I'm trying to design a stretch cotton shirt, and have been using Pimatex cotton (96% cotton 4% stretch yarn). This was sort of an usual find to me, so I was wondering what or if there are advantages of using this over a standard cotton/lycra or spandex blend, or if there are any fusing and care precautions I should take with this material.
Thanks for your help in advance.
Pimatex is a brand named cotton. It uses a finer thread and a tighter weave than most non-name brand cotton sheeting. This gives it a crisper hand, but it's still cotton.
AFAIK, however, you can treat it just like any other cotton/lycra blend. (Spandex is simply brand-named lycra, fyi.)
jenn
-- Jenn Ridley snipped-for-privacy@chartermi.net
Lycra is also a brand name: the generic term is elastaine. Pimatex gets its name from the use of Pima cottons -
"From the Arabic "qutun", cotton has been cultivated in Peru since 2500 B.C. Peruvian Pima with its average staple length of 1 9/16" is one of the longest staple cottons in the world. With a growing season requiring six months or more of high temperatures, growing areas are limited, chiefly grown in Piura and the Chira River valley of Peru." (From the Hickory Throwing Co site... )
and appears to be the brand name for a range of fabrics from one manufacturer, but I can't find anything about them on a quick google...
There are a lot of cotton with Lycra/Spandex/elastaine blends about as this gives them good recovery for fitted garments (doesn't sag after an hour on the body), and an easy-care low to non-iron finish. Downside is that eventually the elastaine portion of the threads, whatever their make, disintegrates, leaving you with a norrid mess! This, however, can take several years with good quality cloth that you take care over laundering, and you will be heartily ready to allow it to become a decorating shirt by the time it does.
I was given cotton-Spandex shirts to wear at work, and they are horridly hot and uncomfortable. You lose all the wonderful characteristics of cotton, the coolness and breathability, and get rib snuggling instead. I do believe they could be used to make water bags.
My cotton/Lycra knickers are a light weight knit, and wonderfully cool in summer - no problems! It may be a combination of the Lycra and a dense weave. The shirt stuff I've seen here has felt stiffer than pure cotton of the same weight, so maybe it too suffers from 'greenhouse effect'... So far I have eschewed it, having no need for formal shirts.
It also depends on the ratio of Lycra to cotton. A 97% cotton/3% Lycra is about as high as I like for comfort. Gives you the best of both worlds--breathability and stretchiness, without being overly hot and confining. Karen Maslowski in Cincinnati
I'd go up to 5 per cent. This is the ratio in Sloggis and they're very comfortable, but Lejaby often use up to 10 per cent in their knickers and once you're in, you're not going to get out in a hurry...
:) Trish
Ours were much higher than that, but I can't find them right now. They were for a trade show, and we had to wear them, and it was hot and humid. Thought I'd die. That's even before we get to the issue of color. ;-)
This information has been so helpful. Thanks for the dialogue!
So in sum, here is what we have so far on Pimatex:
- made from Pima cotton
- fine thread, tighter weave, crisper hand
- lycra, spandex, stretch yarn are all elastaine
- density and percentages determine comfort - less is more.
Karen likes 3% and Trish likes 5%, so that makes this Kaufman Pimatex sample I have (4% stretch yarn) perfect, right? :-)
So how about interfacing? It would be nice to have some thickness in the collars and cuffs, but not overly stiff. We've tried fusing a dual layer form flex that seems to bubble a bit in the collar. Is there a moderately thick fusible interfacing for stretch cotton shirts that anyone can recommend?
Vilene/Pellon produce various good quality interfacings, including stretch ones. Take a look at my Vilene information, but be aware that this is no longer quite current, and a Goggle search might help.
Bubbling interfacing sounds like it has not been fused properly - there is information on how to do this on my site under Pressing Problems. It takes longer than you think... ;)
I'd use a flexiknit type of interfacing. Something that gives in a similar way to the fashion fabric.
Claire Shaeffer has a brand new book, Sew Any Fabric (Krause, 2004), that has an excellent interfacing section--SIX pages worth! I'll be keeping a copy next to the computer, and one in the studio, it's such a good, solid reference work.
Karen Maslowski in Cincinnati
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