Characteristics of Traditional Textile "Awa Shijira"

Abstract

Awa Shijira fabric is a crepe cotton fabric made of cotton that is woven alternating the plain and the rib texture in the weft direction. Both the warp and weft yarns are usually sized with starch, before weaving. In the course of desizing process the fantastic crepe texture is formed due to the shrinkage of yarns especially in the weft direction. Thus, the geometrical roughness for the fabric desized tends to become obvious in the weft direction. The mechanical and surface properties for four kinds of traditional Awa Shijira fabrics were investigated comparing those for the plain cotton fabric. The roughness property measured based on KES has become marked in the weft direction for the fabrics having smaller values of the shear properties in the weft direction. Also, Shijira fabrics used in this study have shown higher frictional, bending and compression properties. Moreover, there observed no remarkable differences in the mechanical properties between nationally guaranteed traditional Shijira fabric and the one guaranteed by Tokushima prefecture.