Application of colour

Colour is a strong preference for many people, and can determine how successful a design is.

All the colours come from the three primary colours, (red, blue, yellow), and the secondary colours are made from mixing two primary colours together, (blue + red = purple). Colour creates and evokes feelings and moods, which are significant for certain events.

Fibres when raw are uninteresting colours and its rare when a fabric has not undergone some form of colour treatment. When dyeing and printing the pigments caused by the concentrated colour that is then absorbed into the fibres. The untreated fabric is called loomstate. 

Dyes were originally made from natural sources and they developed into synthetic dyes which are used mostly on fibres. Most dues however are not colour fast, which means without mordant a colour fast the colour fades after several washes. 

Mass production uses synthetic dyes as it’s easier and cheaper to produce, it can also produce any colour over and over again. 

Dyeing can be done at any stage of the production.

By Abigail Stephenson
Photographs provided by Fashion Capital.

For other articles in the learning about textiles technology, click below:

Part one: what are textiles?
Part two: The inspiration behind the ideas of design
Part three: drawing and modelling
Part four: planning
Part five: influences on design
Part six: fibres
Part seven: construction
Part eight: properties of fabrics
Part nine: care of fabrics
Part ten: components
Part eleven: disassembly
Part twelve: application of colour
Part thirteen: measuring and marketing
Part fourteen: assembly
Part fifteen: industrial production techniques
Part sixteen: systems in production
Part seventeen: aesthetics and ergonomics
Part eighteen: evaluation and quality
Part nineteen: marketing