Slub knit refers to a soft lamp or thick spot in yarn or fabric such as cotton that is usually considered as a defect on the material. Back then, in the 19th century, when fabrics were created by hand, the term ‘slub’ referred to the preparation procedure of wool before spinning. After spinners twist the fibers of wool jointly using hands to create yarn, the incompatible thickness would appear rough on the finished garment and were known as ‘slub.’ So the end product will be fabric with an uneven and rough texture.
Today slub yarns are fashionable and are created deliberately for this purpose. Typically, it is done with the help of modern spinning tools that can produce thick slub yarns without any imperfections. However, modern machinery creates smooth and even slub. These artificial slub fabrics are knitted specifically for trendy and fashionable designs sold to various clients worldwide. However, the slub yarn is a bit expensive than regular yarn. You can use them on different knit variations like interlock, jersey, French terry, sweatshirt, etc. Here we talk more about slub knit cotton to keep you informed.
What Does Slub Knit Cotton Mean?
Slub knit cotton refers to a soft lump or thick spot in yarns like cotton that was considered as a defect on the fabric. But, nowadays, slub yarns are human-made with the help of modern tools for fashionable clothes.
Uses Of Slub Knit Fabrics
The human-made slub yarns make different fabric designs such as interlocks, sweatshirts, jerseys, and French Terries. You can also use these yarns to make various garments like t-shirt, tops, casual dresses, blouses, panties, hoodies, tracksuit bottoms, slips, etc. Note that slub knit fabric comes with different dissimilar weights to suit various needs and desired usage.
What Is Slub Cotton?
Slub cotton means a cotton material that appears to have bit lumps in the fabric. Normally these lumps are mainly due to the procedure before weaving the fabric where it’s twisted, thus creating an uneven twist. The result is a special fabric with a good texture to it. A t-shirt made of slub cotton is usually airy and light, and it doesn’t cling to your body. You don’t even need to iron since it is designed to look flat that way.
Is Slub Cotton See-Through?
Whether the slub cotton is see-through or not depends on the slub yarn thickness in the fabric and the quality of your cotton, though the fiber is spun unsteadily, resulting in “slub” yarns. When it is woven and designed into cloth, you can see thick parts as well. Some of the slub cotton available is quite thin, and someone can easily see-through in spots. While others are thick, and you can’t see through it. That’s why most of the time, it’s advisable to know the type of slub cotton before ordering online. It will save you unnecessary frustrations.
Does Slub Cotton Shrink?
Because slub is a lump formed for the cotton, it’s still a cotton fabric, and they are prone to shrinking. However, cotton is a great fabric because they are comfortable, hardwearing, breathable, and versatile. Like several materials out there, especially natural ones, they are subjected to shrinking when extreme temperatures and agitation of dryers and washers are used. However, they are simple things you can do to take care of your cotton clothes from shrinking when washing with their hands.
How To Prevent Cotton Clothes From Shrinking When Hand Washing
1. Use special detergent meant for handwashing: Dissolve the detergent in lukewarm or cool water, and then immerse your garment for the recommended time. The manufacturer’s instructions will guide you, but you can test on a small part first if you’re not sure.
2. Rinse thoroughly, once more in lukewarm or cool water: Avoid wringing or twisting the fabric as this affect its shape.
3. Dry directly in sunlight, somewhere there is air circulation: Doing this maintains your cloth shape. Consider using hangers for best results
What can I Knit with slub yarn?
Knitters use slub yarn to create garments like sweaters, tops, etc., as well as home interiors with real nature. However, knitting with slub yarn normally seems like a daunting task for most knitters. Slub yarn is a type of yarn that has been deliberately spun in a certain way to create irregular shapes, i.e., thin and thick sections along its length.
A long time ago, it was considered defective due to undeveloped mechanical tools used. But nowadays, slub yarns are human-made and are very popular today. It is highly recommendable to work with a simple stitch when using slub yarn other than something fancy since the threads have texture on their surface already. Stocking, rib, moss, and garter stitch work pretty well and show up nicely if knitted using these lumpy fibers.
How Can You Cast On With Slub Yarn?
