plus size women clothing

Harper's and Queen

. Chestergate House, Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1, England, British version of Harper's Bazaar. Harper's Bazaar (Italia). Corso di Porta Nuova, 46 Milan, Italy. Italian edition of Har­per's plus size clothing Bazaar.

Linea Italiana

. Mondadori Publishing, 437 Madison Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10022. High fashion women's wear. Also publishes Linea Italiana Uomo for men's wear. Marie Claire and 100 Ideas. 11 bis, rue Bois-syd' Anglas, 75008 Paris, France. Influential magazines covering junior fashions and life­styles cocktail plus size dresses.

Government Regulation of Fiber Identification


Until recently, it was difficult to determine the fi­bers used in a clothing item. That's why the govern­ment requires clothing manufacturers to attach labels that state the fiber content in a garment. The Textile Fiber Products Identification Act (TFPIA), effective since 1960, requires all textile merchandise to carry a label that shows:

1. The generic names of the fibers in the fabric in the order of their proportion. (A generic name is a standard term describing the fiber.) Polyes­ter (a man-made fiber) and cotton (a natural fi­ber) are examples of generic names. The

companies that produce these fibers are also al­lowed to include their trade name on the label. For example, Dacron polyester is a polyester fiber made by Du Pont. Fortrel polyester is made by the Celanese Corporation. Dacron and Fortrel are trade names.

2.             The percentage of each fiber in the fabric.

3.             The garment manufacturer's name, address, or
registered identification number.

4.             The country of origin of imported fibers.

The Federal Trade Commission's Trade Regula­tion Rule on Care Labeling requires apparel to have care and maintenance labels. (See Figure 5-3 and Table 4 designer store.)




The wear, appearance, and texture of a fabric de­pend upon the fabric's yarn. A yarn is a continuous thread formed by twisting or spinning strands of fi­bers together. (See Figure 5-4.) Yarns differ because of their twist, ply, and size.

Twist of the Yarn

Short fibers are twisted into yarn. Filament fibers, which are long and continuous, may also be twisted into yarn. Yarn that is tightly twisted is stronger than yarn that is loosely twisted. Although tightly twisted yarn is more durable, it may also be more scratchy than loosely twisted yarn. Satin is an

ample of loosely twisted yarn; crepe yarn is an ex­ample of tightly twisted yarn.

Ply of the Yarn

Ply refers to the number of strands that are twisted together to make the yarn. Single ply describes fi­bers twisted together to form a single yarn. By twist­ing together two single yarns, the yarn becomes two ply. A two-ply yarn is stronger than a single yarn of the same thickness and weight. Ply yarns are often used for fabrics that will get hard wear designer apparel.

Types of Yarn

Yarn can be made from any fiber-—natural, man-made, or a blend. How the yarn is constructed and the char­acteristics of the yarn depend on the fibers used.

Cotton Cotton comes from the cotton plant. Cot­ton fibers are the long strands attached to the seed inside the boll, or seed pod. When the boll reaches maturity, it bursts open and exposes the cotton, which is picked. The cotton gin removes the seeds from the cotton.

Before cotton fibers are spun or twisted into yarn, they are cleaned and carded. Carding, is a process of straightening fibers. All cotton is carded. Some cotton goes through another process called comb­ing to remove the short fibers. Combed yarns are finer and stronger than ones that are only carded and are used in higher-quality fabrics.

Linen Flax is a fiber that conies from the flax plant. Linen is the yarn or fabric processed from flax. Like the cotton plant, the flax plant produces both long and short fibers. Yarn that includes both the short and long fibers is called tow linen. Yarn that includes only the long fibers is called line linen. A tow-linen yarn is sim­ilar to a carded cotton; a line-linen yarn may be com­pared to a carded and combed cotton. Line linen is used for higher-quality linen fabrics.

Wool Wool, which comes from the fleece of animals, is spun into two types of yarn: worsted and woolen.


(See Figure 5-5.) Worsteds are produced by carding and combing wool fibers. Worsteds are firmer, more durable, and take a sharper crease than woolens. Woolens are made from wool yarns containing both long and short fibers. The fibers are carded but not combed. Woolens have a fuzzy surface, are soft, and resist wrinkling. They are warmer than worsteds but do not hold a sharp crease.

Silk Silk comes from the cocoons of silk worms. There are two kinds of silk fibers: reeled and spun.

Figure 5-5   Compare the woolen and worsted fibers illustrated above.

Reeled silk comes from unbroken silkworm cocoons. These long, strong, smooth fibers make the finest grade of silk. Spun silk, also known as silk noil or waste silk, is made from the shorter fibers and wastes of broken cocoons. Spun silk is not as smooth and does not have the elasticity, strength, or luster of reeled silk yarn. It has a "cottony" feel.

Man-Made Basically, there are two kinds of man-made fiber yarns: filament yarn and spun yarn. Fil­ament yarn is made by twisting two or more strands of continuous filament fibers together. Filament yarn is smoother, more lustrous, and less inclined to pill— form small balls—than spun yarn. Spun yarn is made by twisting together shorter lengths of man-made fibers. Spun yarn is usually warmer than fil­ament yarn because air is trapped in the short fibers. It has a fuzzy or fluffy surface. Spun yarn takes longer to dry than filament yarn.

Texturized yarns combine the good features of both filament and spun yarns. Texturized yarns are made from filament yarns, but they look like spun yarns. They have a rougher texture than spun yarns but give greater weight and resist pilling because they have fewer fiber ends.