Textiles+-+Tools+and+equipment

toc = Introduction = The tools and equipment used in the manufacture of textile products need to be chosen with care in order to make the task easier to carry out. You need to select the most appropriate equipment for the task in hand and for the materials you are using, be it fabric, wool, denim, leather. For example cutting any fabric with everyday paper scissors will not give a very clean cut, therefore textile shears are used, however if the shears are used for cutting paper - this will blunt your shears and render them useless. Therefore taking care of your textiles equipment is very important, storage and regular servicing is required. It is important to use the correct tools, equipment, materials, and components safely when making textile products, in order to manufactured safe and high quality products. Knowing how the equipment works and how components and processes can be used together is an essential part of the textiles technology course.

//AQA Textiles Technology textbook - Chapter 6 Techniques and Processes// = Sewing box & equipment = Container for sewing tools and accessories, used for both hand and machine sewing, to protect and provide a central storage solution. Contains beyond the basics of an emergency sewing kit and includes: = Sewing Machines = Sewing Machines - manual or automated machines used for sewing simple straight and zig zag stitch, some additional features may include simple embroidery stitches and buttonhole makers. Specialist sewing machines include: = Knitting = Knitting is a techniques used to manipulate yarn or yarns into a knitted fabric or garment by a range of interlocking loops. There are two types of knitting: = Weaving = The production of cloth/fabric by interlacing a single thread over and under a series of parallel threads. There are many types of weave including: = Printing & Dying = Printing - the process of adding colour to the surface of a fabric using a range of techniques including: Dyeing - the process of adding colour to a textiles product which is soaked in a coloured solutions, these include: = Measuring & Cutting = Cutting tools, fabric markers and measuring equipment are part of the essential basic sewing kit, however there are a number of specialist tools which can be used to aid the textiles specialist, and allow them to produce accurate work, resulting in well-made products. = Other equipment =
 * Sharps (standard long hand sewing needles, and dressmakers pins)
 * Cutting tools
 * Fabric markers
 * Measuring tools
 * Stitch unpickers
 * Thimbles
 * Sewing thread, fabric swatches
 * Overlockers (Sergers) - a machine that uses three or more threads at a time,it trims the seam and at the sametime sews over the cut edge, enclosing the edges.
 * Embroidery machines - computerized sewing machines are examples of CAM (Computer Aided Manufacture) and they can be programmed to sew in many different ways.
 * Quilting machines - A sewing machine especially made for quilting. The large area to the right if the needle is designed to accompany a large amount of rolled fabric as the quilt is fed through the machine.
 * Industrial sewing machines - are intended for use in factories, where people work in assembly lines on highly specific tasks with consistent materials. The machines are specific to the material weight and the task. An industrial machine is not versatile, but is excellent at performing a few specific tasks.
 * Sewing machine attachements
 * Weft knitted - loops linked across the width of fabric.
 * Warp knitted - loops linked in a vertical direction.
 * Plain weave
 * Twill weave
 * Satin or sateen weave
 * Pile weave
 * Screen printing
 * Stencil
 * Block printing
 * Engraved roller printing
 * Digital printing
 * Transfer printing
 * Chemical dyeing
 * Natural dyeing
 * Industrial dyeing
 * Dip dyeing
 * Resist dyeing
 * Tie dyeing, Shibori
 * Batik, Tritik,
 * Heating and pressing equipment
 * Dressmakers dummy, manikins and blocks
 * Computers & software packages