You can cast with any of your preferred methods with slub yarns, be it thumb or cable. However, to reimburse for the irregular thickness of the yarn, you need to create a similar height of stitches throughout. So if casting on through the thicker part of the yarn, regularly make stitches. But when casting on the thinner part, make the stitches looser. With that, you can knit perfectly and easily without facing any problems such as yarn breakages.
Does 100% Cotton Shrink In The Dryer?
What normally makes cloth shrink is heat and friction. So, if you are worried about keeping your cotton shirt in perfect shape, avoid using a tumble dryer. But, if you don’t have time, you can reduce what usually causes clothes to shrink in your dryer and prevent the shrinkage by;
How To Prevent Shrinkage Of Any Fabric, Including Those That Are 100% Cotton When Using The Dryer
Washing With Fabric Conditioner
The way you normally wash the clothes reflects how they will fare in the dryer. Washing clothes using fabric conditioner helps smoothen the fibers in your cotton while reducing friction in the dryer and the washing machine. You can try using comfort perfume deluxe as it leaves your cotton clothes cared for with perfect fits and smelling good.
Set Your Dryer To The Lowest Heat Possible
A higher heat will make your cotton fiber contract more. It is, therefore, advisable to set dryer heat to the lowest heat possible.
Can Cotton Shrink In The Wash?
Most cotton fabric is the easiest to shrink in the laundry process, although mostly during the first wash. To avoid cotton shrinkage, wash your clothes by hand and in cold water. If that isn’t possible, you can use your washing machine but follow these instructions;
Preventing Cotton Shrink In The Wash
Use Mild Detergent Made For Delicate Item
First, set your washing machine to thirty degrees or cold and delicate for its agitation cycle.
Use Fabric Conditioner To Help Reduce The Friction
A 100% cotton fabric shrinks less when washed with a good quality fabric conditioner. It smoothens the fibers in your clothes as well as helps minimize the friction in the washing machine. Since this is the major reason that causes shrinkage.
Once Wash Is Over, Remove And Shake Your Clothes
Remove the clothes from your washing machine and shake gently to take away all the wrinkles.
Hang Up And Air Dry
Please make sure the room has air circulation, choose a spot with indirect sunlight, and leave it to dry.
How To Unshrink Your Shrunk Clothes?
Typically, natural fibers are woven jointly into the cloth, making sweaters, shirts, and jeans. During the manufacturing process, these clothes are stretched. If exposed to heat and water from your laundry, the fibers can shrink back to their normal state. To unshrink your clothes, follow these simple steps;
Step 1: Use gentle shampoo or soap and lukewarm water. Fill the bucket or sink with lukewarm water, then add a capful of hair conditioner or baby shampoo. You may as well use an equal amount of laundry detergent meant for the delicate cycle.
Step2: Soak up your clothes for 30 minutes to allow fibers to begin loosening.
Step3: Remove water from your clothing slowly. When time lapses, squeeze water from your clothing gently but don’t rinse them.
Step 4: Lay your cloth on a flat towel. With the clothing inside, roll the towel, squeezing it gently to release the remaining water until it’s damp rather than wet.
Step 5: Place your cloth on another dry flat towel. Position it on the towel and stretch it gently to its previous size.
Step 6: Let your cloth air dry.
What Is Slub Yarn Used For?
Generally, slub yarns are used in fabric production. Because of its nature, i.e., the variance between the base yarn and the slub diameter is high, it causes a high difference in fabric thickness, giving the fabric a new look that influences its material mechanical properties. The slub effect twist dispensation on its length and the strength of the slub yarn is affected by stress and strain administration of the fabric.
Conclusion
Fashion is evolutionary, and trends come and go; as consumers, we expect that what is sold to us is only the best product. Which actually, we don’t have the surety for it sometimes other than mere beliefs. On the other end, textile companies work hard day and night thinking of the next great thing to produce and sell to us, and maybe it will be perfect or not; it’s our choice as the consumers to accept it. As we have seen with slub fabric, some imperfection can make something great after all. It’s upon us to be creative and turn the negative situations into positive ones.
