Chenille yarn, also known as broken yarn or corduroy, is a type of fancy yarn with a unique shape and layout. It consists of a core yarn and broken corduroy fibers. The broken corduroy fibers create a plush effect on the surface, while the core yarn binds and protects these fibers, providing good strength and consistency. Chenille yarn is renowned for its full plush texture, soft hand feel, and comfortable touch. When woven into fabric, it creates a strong three-dimensional effect and decorative appeal, and is commonly used in heavy and medium-weight curtains, furniture fabrics, decorative fabrics, etc.
1. Development Strategy for Chenille Denim
Development Objectives
Denim is a highly popular clothing fabric. To further highlight the casual, soft, absorbent, comfortable, and durable characteristics of denim, this research utilizes chenille yarn, widely used in home textiles, to develop new denim products. This approach aims to endow products with novelty, luxurious quality, rich durability, warmth, a full and soft hand feel, good drape, strong three-dimensionality, a subtle yellow hue, and a smooth, lustrous finish. It also aims to create unique embossed, three-dimensional, and rhythmic textures, resulting in a comfortable, natural fabric with strong visual appeal.
Development Concept
Chenille yarn has a densely packed pile on its surface. The pile on the fabric surface is mostly horizontally curved. Denim fabric made using this characteristic has a rich texture, a soft hand feel, and is durable and elastic. The appearance is subtle yet three-dimensional, creating a velvety feel on the fabric surface that is superior to brushed finishes. This fabric can be pre-dyed and then dyed, with the two-stage dyeing process creating a striking two-tone effect and a clear, delicate texture, ideal for developing autumn/winter casual fabrics.
2. Process Plan
The warp yarns consist of 48.6 tex compact Siro-spun combed cotton single yarn and 36.4 tex compact Siro-spun combed cotton slub single yarn in a 1:1 ratio; the weft yarns consist of 36.4 tex + 4.4 tex cotton-covered spandex and 125 tex high-grade cotton chenille yarn in a 2:1 ratio. Due to the high linear density and densely napped surface of chenille yarn, it is typically used only as the weft yarn in woven fabrics. The fabric structure adopts a 2/2 + 3/1 weft double structure, with warp and weft yarn densities of 340 and 240 ends/10 cm respectively. The fabric width on the loom is 180 cm, the finished width is 148 cm, the fabric thickness is 368 g/m², and the dyeing colors are black and dark blue. The weaving equipment is a Picanol GT-max rapier loom.
3. Technological Measures
(1) Weaving Process
Process Flow: Warping → Sizing and Dyeing → Heddle Threading → Weaving
Warping process: Linear speed is 200 m/min; tensions in zones 1-5 are 12.3, 11.8, 10.3, 11.2, and 12.3 cN respectively; Sizing and Dyeing process: Linear speed is 25-35 min/min; Heddle Threading process: Heddle width is 180 cm; Weaving process adopts the Picanol GT-m type rapier loom, whose unique weft density variation function makes the fabric structure more compact and delicate.
(2) Chenille Yarn Finishing Process
Singeing → Desizing → Mercerizing → Dyeing → Air Wash → Pre-shrinking
(3) Garment Process
Utilizing cellulase at a certain pH value and temperature to degrade the fiber structure, the fabric surface can be decolored and fuzzed more smoothly (producing a "peach skin" effect), and a lasting soft effect is obtained.