Improved Discrimination and Prediction of Drapability of Fabrics

Abstract

A garment is regarded as desirable and beautiful if it covers the body with harmony and gracefulness. High drape, lightweight and soft handle fabrics are in demand, particularly for womenswear garments such as dresses, shirts, skirts, trousers and suits. Fabric drapability can be measured by a number of drapemeters for different modes of drapability such as static, dynamic and revolving. It has been shown that the drape coefficients, Ds , Dd and Dr , associated with these respective modes of drapability can be predicted from a combination of measurements from the KES-F system (Kawabata Evaluation System for Fabrics). In this paper we present the results of our studies on the prediction of drapability of lightweight wool fabrics, based on the KES-F system and drape coefficient predictive equations. It has been shown that the parameters Dr/Ds and Dd/Ds , called Indices of Drape Fluidity, Ir and Id , express the fluid drape behaviour better than Ds , Dr , D200 and Dd . This is because they discriminate and predict the drapability of fabrics better. Ir and Id have higher CV% than the Dr and Dd data, and therefore represent greater relative dispersion in a fabric group for drape. Various drape parameters of a group of wool fabrics have been compared with the four groups of polyester Shingosen fabrics, namely, New Silky, New Worsted, Rayon Touch and Peach Face, which are recognised for their soft fluid drape.