Fabric Printing Techniques

Printing

• Involves imparting a surface decoration design using pigment-based paint for flexible fabric coloration.
• An economical way to add color and patterns to fabrics.
• Integral to culture and contemporary textile design.
• Allows for intricate, multi-colored patterns.

Principles of Printing

• A printing bed is prepared with a soft resist under a hard surface.
• Viscous printing paste is applied to the raised surface of a print tool.
• The print tool is pressed onto the fabric, sometimes with a rubber mallet.
• Repeated designs require careful alignment, known as registration.
• Printed fabric is heat-set (steamed or ironed) to ensure print penetration.
• Fabrics are washed to remove debris and unfixed color.

Types of Printing

• Include direct printing and resist printing.

Direct Printing

• Involves directly printing a design on the fabric surface.
• Can occur at the fabric or yarn stage.
• Includes block, roller, and warp printing.

Block Printing

• One of the oldest printing methods.
• Blocks can be made of potato, wood, foam, metal, or lino.
• Designs are hand-carved, making patterns unique.
• It is a slow, time-consuming process with potential alignment issues.
• Typically mono-color, but can achieve multiple colors.

Roller Printing

• Capable of multi-color printing.
• Cheaper and less labor-intensive than block printing.
• A continuous mechanical process for large fabric quantities.
• Rollers are engraved with designs that transfer onto the fabric.
• Up to 16 colors can be used, each on a separate roller.
• Intricate designs are possible, allowing for complex patterns.
• Excess printing paste is scraped off the roller to ensure a sharp print.
• A blanket ensures a sharp print, while backing fabric absorbs excess color.
• Another roller printing method involves transferring color printed on paper to fabric using sublimation.

Warp Printing

• Designs are printed onto warp yarns before weaving.
• The printed warp yarns are woven with plain-dyed weft yarns.
• Results in a soft, blurry, muted-tone design.
• Used on taffeta, cotton, and furnishing fabrics.

Resist Printing

• Uses a resist to prevent printing paste from being applied to the fabric.
• Includes batik, stencil, and screen printing, and ikat.

Batik

• Wax is the key resist medium.
• A tjap (copper stamp) is used for wax-printed designs.
• Wax is stamped or drawn onto the fabric and then dyed.
• Waxing and dyeing can be repeated for different effects and colors.
• The wax must be scored with a cloth after dyeing.
• Slow, labor-intensive manual process.
• Requires careful planning to achieve desired results.

Stencil Printing

• Utilizes resists like acetate, plastic, contract paper, or masking tape.
• Designs are cut into the resist, and color is applied with stenciling brushes or sponges.

Screen Printing

• Developed from stenciling, can be done by hand or machine.

Hand/Manual Screen Printing

• Labor-intensive and requires registration skills, especially with multiple colors.
• Each color requires a separate screen bed.
• A squeegee forces printing paste through designed areas on the screen mesh.
• The screen is carefully lifted and repositioned for the next print.

Machine/Flat Bed Printing

• Screens (silk, nylon, or polyester) are coated with a photosensitive emulsion.
• The emulsion acts as a barrier to prevent the printing paste from passing through.
• Designs are photographed, and photographic plates are made for each color.
• The print is placed on the screen and exposed to light, washing away residual emulsion.
• Fabric is placed on a conveyor belt under a series of screens.
• Automated squeegees force printing paste through the screens.
• The process is repeated for each color.
• Fabric is heat-set or cured in drying ovens.
• Flat bed screen printing is used for wider fabrics.

Rotary Screen Printing

• Mechanization allows continuous operation, unlike flat bed printing.
• Uses cylindrical screens and automated squeegees.
• Printing paste is forced through the inside of the roller.
• Rotary screens are cheaper to produce than copper rollers used in roller printing.
• Most fabrics are screen printed this way, but the design is limited to the roller size.

Ikat

• Yarns are bound at intervals along their length to resist dye.
• Designs are printed or painted onto the yarn surface.
• Designs can be created on warp, weft, or both yarns (double ikat).
• Double ikat requires careful planning.
• After dyeing, the binding is removed, and the yarns are woven.
• Ikat fabrics have blurred or fuzzy edges where the resist was used.

Heat Transfer Printing

• Special printed paper is required.
• Designs are heated at a high temperature without steam, and pressure transfers the design to the fabric.
• Relies on sublimation, where dye transitions from solid to gas directly.
• Fabric doesn't require wetting out.
• Paper is printed with disperse dyes.
• Printed paper is placed on the fabric and passed through heated rollers.
• Dyes sublimate and transfer to the fabric surface.
• Economical and environmentally friendly, since no heat setting or water is required.
• Waste paper can be recycled.

