Warp Beams and Slashing

Warp Beams and Slashing

Now, I think it’s time to dive into woven manufacturing. I’m going to stay with boxer type fabrics made with cotton or cotton polyester blends.

If you’ve made those pot holders with the loops of scrap fabric placed on a red frame, you’ve got weaving 101 down.

1. We’ve got to get those warp yarns organized and this is done by creeling them.
2. Let’s do a little math. Let’s weave a = 133x72 / 40x40 - 57" - there are
133 warp yarns in one inch and the total fabric width is 59 inches so we’ll need 3481 strands of 40/1’s cotton for the width of our fabric.
3. 3481 individual cones of yarn are released and rolled onto one huge spool called a Creel.
4. A wet starchy size (think potato like the kind used to make Krispy Kreme donuts - it's true and I live in Winston Salem NC - home of Krispy Kreme) is applied to the yarn as it unrolls and passes through the bath. This is called Slashing and it makes the yarn stronger so it won’t break when the filling yarn is passed between threads.

5. A little note: ask the person giving you the tour of the yarn spinning factory if the yarn is for knits or wovens and then ask to see where the wax would be applied. If yarn is made for knitting, a wax is normally applied and you can see the Wax “candle” as the yarn glides over it. If the yarn is destined for wovens, no wax is applied since the starchy size needed to make the yarn super strong.

6. We’ve got our Warp Beam so Let’s move on to the Weaving room. Put your ear plugs in cause it is LOUD in here.

Sincerely,
The Underwear Maven
http://www.keylargounderwear.com/servlet/StoreFront