Fabric name | Lawn cloth |
Fabric also known as | Lawn fiber, lawn, batiste, nansook, cotton lawn |
Fabric composition | Usually cotton |
Fabric possible thread count variations | 150-200 |
Fabric breathability | High |
Moisture-wicking abilities | High |
Heat retention abilities | Medium |
Stretchability (give) | Reasonably stretchy |
Prone to pilling/bubbling | Low |
Country where fabric was first produced | France |
Biggest exporting/producing country today | India or Pakistan |
Recommended washing temperatures | Medium to hot |
Commonly used in | Dresses, blouses, shirts, skirts, pinafores, nightwear, handkerchiefs, lingerie, and lawn suits are all available. |
What is lawn cloth fabric?
Lawn cloth is a simple weave fabric that is often composed of cotton. This fabric has a smooth touch due to its relatively high thread count. Lawn cloth is often manufactured from combed yarn, however carded yarn may also be used.
Lawn cloth is frequently semi-transparent due to the way it is woven, giving it a sheer look. Lawn cloth is a lightweight fabric that is popular for spring and summer women’s clothing.
Lawn fabric is often manufactured in bleached white and then printed with appealing designs. Lawn fabric is seldom coloured during the manufacturing process, yet it may still be printed even if dyed.
Lawn cloth technical specifications
Lawn cloth, like most other natural textiles, is a plain-weave textile, which means that the weft threads alternate over and beneath the warp threads. As a consequence, this fabric features a straightforward grid-like structure that is great for cutting and stitching. Because grass cloth has a relatively high thread count, it is advisable to stitch with a fine needle.
The weave of lawn cloth varies depending on the manufacturer, but this fabric has a warp count of roughly 70 and a weft count of around 100. This fabric often features 80 ends per inch (EPI) and 80 picks per inch (PPI). (EPI). As a consequence, grass fabric has a thread count of 150 to 200, making it one of the finest varieties of cotton weave.
History of lawn cloth
The term “lawn cloth” is derived from the French city of Laon, where this material was initially made. Originally, lawn fabric was manufactured mostly of linen, which was more prevalent in Europe at the time. However, when cotton imports from India became more widespread, weavers of lawn fabric progressively shifted to this alternate textile material.
At the same time that Indian cotton was being imported into France, French lawn fabric was being imported into India. Weavers in India began weaving this lightweight fabric into traditional garments. salwar kameez suits, often known as “lawn suits” owing to its use of the European lawn fabric weave.
Even now, grass suits are quite popular in India, and they still contain lawn material. Despite the cultural split between Hindu-dominated India and Islam-centric Pakistan, grass suits are quite popular in Pakistan, and upon India’s partition, the bulk of lawn suit manufacture began in this newly-created Muslim state.
Lawn fever
Lawn cloth is so popular in Pakistan that every spring, a phenomena known as ”
Lawn fever” sweeps the nation, with both men and women scrambling to get their hands on the season’s hottest lawn suit designs. Lawn fabric is commonly printed with elaborate motifs wherever it is woven, whether in the East or the West, and in Pakistan, these designs have become an intrinsic element of yearly style culture.
The French craftspeople who created the first grass cloth in Laon would definitely be amazed by the enormous popularity of this weave in distant Pakistan. Regardless, lawn cloth has played a major part in Pakistani designer culture, with popular seasonal lawn suit patterns commanding exorbitant prices in this South Asian country.
How is lawn cloth fabric made?
Lawn fabric is produced using normal plain-weave techniques. Textile manufacturers may construct plain-weave clothes using centuries-old processes, but in most instances, lawn fabric is mass-produced in textile factories using mechanical looms.
Because lawn cloth is often made of cotton fibers these days, the manufacture of this fabric starts in cotton farming areas. Before being spun into yarn, mature cotton bolls are separated from their seeds, and the resultant fibers are either carded or combed.
Combing produces finer, softer fibers, but at a higher cost. While carded cotton fibers are somewhat rougher, they are less expensive to manufacture.
In most situations, woven grass is quite crisp to the touch, although not as crisp as some other natural materials, such as organdy. As a consequence, the word “lawn” is often used in the textile business to describe any fabric with a crisp touch. While grass fabric is crisp owing to the intrinsic quality of its components, the majority of other textiles referred to as “lawn” have been starched.
How is lawn cloth fabric used?
Lawn cloth was traditionally used to manufacture linen women’s gowns. During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, for example, grass fabric was extensively employed to produce women’s clothing.
