New Eco- friendly Fibers Developed from Water Lily

In the series of Eco- friendly fibers, the new water lily textile fibers have made way into the textile industry. After the successful development and commercialization of abaca, pineapple fibers and banana fibers for making Philippine tropical fabrics, the Philippine Textile Research Institute (PTRI) has now developed water hyacinth or water lily as the new fiber source.
Water lilies grow almost everywhere. Although, it is a welcome scene for many, the abundance of waterlilies had been posing a problem to the river ecosystem of the areas where they grow. They block waterways and kill aquatic life in rivers and lakes. Coupled with this problem there had been other issues before the Philippines government to tackle with, such as sliding textile industry owing to stiff competition from China, cheaper fabrics from other countries, imported raw materials, local labor unrest, higher production costs etc. All these led the government to come up with this novel solution in the form of water lily fibers that preserve the ecosystem as well as provide a viable source of income to the local residents.

The Water lily weaving center was launched way back in October 1995 that provided training for basket weaving and also marketed the finished products. However the textile fiber from water lily was unveiled by PTRI this year, along with saluyot and maguey fibers, at the International Year of Natural Fibers launching on January 22 by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
According to Nora Mangalindan, the head of research and development at the PTRI, “Substituting just a fourth of imported textile with local tropical fabrics means foreign exchange savings of US$156.72 million. The world textile industry has been devoid of new natural textiles for quite some time now and it is a great opportunity for tropical fibers coming from the Philippines.”
Fibers from water lilies make good home textile like curtains, upholstery, table runners, table napkins and handicrafts.

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The Making of Warm and Cozy Quilts

Quilts are a delight to eyes and cozy to feel. However, much effort is put into for making quilts so beautiful and comfortable. They are made through quilting, which is a form of sewing done either by hands, sewing machines, or by quilting machines.


The basic process of quilting involves selecting of patterns, fabrics and batting; measuring and cutting the fabrics into right sized blocks and then piecing these blocks together to make the quilt top. After that the three pieces are layered to form a quilt sandwich and then sewed with hand or machine. Excess batting is trimmed from the edges and binding is sewn to the front edges of the quilt with machine and hand-stitched to the quilt backing. Batting, binding, piecing etc. are the exclusive quilting terms one, who's interested in quilting should know.

The quilts are decorated with complex designs and patterns which depends upon the visualization and creativity of the quilter. Various quilting softwares have made this work an easy task for them. With all the embellishing needle work and techniques various quilt styles are made such as appliqué quilt, block quilt, embroidered quilt, patchwork quilts among many others.

Apart from hand quilting, machine quilting has also become very popular. Machine Quilting is done by sewing machine as well as Longarm quilting machine. In sewing machine, the layers are tacked together by laying the top, batting and backing with pinning, using large safety pins, or tacking the layers together before quilting is done. The longarm quilting machine holds and keeps the quilt stationary on rods while the machine head moves the needle across the quilt. When quilting with sewing machines, the fabric has to be moved through the machine.

Longarm quilting process is a very fast process done with the help of longarm quilting machines that are 10 to 14 feet in length and consist of an industrial sewing machine head, a 10-to-14 feet long table, and a number of rollers on which the fabric layers are positioned. There are hand guided as well as computer guided quilting machines. The computer-guided machine head is attached to a computer system that lets the quilter to choose a design to be sewn onto the fabrics. With selection of the design, the machine will sew the chosen design onto the quilt without any assistance by the quilter.

There are two types of longarm quilting- pantograph designs and customized designs. Pantograph designs span the length of the longarm table which is placed beneath a plastic layer on the table and then traced using the laser found on the machine head. The design can be repeated in rows to create an all-over design on the quilt top. This is a relatively fast and easier method of quilting. Customized designs have individual designs or blocks on various parts of the quilt depending upon the requirements of the end user or the customer. Many sewing styles are adopted for the purpose, such as meandering, feathers and motifs. It is time-consuming and therefore quilts become expensive when made through this method.

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Mens Clothing Trends 2009

Men are no far behind than women in fashion clothing. After all men too want to look good! So what are the top mens fashion trends this season? Here is the analysis of trends 2009 of mens clothing going by the catwalk shows and fashionable brands.


Mens Formal Wear Trends

With the gloomy economy scenario, men are looking for investment fashion clothing and are adopting the classics. However, there is a fusion among classic tailoring, classic looks, and the modern masculine silhouette giving the suits broad shoulders and a slim waist paired with slim trousers. Double-breasted suits will be liked by most men and there'll be a comeback of three-piece suits. And thus, there's also a comeback of waistcoat. It'll be better if the waistcoat is in the same fabric as the suit's other two pieces. If not, then a similar color palette will do. However any pattern should be avoided except for stripes.
Along with classic suits, the cloth pattern will also be classic including houndstooth, herringbone, glenurquhart/ prince of wales check, pinstripe, and rope-stripe. Oxford Bags - the loose, pleated trousers will be back but with variation- although loose, these trousers will not be as baggy as they were in the 1920s and 1930s. Anyhow, anytime wearing suits according to your body types will ensure your great looks.

