TRADE SECRETS Roger Cawood Finishing standards Part 3
In this, his third and final article on finishing standards, Roger Cawood looks at the critical aspects of final inspection for coats, skirts/dresses and the subject of hand finishing
Note: In cases where a ‘shower proof’ treatment has been applied to a raincoat, the efficacy of the service should be assessed during final inspection or at the time of application with an appropriate confirmation note for the final inspector.
Dresses Coats
There is a wide variation in the style and design of coats which in some cases can suffer from the same finishing issues as jackets and as with all garment types the inspection staff should normally be looking for an ‘as new’ standard of finish. With the exception of some cotton items and particularly cotton raincoats and linen garments which both crease very easily and require high finishing temperatures, coats are generally fairly easy to finish well. However, during drycleaning, the fibres of many pure wool coats with a surface nap and particularly those made from cashmere or camel hair, mill and matt together producing a rough uneven appearance as opposed to soft and smooth. More often than not this is not recognised by either the finishers or inspectors and is therefore not addressed during finishing which is often limited to forming, leaving the garment with a most unsatisfactory finish. Fortunately, this extremely common fault can be easily corrected by steaming and then brushing the nap with a firm/ medium brush – can be very hard work but, is essential to restore the correct finish.
The style design and fabric types from which dresses are made are almost infinitely variable and while, with many straightforward dresses, the quality of finish will be obvious to the inspector there are some features such as ruching in bodice areas and pleats in wedding dresses, ball gowns and party dresses which often demand the attention of a highly skilled finisher and also a knowledgeable final inspector. In the case of ruching this may even require the release of tacking threads followed by careful finishing of the ruched area and finally the reintroduction of the natural folds and skilfully securing them back in place. Dress pleating criteria follows that required for skirts.
Skirts
With the exception of pleated items skirts are generally very straightforward and some of the easiest garments to finish. However, fine pleats on skirts/dresses often demand the attention of a highly skilled finisher this is particularly the case with ‘Sunray’ pleats which can easily end in disaster if attempted by unskilled staff. Inspectors should check for the following: Press pleats - incorrectly positioned pleats, pleat impressions and double creases.
Box pleats - gaping or open box pleats, pleat impressions and double creases. Sunray pleats – bias distortion (look for a wavy hem), incorrectly positioned pleats and double creases. Bias distortion happens when tension
BIAS DISTORTION: Sunray pleated skirt (before finishing)
is inadvertently applied when pleating in the areas around a sunray skirt where the woven fabric hangs diagonally to the horizontal warp/weft yarns. In these areas around the skirt the fabric stretches very easily along the bias and if distortion occurs during the ironing of the pleats it results in a wavy hem. If this happens the only option is to unpick the hem, cut the fabric level and remake the hem. Bias distortion can also occur on other garment types.
BIAS VIEW: Left, bias direction. Right, tension/ stress along the bias during ironing causes distortion that cannot be reversed
Hand finishing
It is the responsibility of the final inspector to ensure not only that finishing standards are maintained but also to check that additional services such as tailor repairs, Staycrease and hand finishing have been done.
CORRECT FINISH: Pictured left, a bodice area ironed flat. Pictured right, the same bodice area correctly finished
If you have topics you would like the author to explore, please E:
kathy.bowry @
laundryandcleaningnews.com
21
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37
