Fabric Colouration And Decoration
Fabrics and garments can be coloured in two ways; by dyeing, which can be done at any stage of production, or by printing. Coloration is a very important process since colour has such a high impact on the desirability of a textile or fashion product. Colour is found in nature and can be achieved on textiles using dyes from natural sources or made synthetically. The latter is by far the most important.
Decorating or painting fabric is as open-ended in possibility as decorating or painting items made of wood, paper or cardboard: The potential is nearly limitless based on the colors or styles that you come up with as you embellish the project. Artist’s canvases are, after all, made of fabric. Combine painting techniques for additional interest, allowing you to whip up custom creations tailored to your own tastes.
There are also a number of techniques used to decorate a cloth after it has been woven. Most of these had their origins in the indigenous weaving industry but have later been applied to the decoration of imported cloth. Dyers have utilised a variety of methods of resist dyeing, i.e. the dyeing of thread or fabric which has been treated so that part of it resists the dye, leaving a pattern on the cloth. These include ikat weaving among the Baule of Côte D’Ivoire and the Yoruba of Nigeria and a number of traditions that utilise starch resist or tie and dye, of which the adire of the Yoruba is best known. A separate and unique method of dyeing is used to produce the mud-dyed bogolanfini in Mali. The Asante of Ghana utilise a type of printing using stamps made from sections of calabash shell to produce a patterned cloth called adinkra. Embroidery is found in numerous styles, including on the Kuba raffia cloths of Congo and the robes of northern Nigeria. Finally there are a few distinct traditions of applique, where sections from different cloths are sewn together to make designs.
