The Innovation of Thai Silk for Design and Production of Muslim Women Dresses

Abstract

The objectives of this research were 1) to develop Thai silk fabric for production of Muslim women’s dresses; 2) to develop a design approach and to produce dresses from Thai silk fabric; 3) to develop a Thai silk and Muslim clothing industry for export. The research methodology were 1) to test finishing silk fabrics for softness and wrinkle-resistant, testing of physical ability and then selecting one of those fabrics to be made into a garment; 2) to design and produce garments from the selected Thai silk fabrics, which will then be decorated with the registered Thai silk fabrics as follows: brocaded silk from Lamphun province, Praewa silk from Kalasin province, and Mudmee silk from Khon Kaen province; 3) to propose the results to Thai silk and Muslim clothing manufacturers. The statistics used were percentage, average, standard deviation and t-test. The results found that 1) the silk fabric from Chiang Mai province was the most suitable for making Muslim dresses. The self-reform ability from softness finishing was 92.78%, and 88.89% from wrinkle-resistant finishing. The weight scale of softness finishing was 77.60 grams per square meter; wrinkle-resistant finishing was 81.60 grams per square meter. The test fastness of the color staining level of 4-5 or no color changed and the color fastness to light was mediumrated. 2) Loose-fitting garments are more popular than tightfitting ones; Lamphun province’s fabrics were found to be the best in terms of decorations. 3) By attending the courses, there were significate changes regarding knowledge, improvement at .05, and attendees received the most benefits from pattern making and Muslim clothing producing (at 4.70). Keywords-thaisilk; hijab; abaya.