Denim Twills Left and Right Hand:

Another interesting feature within denim fabrics thats worth mentioning is the direction of the twill in the weave which is called either a left or right hand twill. These will be recognized by the upward direction of the diagonal twill on the face of the fabric. Right hand twill goes up from lower left toward upper right. Left hand twill goes from lower right up toward the left. Left hand twills are more desirable due to the strength and durability of the finished goods. Right hand twills have the tendency to stretch out and stay baggy until washed. Washing in a sense resets the fabric if you will.

Garments made with right hand twills would not get as fully reset as a left hand twill would. When the fibers are twisted, spun into yarns, then woven into fabrics, a right hand twill continues with that right hand twist creating a fabric with a more flexible diagonal weave. The fabric of a right hand twill is more forgiving and makes up a more comfortable garment that will more easily conform to the wearers shape but will have poorer recovery to the garments original shape.

A left hand twill naturally has the ability to lock the weave in place allowing the yarns to have more of a north and south east to west directional weave. Since the yarns are twisted to the right and the fabric is woven to the left the yarns will have a tighter twist to the weave, giving a flatter tighter more securely woven fabric. Needless to say the left hand twills are more expensive and desired.

There are also many variations of twill creating a tighter or looser fabric. For example a 12, 22, 23 which refers to the number of yarns over by the number under in the weaving process this refers to the relationship between the warp and fill yarns. Due to the nature of the fabrics construction, the more narrow the fabric width the better the quality, since there is less chance

of flaw during the weaving process. A wider fabric would have more chance for error during the weaving process.

Denim The Dye Process

The yarns in denim fabric are colored with a natural dye made from the indigo plant which gives us that gorgeous purplish blue color that is most desired even when faded. The reason it can fade so dramatically is because the indigo dyestuff under normal circumstances never totally penetrates to the core of the thread. Today more and more synthetic or man made dyes are used to color the fibers which have made the dying process more cost effective so today there are fewer denim fabrics woven with yarns using the natural dye process. Garments made from denim fabrics that have been through the natural dying process would be one more reason for a higher priced garment.

Pattern Requirements For a Pair of Denim Jeans

For a traditional pair of denim jeans there are a minimum of 12 pattern pieces, or a total of 21-25 or more individual parts. Theres a lot of preplanning that goes into coordinating these parts. Besides them needing to fit together as a garment, the parts will need to fit together well in a marker. A marker is a layout which may include various sizes pieced together to create the best utilization of fabric for a particular order placed by a customer to the manufacturer.

The main pattern parts are called the front and back panel, front facing and back yoke, minor parts are those remaining pieces, coin or watch pocket, back pockets, right and left fly pieces and then the pocket bag which is cut from a separate fabric type called simply, pocketing. Some styles will use a 1 piece pocket bag, used more on mens styles. and womens styles will use a 2 piece bag which can serve as a tummy control if it has the right shape and is attached to the center front

of the garment. Of course the more pieces,the more labor that goes into taking the complete garment, this is another indicator that the cost will be more.

Initially the pattern needs to go through an entire process in itself to get started, a grain-line is established and proportions front to back deciphered. Then specific design details are taken into consideration, such as pocket shape, leg shape (boot cut, slim fit or classic fit etc.) and where the waistline of the garment should fall. There are a series of specific measurement points taken from the body that the pattern-maker needs to know and include when developing the pattern. The pattern is created by meeting these specific measurements at those established measurement points then completed by connecting the dots.

Once the base measurements are applied to the pattern, seam allowances will also need to be applied to the pattern pieces. It is important to note that different machinery may require a specific amount of seam allowance to make a secure seam.

Another consideration that needs to be addressed with the pattern is the shrinkage. Once the pattern is created there may be several samples developed in order to achieve the desired fit. In addition to the desired fit shrinkage is added so the approved denim jeans can reach the desired after-wash measurements.

Denim has the tendency to fray easily and can begin to affect measurements if too much fraying occurs before piecing the parts together. In addition to the seam allowance, a certain amount of shrinkage needs to be applied to the pattern to accommodate for the fabric shrinkage. Needless to say shrinkage testing needs to be performed on the target fabric before the sample garment is cut. There is also quite a bit of engineering and working with the sewers needed to eliminate bulk created by the seams. Since there are a number of issues that can arise from creating a pair of

jeans, it becomes easier to understand why they can get pricey. So after the initial pattern is created a marker is made to cover the fabric and then cut for sewing to get our first sample garment.

If the garment does not fit well or is not cut or sewn correctly or was not finished properly in the wash the entire process will need to be repeated until the desired garment is created. So you can also see how dependent each step in the process needs the cooperation of the other to be without mistakes. It can become very costly to repeat the process if it was fruitless.

Preplanning

Since the loops and most waistbands are rectangular in shape it is more efficient to cut them in a shared lot or by strips. A lot would be garments made from the same dyed roll or rolls of fabric. So to avoid what they call shading it is wise to cut parts from the same lot of dyed fabric. The parts are usually cut in pairs face to face so there is less chance of shading.

Denim Jeans -Prewash and Specialty Washes

Within the last 15-20 years prewashed jeans have become the norm. Before that you either bought unwashed which is also called rigid or rinsed jeans which were just that rinsed and dried so they could get softened up a bit. The prewashing also helped with some of the dyestuff that bleeds from the rigid garment due to the natural dying process of denim fabric.

As we learned that prewashing helps sell more garments, the popularity of bleaching jeans to help lighten up the shade quicker also became more popular. Time goes on and washes became

more and more sophisticated, and today you can buy a pair of jeans brand new made to look like those broken in and possibly up to 100 years old if enough time and effort went into the wash testing phase. The wash phase needs to be taken into consideration because denim has a high cotton content. Cotton fabrics will have a range of shrinkage anywhere from 1% to 12% or more. In each direction, length and width of the fabric. Length may shrink different from the width so it is important to add that shrinkage amount back into the pattern before the pattern is cut.

The preplanning is very important since to finished garment with the final wash outcome needs to be approved before the pattern is finalized since a garment with more processing will probably shrink more than one with less processing such as a rinse versus a heavily bleached garment.

The fun part of specialty washes is the sandblasting, and dremeling and hand sanding, the whiskering and the over-dyes to create that worn or antique look. So much practice goes into creating the perfect look, so you need lots of samples to practice on, which can get expensive. So you can see why there are so many bad garments out there and the value goes up for those that are perfect! Reference http://www.realmenrealstyle.com/cost-comparison-blue-denim-jeans/ view site at 13 October 2012