Plus-Size Web Profile
In a society that has glorified and glamorized the skin-on-bone type of woman there are some cultures and numerous number of men around the globe who consider plus size women are healthy. Beauty, as they say, is in the eye of the beholder ...Read More Body Fat Measurements
A person's exact body fat percentage generally cannot be determined, but there are several techniques which can be used to estimate it: The skinfold estimation methods are based on a skinfold test, whereby a pinch of skin is precisely ...Read More Yoga and Fitness
It is important for fat people to approach exercise in an informed way. If a fat person is just beginning an exercise program, it is important to set realistic goals and to have realistic expectations. Often it takes time to build up the stamina to ...Read More Plus-Size Pregnancy
The decision to have a child should be an exciting, happy moment for any woman. But for a plus-size woman, both in Western as well as in Asian culture, decisions about pregnancy are often surrounded by a swirl of questions and controversy...Read More Tara Logan Buckley - I think therefore I am
Those who are familiar with fashion and modeling world, Tara Logan Buckley is a well-known name for them. Tara won the title
of Britain's Next Top Plus Size Model in the year 2009. She was one among the 500 competitors and short-listed...Read More
Plus-Size Clothing
Making fabric from fiber is really a typical job. A few of us have the knowledge on this full process.
Many of us actually do not want to know about this, probably that is why textile sector having being so
innovative and modern is seen with the eyes of negligence whereas fashion world is well known for its glamour,
which comes from fibers those are spun and converted into fabric in the so called dirty and dusty atmosphere
of a textile mill. If you read the full process parameters of making a fashion garment starting from simple
fibers, you must be astonished that how a garment of XL size or that we say plus size is still available
today as low cost as $25 or so. However, I am trying to share my knowledge in a simple yet scientific way.
Fibers, the main raw material for making fabric, may be of natural types or may be of man made (synthetic) type.
Among the natural fibers Cotton, Wool, Silk, Jute, Kevlar are a few to name. We are much more familiar with
synthetic fibers like polyester (Terylene), polyamide (Nylons), polyacrylonitrile (Acrylic) etc.
Fibers in raw form are taken to the spinning section where seeds are separated from Cotton,
a process called Ginning, in case of other fibers Ginning is not required, but a complete
cleaning of fibers from dirt and dusts is a must, which is done in a machine called the Blow-room and passing
the fiber tufts through different beaters (rotating rollers fitted with blades).
Then fiber streams are parallelized and made gradually of thinner cross-section by passing
them through machines called Carding machine and several Drafting rollers. Drafting is the process to
stretch the fiber streams by passing them through pressure rollers. Drafting is a section where different types
of fiber streams can be blended, like Cotton with Polyester, Wool with Acrylic etc. To get more parallel fiber streams
and to make very finer quality yarns in case of Cotton or Wool, a machine called Comber is introduced and the yarn produced
is called Combed yarn.
However, then the fiber streams are twisted in two gradual spinning frames, called Ring Frame followed
by Roving Frame. The main twisting unit is Ring Frame. In modern systems, Rotor spinning (a modern high speed system
of twisting the fibers) has substituted a large percentage of Ring Frames, due to high productivity of Rotor Frames,
cost of yarns has decreased to a considerable amount.
Now the yarns produced in spinning section come to warping section where series of yarns are wound
on beams to feed them onto the looms for weaving. To avoid breakage of yarns in the high
speed looms, a thin removable coating is given on the surface of the yarns, a process called Sizing.
Some fibers are continuous in nature and called filaments, like Viscose rayon or Silk, which are used directly to weaving, the twisting
section is not needed for those continuous filaments.
In loom, mutually perpendicular yarns are interlaced in different fashions (according to the interlacing design like plain,
twill, satin etc.) to form the fabric. The series of yarns coming out from the back of the looms are interlaced
by side-wise insertion of yarns. This side-wise insertion may be carried out by shuttle (old system), projectile
(Sulzer Ltd.), Rapier (two moving hands like device) or by jet (Air or Water). The most modern and high speed and
economic loom is Air-jet loom. This air-jet loom is a turning point to reduce the cost of fabric due to its 5 times
higher productivity than the old (shuttle) weaving system.
Though the process of knitting is a bit different from loom weaving, but the major part of making fabric remains
the same. Only the knitting machine is a totally different machine which performs the knitting action with the
help of needles. Knitted fabrics have different utilities and uses than woven fabrics.
Dyeing or coloration of fabric can take place in different segments of the process as per requirements. Dyeing may be done in
fiber stage, yarn stage or in fabric stage. There are different types of dyes are available, most common are
reactive, acid, basic, vat, azo etc. The color tone combination and the use of particular dye for particular fiber is a
matter of scientific knowledge. Printing is another aspect of coloration where dyes are used along with water-insoluble
adhesives to stick on the surface of the fabric. The designs of printing are migrated through grooved blocks or
rotating grooved surfaces.
The last stage of fabric manufacturing is called Finishing, where dyed fabrics are treated with various chemicals,
soaps, heat etc. to impart some specific properties to the fabric, like anti-shrink, wrinkle-free, good drapability,
weather resistant, heat set, higher color fastness etc.
So, after this long process sequence, the fabric comes to the garment house where the fabrics are cut and stitched
to give particular shape according to the requirements or we can say according to the fashion trends.
Is not it amazing that today when we see the banner of a quality brand garment in any website with captions like "50% off"
or "only $25" or "free shipping", probably a few of us think about its long procedure of making, which had started
from some fibers.
Now coming to the point of garment houses and top brand online plus size fashion shops, I have personally noticed that
till today a few stores are capable of meeting the actual desire and fashion for most plus size women, however they are suitable
for average size women. One point here is that the disproportion of size and height. The models used by maximum fashion stores
are of size 12 to 14 (U.S.) whereas maximum plus size women require size more than 14 (U.S.).
Some aspiring plus size models with good shape but having size 16-18 (U.S.) feel themselves neglected in this field and they
veer their modeling career towards wrong directions.
Another tragedy in the field of plus size clothing is that except U.S. and Canada, other parts of the globe rarely
produce readymade plus size garments, so for those countries both men and women who are having some extra pounds feel ashamed
during shopping for their clothes, for them only fittings become a big factor so how they can think about fashions
for their clothes. Though in recent years, plus size fashion industries are thinking at an international level
and also started marketing fabrics in England, Germany, and Australia, collectively serving clients throughout
Western and Central Europe, South Africa, South Pacific, and Asian regions.
Online shopping is not very popular in South Africa, South Pacific, and Asian regions, may be due to lack of online paying
options, due to economic gap and lack of home computers in many of the regions mentioned above.