Gowns for commencement. Even back then, this fabric was referred to as “Persian lawn,” demonstrating how popular it had grown in South Asia and the Middle East.
Today, the largest worldwide use of grass cloth is most likely in the fabrication of salwar kameez Lawn suits are popular in Pakistan and India. Lawn suits have become an inseparable part of Pakistani society, and demand for this fabric weave stays consistent.
Western designers employ this fabric as well, but to a lesser extent in terms of sheer volume. While Pakistanis and Indians typically utilize grass fabric for religious purposes, salwar kameez However, this fabric has a considerably broader range of uses in the Western clothing business.
Western designers, for example, often utilize this fabric to create transparent, lightweight blouses and shirts for ladies. This cloth is also used to produce Western-style skirts and dresses, but it is not as popular as it previously was.
While printed lawn fabric is virtually always used in Pakistan and India, it is less frequent in Western lawn fabric manufacture. Instead, designers in Europe and North America choose to dye or bleach this cloth white.
Because of its softness, Western designers often include lawn fabric into lingerie and undergarments, and this weave was formerly the most sought-after cloth for handkerchief manufacture. One of the more unusual uses of grass cloth these days is in pinafores, which are lightweight overall-like garments worn by young girls over their gowns.
Where is lawn cloth fabric produced?
India is currently the
Although China is the world’s greatest producer of cotton fiber, Pakistan looks to be the world’s leading manufacturer of completed lawn fabric clothing. Western designers that use this cloth are likely to get it from China or India, while prominent designers in Pakistan labor around the clock to develop each year’s exquisite grass suit designs.
While China was the world’s greatest cotton grower and exporter for more than two decades, a recent economic crisis has significantly diminished the country’s cotton output potential. As a result of this worldwide economic upheaval, the United States has risen to become a significant cotton producer and exporter once again.
China remains, however, the world’s
top manufacturer of textile goods. It’s possible that a large portion of the grass fabric used to manufacture salwar kameez Lawn fabric used for various uses was most likely made in China, not India or Pakistan.
How much does lawn cloth fabric cost?
Lawn cloth, like other cotton materials, is often cheap. Combed grass cloth is more expensive than carded lawn cloth, and printed or coloured lawn fabric is likewise more expensive.
What different types of lawn cloth fabric are there?
Lawn fabric varies greatly in terms of the dyes, designs, and other embellishments that may be added to this kind of textile. Furthermore, there are other textiles that, although separate, are closely connected to grass cloth. Let’s look at some of these grass fabric varieties and options:
1. Batiste
Batiste fabric is commonly mistaken for lawn cloth, however the two textiles have slight differences. While lawn cloth is very thin and sheer, batiste is significantly finer and is typically used in religious settings.
2. Voile
Voile is comparable to lawn cloth, but it is so thin and silky that it resembles silk. Lawn fabric has a lower thread count than voile and is significantly sharper to the touch.
3. Organdy
Organdy is said to have the highest crispness of any cotton fabric. It has a surprisingly sharp hand and is both thinner and more translucent than grass fabric.
4. Nainsook
Rather than having its own fabric, nainsook is a kind of grass cloth. When textile manufacturers construct lawn cloth using just combed yarn, the resultant ultra-soft fabric is known as nainsook.
5. Cambric
Cambric and batiste are fundamentally the same fabric, yet their histories vary. When Indian cotton began to flood into Europe in the 17th century, linen cambric was its principal rival.
How does lawn cloth fabric impact the environment?
Cotton is used to make lawn fabric, which may have a negative or neutral influence on the environment. Cotton is a natural substance, thus it degrades naturally and does not discharge any chemicals into the environment. However, the methods used to produce and prepare cotton are not necessarily ecologically favorable.
Cotton is grown as a monocrop in many regions of the globe, using chemical insecticides and fertilizers. As a consequence, growing this fiber affects the soil and releases hazardous compounds into the biosphere.
Furthermore, labor exploitation is rampant in the cotton cultivation sectors of India, China, and other impoverished nations, and cotton farmers in these countries are more prone to utilize unsustainable agricultural practices. Cotton farming in these locations is often detrimental to both human groups and local ecosystems.
Cotton cultivation, on the other hand, does not have to be hazardous. Cotton growers and lawn cloth makers throughout the globe are demonstrating respect to their communities and the environment by avoiding the use of agricultural pollutants and exploitative labor practices by using sustainable, organic procedures.