Mens Party Wear Trends

Clothing inspired by dinner suits- the tuxedo- is the in thing. It contains traditional formal as well as fashion elements. Tuxedo- the satin shawl, satin notched or peaked lapels, or the satin stripe on the trouser leg- will be popular. Brooches for men will be loved on suits for both Spring/Summer and Autumn (Fall)/Winter seasons. They have registered a comeback.

Mens Casual Wear Trends

For all you guys searching for a casual trendy looks in summers 2009, the key wears are printed t- shirt, wrap shorts, summer trench coat and yes the very very trendy look of Goth Ninja- the figure hugging, black clad youths. The spring summer trench coats are made of cotton and are thin. Wrap Shorts in cotton twill, cuffed and breaking above the knee will be soothing as well as fashionable as per the trends. Avoid cargo shorts, shorts that break below the knee, avid wash or bleached shorts in denim, overly patterned shorts – they'll all be out in 2009.
The popular combination for mens casual outfit will consist a basic deep V-neck tee layered with a mens top, preferably a knit and an undercover or coat. Bottoms will consist either figure hugging jeans or a looser drop-crotch and a leather boot and here's the raw, modern yet very controlled masculine trendy look.

These were the main trends for mens clothing in 2009 but hold on guys, there's much more than this to dress better! Know them and look cool all year round!

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Versatile Industrial Applications of Textile

Textile is not only about clothing, it has many other uses that we don't even think about. The more common uses of textile other than in making apparels is that of making home furnishings. Other uses include making of many textile accessories and trims like braids, bows, appliqués, Velcros etc. There are many other fashion accessories too that make an extensive use of fabrics such as bags, scarves etc. Among all these things, what is not included generally are the industrial textile products-the products that are used by other industries to support their whole manufacturing activity.
There are many such industrial products such as tarpaulins, tents, slings, display booths, conveyor belts etc. that are a necessity for proper functioning of industries. Tarpaulins or tarps are made up of water repellent fabrics and are used by the industries to cover the transportation trucks or to protect their movable or immovable belongings.In fact selecting truck tarp fabrics is a work of great concern. Cotton canvas and polyethylene fabrics are the popular fabrics for making tarps.

Apart from tarps, slings are also an important textile product that is used for lifting and handling various materials. There are many types of industrial slings namely chain slings, wire rope slings, metal mesh slings, natural and synthetic fiber rope slings, and synthetic web slings. They are selected by the industries according to the size, weight, shape, temperature, sensitivity of the material to be moved, and environmental conditions under which the sling has to be used. Nylon, Dacron, polyester, polypropylene etc. fibers and fabrics are widely used to make these industrial slings.
Yet another very useful textile product for industrial application is tent. The industrial tents are used as storage facilities, sales areas, exhibition halls, weather-protected space, production and workshop facilities, airport check-in halls or waiting rooms, and also as a cover for building sites and protection for tipped sand or gravel, etc. Cotton, nylon, polyester, and other UV protective and waterproof fabrics are used to make these tents.

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Fabric SigNature DNA- Unique Technology to Fight Fraudsters

There is a good news and a bad news, in fact a news that is good for the fashion and fabric industry and bad for the fraudsters. A revolutionary new DNA-based technology- unique label incorporating Signature DNA taggant- has been developed to put a stop to fakes and track down counterfeiters.

Counterfeit textile and clothing have become a trouble with billions of dollars worth of seizures and losses incurred all around the world. In such a situation, the textile suppliers, manufacturers, retailers and brand owners have the added burden of testing end products for determining their authenticity so that the end-user can be assured of getting genuine products.

Although many technological measures are used for this purpose such as holograms and other hard-to-copy trademarks, heat transfer labels, invisible inks, unique threads and merchandise-tracking technology, they all become useless if the companies are not able to control their labeling supply and conduct regular audits. It is, in fact, very difficult to make out the difference between genuine and fake products just by seeing them because counterfeiters also use technology and digitally reproduce identical labels within a few hours of the launch of an item.

Keeping all these factors in view, SigNature DNA has been developed to fight the fraudsters. This new DNA-based technology applies a unique SigNature DNA marker to inks and yarns in a label or piece of fabric. A mark is individual to a brand, just like DNA. This makes it the only label in the world that can't be copied, re-engineered or counterfeited. Forensic testing can be done to determine whether a garment or label is authentic by the presence of the brand’s SigNature DNA. As it is recognized by law as positive-proof of authenticity, evidence is admissible in a court of law which is quiet an effective way to check the fraudsters. This is a great achievement that'll benefit the textile and related industries as brand identity is of great value to them.

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