer who will decide whether the mill passes or not.
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If they do not pass, they will be given an action plan so that they know what to correct before they are re-audited. If they pass, they’re given a scope certificate. The certification body may do unannounced inspections to make sure the mill is still complying with the requirements. Even after being certified, the mill will need to submit to the certification body for a separate certificate for each shipment of goods. And without that certificate, the shipment is not considered certified.

So, all of that, as you can imagine, getting certified can be prohibitively expensive for a lot of smaller companies. So just because a company isn’t certified doesn’t mean the fabric is necessarily bad.

Caroline: Mhm, yeah, and, and it is so costly to get these certifications done. And it’s important to remember that a lot of that money is going towards these certification bodies that are often big, big companies. Um, so that money isn’t always necessarily going straight to the workers or, you know, the, the actual people that are manufacturing the fabric.

I also want to mention, like, being certified doesn’t always mean that a fabric is quote-unquote good. I would say that some certifications are more well-respected in the industry, while others are used as a way for companies to almost “greenwash” their products as they sell them to consumers to, kind of, tout this certification as being, you know, so great.

But, I think that if you see a certification listed on a fabric’s description, or even when you’re shopping around in stores, I always recommend looking it up to read about what the certification covers and whether it has been done by a trustworthy organisation and really understanding what it means, especially if that’s, what is, kind of, your deciding factor on whether to get a fabric or not. Like, understanding the meaning behind those certifications, I think, can be important.

But at the end of the day, you get to decide what’s important to you when selecting fabrics and deciding whether to consider certifications. Personally, if I’m buying a fabric where I have a connection or, like, a direct line to the maker, like in the case of the handwoven fabrics I spoke about earlier, I don’t mind if the fabric doesn’t have all the certifications, or any certifications, because I know I’m supporting artisans, and their families, through buying these fabrics.

So I think we all need to understand that we’re all, it’s a personal choice. We’re all going to make a decision that feels right for us. And do research if that is something that’s important to you.

Helen: Yeah. And there’s so many factors to consider, too, so you’re probably not gonna, you know, hit 100 on every point. Um, you might not have a win on everything you’re looking for when you’re looking for fabric, and that’s okay. I think it is, again, just about being open to the conversation and also doing some more research, like Caroline mentioned, and supporting companies that care. I think that’s really the main thing that you can, that you can do to have an impact.

Caroline: Yeah, and I also, uh, just, kind of, want to acknowledge that buying fabrics that are certified often means spending more money. You know, those fabrics are more costly, and that’s not always within reach for everybody. People have budgets and, and limitations to what they can spend on their hobbies. So I think it is important to recognize that, um, not everyone can afford to buy sustainable fabrics all the time, and I think that’s okay. I think that, um, you know, asking for more transparency, asking more questions when you can is important, but don’t judge other people for the fabric choices that they make cause you don’t ever know, like, what that person is experiencing or what their limitations are.

Helen: And at the end of the day, we’re all sewing our own clothes, so we’re all obviously open and interested in this subject and hopefully, interested in sustainability as a whole and moving forward to create a better world, so I think we’re on the same page there. And, like you said, it doesn’t have to involve a lot of judgement and what one person is doing over another person.

I love fabric. I’m sure our listeners love fabric, too. And fabric production is really complex, so we appreciate you coming along for the ride today. It involves a ton of people, more than a few companies, but as citizens and consumers, there are definitely things that we can continue to do to make it better. And we’re open to any feedback that you might have about this episode, so please reach out.

Caroline: Yeah, please do. We love having conversations about this kind of thing. Wow, Helen. That was, kind of, a wild ride. I feel like we covered a lot and at the same time, probably not enough. All the way from the rawest of raw materials to the finest of finished fabrics. And we really did only scratch the surface. There’s so much out there to learn.

So we want to know if this info intrigued you or was this episode way too nerdy for you? Let us know on social media or via email. Let us know if you have info that you want to share or questions that you want answered in the future. We’d love to dig in further into this topic someday. And thanks for listening.

Helen: Thanks!

That’s it for today’s episode of Love to Sew. You can find me, Helen, at HelensClosetPatterns.com and Caroline at BlackbirdFabrics.com! We’re recording in beautiful British Columbia, Canada.

Caroline: Go to LoveToSewPodcast.com to find our show notes. They’re filled with links and pictures from this episode. And if you’d like to get in touch with us, send us an email at hello@LoveToSewPodcast.com.

Helen: If you love, love, love Love to Sew and want more, you can sign up for our Patreon! For just $5 a month, you get a full-length bonus episode and weekly behind-the-scenes pictures. For $10 a month, you get all that PLUS a mini-episode focused on sewing techniques and 15% off codes for both Helen’s Closet and Blackbird Fabrics! Patreon is the best way to support us so that we can keep making quality sewing content. Go to patreon.com/LoveToSew, if you can, for more info.

Caroline: And thanks to our amazing podcast team. Lisa Ruiz is our creative assistant. Jordan Moore is our editor. And Margaret Wakelee is our transcriber. And thank you for listening. We’ll talk to you next week.

Helen: Buh-bye.

Caroline: The yarns are interlaced perpendic-, perpendicaly. Oh my gosh.

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