Document Type

Thesis - Open Access

Award Date

1961

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department / School

Home Economics

Abstract

Drapery fabrics are in much demand today and show an expanding market trend. This expansion is probably due to the more versatile use of draperies in the control of light and heat as well as an increasingly important role in the décor of a room. The need for light and heat control has become important with the advent of the contemporary home and business building where entire walls may be largely composed of window area. The added quantity of fabric that is required to drape the larger fenestrations today can represent a sizeable investment. Such as investment necessitates a wise choice of fabrics. There are innumerable materials on the market today with a wide choice in fabric construction, color and fiber content. From this array the shopper may select fabrics with reference to: area to be draped; color harmony desired; type of décor and allowable expenditure. The customer can be given information supplied by the manufacturer and retailer. Durability of the fabrics is an important factor and the manufacturer and retailer are striving to give optimum assistance to the customer. Where there are complaints of fabric failure the retailer may send returned merchandise to testing laboratories. Many of these are justifiable complaints. From a 1959 study of the national Institute of Dry-cleaning, out of 21,709 textile failures only 7916 were traced to defective fabrics or failures of other materials in garments. Of the justifiable complaints, the first was color failure, which constituted 47 per cent of all justifiable complaints; the second was fabric damages, and 39 percent of these cases were curtains and draperies that deteriorated from exposure to sunlight and atmosphere. Myers (39) quotes Albert E. Johnson, director of trade relations of the National Institute of Drycleaning who recognized this to be another manifestation of the color failure problem: “in the failure category, sunlight is the major condition causing failure…. It is interesting to note that low resistance of textile fibers to sunlight is the largest single cause of damage complaints of the total complaints received to date, yet no standard methods exist for evaluating the suitability of a textile fiber for the use in window curtain and drapery classification. Nor does the curtain and drapery classification in the ASA (American Standards Association) L-22 Standards contain a reference to a sunlight resistance requirement, doubtless because of testing methods.” The need for fabric preservation from the effects of light and heat has directed this study to lined and unlined drapery fabrics. The effect of lining as fabric insulators was investigated along with the effects of heat and light.

Library of Congress Subject Headings

Cotton fabrics
Glass fibers
Draperies

Description

Includes bibliographical references

Format

application/pdf

Number of Pages

104

Publisher

South Dakota State University

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