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When colours are used in combination with each other in the woven fabric, they affect each other as well as affect the final appearance of the fabric. In case of light and dark colours, the natural order is for the darker colour to be deeper, or darker in tone, than the lighter colour. Thus, in a combination of red and yellow the red should be darker in tone than the yellow, while if red be combined with purple the red should be lighter in tone than the purple. A combination of light red and dark yellow or of dark red and light purple would be discordant.
Dark grounds are more suitable for the application of bright colours, such as red, orange, and yellow than light grounds, as their qualities of brightness and intensity are improved on the former, and diminished on the latter. On the other hand some colours, such as violet and purple, are deepened and enriched on light grounds and suffer on dark grounds.
Relative spaces occupied by colours
- While allowing for a predominating hue it is usual to arrange the spaces occupied by the several colours in a design in accordance with the relative intensity of the hue. Too great an excess of a colour is injurious to an effect, and it necessary to employ a strong colour more sparingly than a less intense colour. Thus, a combination of a shade of the blue with intense yellow might be harmonious if the space occupied by the blue is largely predominated; whereas with the yellow predominating the effect would be displeasing on account of the blue being overpowered by the greater luminosity of the yellow.
- In the same manner a few threads of bright red on a toned green foundation might prove pleasing where a large number of threads of red would appear crude.
- In combining threads which are in strong contrast, the space occupied by each hue or tone should be small, but if the contrast is subdued, the space allotted to each may be large. The black and white produce a strong contrast, and the black or white with grey produce more subdued effects, as the grey more nearly approaches either black or white.
Influence of fabric characteristics on the appearance of colours
- The exact point in the chain of production processes at which colour is introduced has a considerable bearing on the appearance of the colour in the finished cloth.
- To produce solid colour effect in the cloth by employing only one colour, textile materials may be dyed at various stages of manufacture, e.g. in the loose fibre state; in the sliver or top stage; in the form of the spun thread or manufactured cloth or solution dyeing n the case of man-made materials.
- On the other hand, with the object of achieving a mixed colour effect different colours may be combined at one or other stage of manufacture in which the component hues may be either suffused or distinct.
- In addition to the quality of the dyestuff itself, which may be brilliant or dull, other factors which tend to modify the appearance of colours in fabric are mainly connected with the luster. Low-toned colours, which in rough fabrics may appear dull, often look well on cloths constructed from filament materials. In smooth fibres, yarns and fabrics it is possible to achieve brightness and clarity, and though this is unlikely to be obtained in materials which have a disturbed, fibrous surface, in case of latter a quality of fullness and softness of which such materials are capable can be achieved with a suitable choice of colour with the necessary depth of tone.
- The frequency of interlacing as well as the actual arrangement of the intersection points has also a very considerable effect on the appearance of colour, e.g. in plain weave fabrics in which the warp in red and the weft blue the constituent colours tend to lose their separate identities and the overall resultant hue would be purple. On the other hand, if a cloth composed of similar colours were woven in a bold 4 and 4 twill the two shades would stand apart each forming a distinct line, and although each would influence the other neither would lose its own identity.
Mixed colour effects in the yarn
The following methods of producing mixed colour effects are employed:
- By blending differently coloured fibres which have been dyed in the raw or the sliver condition, produce mixture yarns. In mixtures of differently dyed fibres the degree in which the colours are intermingled varies according to the number and character of the processes which follow the blending. The mixing done in the later stages prior to spinning produce a colour mixture in which each colour retains its purity. On the other hand, by blending in the early stages, colour effects produced are quite unlike those obtained by mixing colours in any other way.
- A somewhat similar mixed colour effect is obtained in ‘melange’ yarns, which are produced by printing the slivers in bands of different colours that the subsequent drawing operations cause it to be more or less thoroughly intermingled in the spun thread.
- By introducing small tufts of dyed fibres into the slivers at the later stages of the processes preceding spinning; a thread spotted with the colour being produced.
- By spinning from differently coloured rovings, producing ‘marl’ yarns, in which the colours are blended only to a limited extent; the resultant thread, in some cases, having almost the appearance of being composed of two differently coloured threads twisted together.
- By printing the spun thread in bands of different colours.
- By twisting together differently coloured threads producing various kinds of fancy twist yarns. There is no intimate intermingling of the fibres and each colour is seen separately; the twisting of the threads simply breaks the continuity of the colours.
- By combining (either as a fibre mixture or a twist) two materials in the undyed state which have different affinities for colouring matters, and submitting the woven cloth to a cross-dyeing operation.
- By employing differently dyed threads, arranged one, or at most two, threads at a place, and using weaves of a crepe or broken character.
Combinations of differently coloured threads in woven designs
Effects are produced by combining differently coloured threads as follows
- With the warp in one colour and the weft in another colour, forming a ‘shot’ effect.
- With the warp in different colours and the weft in one colour, producing a stripe.
- With the warp in one colour and the weft in different colours, producing a cross-over effect.
- With both the warp and the weft in different colours producing a check style.
Colour stripes and checks: An arrangement of weft threads in a cloth can also be employed for the warp threads, and vice versa; therefore, stripe and check colour combinations are considered together. The patterns result from the combination, in equal or unequal spaces, of two, three or more colours, and in their construction it is necessary to have the following:
- Colours which harmonise and tones that will assist harmony should be selected.
- Each colour or tone should be allotted a suitable extent of surface.
- The appearance of a colour is influenced by the weave, as different weaves break up the colours on surface of a fabric in a varying degree; the effect, for instance of a 2-and-2 twill being quite different from that of a 3-and-1 twill or satin. A continuous warp face weave, although suitable for a stripe, is quite inapplicable to a check. To produce a perfect check, weaves with equal warp and weft float should be employed and the weft threads should be similar to the warp threads as regards number, thickness, material and colour arrangement.
Stripe and check effects may be conveniently classified into: patterns in two colours and patterns in three or more colours.
Colour combinations in relation to weave: The weaves that are employed in conjunction with combinations of coloured threads may be broadly divided into the following three classes:
- Weaves which bring the warp and weft threads equally, or nearly equally, to the surface of the cloth, and enable the colours to be applied in both warp and weft. This type gives the greatest scope for colour effects.
- Warp face weaves, in which the weft is almost entirely concealed, so that it is necessary to apply the colours chiefly in the warp.
- Weft face weaves, in which the warp is nearly concealed, and in which it is seldom possible to apply the colour except in the weft.
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