Direct Digital Printing

• Prints directly onto fabric using inkjet technology and CAD systems.
• Produces high-quality results in design and application.
• Reactive dyes are used for natural fibers (cotton, silk, rayon, viscose).
• Disperse dyes are used for polyester.
• Requires specialist, large-scale print machines for wide fabrics.
• Designs can be created on a home computer and printed onto commercially prepared fabric sheets, limited only by printer size.

Discharge Printing

• Done after the fabric has been dyed.
• Print paste contains a chemical that destroys dye molecules in the print area.
• Usually used on dark fabrics with white designs.
• Contains bleaching chemicals, so residue must be removed to prevent fabric weakening.

Dyeing

• Applies permanent color to fiber, yarn, or fabric via immersion in a dye bath.
• A dye is a soluble color applied from a dye liquor (solution).
• It penetrates and combines with the textile material.

Dye Types

• Direct dyes are used for cellulosic fibers.
• Reactive dyes are used for cellulosic, wool, silk, acrylic, and nylon fibers.
• Sulfur dyes are used for cellulosic fibers.
• Azoic dyes are used for cotton and some polyesters.
• Vat dyes are used for cellulosic fibers.
• Acid dyes are used for wool, silk, nylon, modified rayon, acrylic, and polyester fibers.
• Basic dyes are used for acrylic, polyester, nylon, and discharge prints on cotton.
• Disperse dyes are used for polyester, nylon, and other synthetic fibers.
• Natural dyes are used primarily on natural fibers.

Principles of Dyeing

• Dye liquor is prepared by dissolving dyestuff in water, based on fabric weight.
• Textile material is wetted out to swell the fibers and enhance dye uptake.
• Textile is immersed in the dye solution (dye bath or vat).
• Dye solution can be applied as an emulsion or foam.
• Agitation assists dye uptake.
• Dye migration occurs as dye molecules move towards the textile.
• Exhaustion occurs as the dye solution loses color and the textile is dyed.
• Diffusion occurs with the dye molecules move into amorphous regions of the textile and are anchored by fixation.
• Diffusion is influenced by molecule size and dye sites and is assisted by temperature and carriers.
• Anchoring is assisted by natural forces and closing of swollen fibers.
• Fibers with good absorbency are easier to dye, as they are more amorphous with more dye sites.

Stages of Dyeing

Pre-fibre (Solution or Dope Dyeing)

• Pigmentation of the solution before extrusion through the spinneret.
• Excellent for hard-to-dye fibers.
• Offers outstanding color fastness and uniform color.
• High costs and only available for manufactured fibers.

Fibre (Stock or Fibre Dyeing)

• Loose fibers are dyed before spinning.
• Top dyeing involves dyeing combed fiber ropes.
• Provides good dye penetration, two-tone patterning, and high quality.
• High costs with potential variations in fiber dye uptake.

Yarn (Skein or Beam Dyeing)

• Yarns are wrapped on cones or beams and submerged dye vats; the dye is circulated.
• High quality, used for patterned fabrics, and provides good dye penetration.
• High cost.

Fabric (Piece Dyeing)

• Includes cross dyeing for fabrics made of different fibers to create color combinations.
• Union dyeing aims for uniform, solid color.
• Produces of solid color fabrics.
• Lower cost and quicker responses to fashion trends.
• Requires well-prepared materials and excellent knowledge of dyeing technology and textile properties.

Product (Apparel or Other Finished Products)

• Least expensive.
• Quick responses to fashion trends.
• Requires well-prepared materials.
• Seams or design areas may have uneven penetration; matching threads and trims is difficult.

Methods of Dyeing

• Depend on fabric weight, fiber content, and dye type for optimal results.
• Industry adheres to strict environmental controls.

Types of Dyeing

Batch Dyeing

• Also known as exhaust dyeing.
• Can be used at any stage of production.
• End product is circulated through a dye bath.
• It is excellent for short runs, with flexible color selection and temperature control.
• Low cost.

Winch Dyeing

• An older form of dyeing.
• Fabric is sewn together and lifted in and out of the dye bath by a reel.
• Lightweight fabrics are dyed this way.
• Dye penetrates due to continuous immersion.
• Used for short fabric runs.

Jig Dyeing

• Requires 2 rolls above the dye bath.
• Fabric is rolled back and forth through the bath at regular intervals.
• Requires care for even dyeing.
• Used for larger fabric runs (up to 6000m).

Pad Dyeing

• Fabric runs through a dye bath in an open width and passes through rollers.
• Rollers pressure pad the surface, forcing dye onto the fabric.
• Fabric passes through a chamber for heat setting and steaming.
• Quick runs of large amounts of fabric using a small quantity of dye solution.
• Economical way to dye fabric lengths.

Combination Dyeing

• Requires circulation of both the dye bath and textile item.
• Includes jet dyeing, paddle dyeing, and continuous dyeing.

