Dimensional Change in Home Laundering of Sewn Items versus Flat Fabric

Dimensional change in the home laundering of textile items is often evaluated in the flat fabric state and again as a sewn item, usually using the same pass/fail criteria. This is a costly and time-consuming process. If the behavior of flat fabric and the resulting sewn items is similar, as suggested by the equivalent pass/fail criteria, fabric testing should be sufficient. If the two are unrelated, fabric testing provides no practical information about final product performance and may be eliminated. Either case represents significant savings for the manufacturer and retailer in terms of time and money. Even if no exact mathematical relationship can be established, a better understanding of the differences between flat fabric dimensional change and sewn-item dimensional change will allow for the establishment of more practical specifications, better pass/fail decisions, and more efficient troubleshooting.The research found that while fabric dimensional change provided some information about sewn item dimensional change, results were not equivalent. In general, sewn items may be expected to exhibit less dimensional change than the component flat fabrics. This research provides insight into the mechanisms of dimensional changes in the making-up process and the effect of these processes on dimensional change in laundering.