Assessment of lac dyed eri silk and naturally coloured cotton fabrics

Environmental awareness, hazards of chemical industries, dyes and increased health consciousness of consumers have paved way for environmental friendly inventions that include variety of fibres, dyes and chemicals.Natural colour cotton, organic cotton, natural dyes, enzymatic finishes, are few of them.An effort was made to weave eco-friendly fabrics using a combination of lac dyed Eri silk with naturally brown coloured cotton.Two fabrics viz., lac dyed pure Eri silk fabric (2/80s) and Eri (warp) x Naturally coloured cotton (weft) union fabrics formed the test sample.Results revealed that, pure Eri silk fabric exhibited greater tenacity, elongation percentage, lower drape co-efficient and colour strength compared to union fabric, whereas Eri x NCC union fabric showed higher values of fabric thickness, weft way bending length, weft way crease recovery angle and abrasion resistance, indicate the fabric to be stiffer and coarser.Hand spun, naturally coloured cotton yarn showed unequal distribution of slubs and snarls which gave novelty appearance and textural effect on handloom Khadi fabric.Thus, lac dyed Eri silk x NCC union fabric; a unique eco-friendly fabric was best suitable for designer's made-ups, shirts and dress materials.