Jet Dyeing

• Uses jet propulsion for maximum dye penetration.
• Sealed vats use high-pressure dye streams.
• Fine fabrics can be be dyed because there is no tension on the fabric length.

Paddle Dyeing

• Paddle, rotary drum, and tumble dyeing systems are used for product dyeing.
• Both dyes and paddles/drums rotate for maximum dye penetration.

Continuous Dyeing

• Can dye yarns and fabrics.
• Continuous machines wet out, dye, treat, wash, and rinse the textile material.
• Used for long fabric runs.

Foam Dyeing

• Economical and environmentally friendly, uses less water, which leads to less water wastage and run-off.

Artistic Dyeing

• Pattern of color made by preventing dye from reaching some areas.
• A resist technique like folding, tying, stitching, binding, crumpling, and twisting.
• E.g., tie dyeing (shibori in Japan, plangi in Indonesia, bandhani in India).

Applique

• Applies fabric shapes to a fabric backing.
• Most fabrics are suitable.
• Fabrics should be pre-shrunk and colorfast.
• Fusible web stabilizes fabric, and prevent stretching.
• Edges can be finished with satin, straight, blanket, or free motion stitch.

Methods of Finishing Applique

• Draw the design on the paper side of fusible web.
• Iron the fusible web to the wrong side of the appliqué fabric.
• Cut out the shape, peel off the paper backing, and iron onto the right side of the background fabric.
• Stabilize the wrong side with tear-away stabilizer.
• Stitch around using satin stitch and remove the stabilizer.
• Use specific techniques for outside and inside corners.
• Reduce stitch width at points for less bulk.

For Success in Applique

• Always stabilize the backing fabric.
• Test the satin stitch; smaller shapes require smaller stitches.
• Lower the top tension to hide the bobbin thread.
• Three-quarters of the satin stitch should be on the applique fabric.
• Avoid reversing; use a needle to take threads to the wrong side and tie them.

Variations in Appliqué

• Straight stitch appliqué: Stitch 2 mm from the edge.
• Free-motion appliqué: Use free-motion stitching for a decorative edge.
• Blanket stitch appliqué: Use blanket stitch without stabilizer.

Reverse Appliqué

• Requires no fusible web or tear away stabilizer.
• Draw a shape on the right side of the fabric with a fabric pen.
• Lay the right side of the appliqué fabric to the wrong side of the fabric under the shape and stitch around the shape with a straight stitch..
• Carefully cut close to the stitching, without cutting the underlying fabric.

Embroidery

• Decorates or embellishes a base fabric with yarns.
• The fabric stabilized to achieve effects.
• A variety of yarns are suitable (natural, manufactured, smooth, textured).

Hand Embroidery

Running Stitch

• Equal stitch length and spacing.
• Simple outline stitch.

Straight Stitch

• Single spaced stitches (even/irregular, long/short).
• Should not be too loose.
• Close straight stitches form a satin stitch.
• Have smooth stitches with even tension.

Back Stitch

• Worked backward, right to left.
• Creates an outline stitch.

Stem Stitch

• Worked backward like backstitch, with yarn to the left of the needle.
• Creates an outline stitch.

Chain Stitch & Lazy Daisy Stitch

• Chain: Looped stitch outlining/filling an area.
• Lazy daisy: Detached chain stitch, worked in a circle.

Cross-Stitch

• Half the crosses in the first row, completed in the second row.
• Often on even-weave fabrics.
• Stitches worked in rows of slanted stitches.

Fly Stitch

• Y-shaped looped stitch for filling an area.

French Knot

• Raised stitch fills an area.
• Size depends on the number of thread twists around the needle.

Blanket Stitch & Button Hole Stitch

• Blanket: Finishes edges or creates a border.
• Maintain equal distance and height for stitches.
• Button hole: Like blanket stitch, but stitches are close together.

Couching

• Uses two different threads.
• A heavier thread is laid down and stitched in place with a contrast thread.
• Used as an outline or fill area.

Machine Embroidery

• Most sewing machines have decorative stitches.
• Utility stitches can also look decorative with rayon or metallic thread.

Free Motion Machine Embroidery

• Stitch in any direction by lowering the drop feed and attaching a darning foot.
• Straight or zig-zag stitches can be used.
• Machine operator controls stitch length and width.
• "Fast foot, slow hand” ensures consistent stitch length. If the machine speed is too slow the stitches formed will be very long.

For Success in Machine Embroidery

• Consult the sewing machine manual for lowering the drop feed and determining the ideal presser foot and stitch setting.
• Consider changing the needle to avoid thread splitting and breakage.
• Use polyester thread in the bobbin. Fill bobbin with bobbinfill (fine, strong polyester).
• Hoop the work or stabilize with tear-away stabilizer.
• Lower tension if bobbin thread is visible on the right side.
• Secure work by stitching in place a few times and cutting threads close to the fabric.