Creating from the Yarn Up Vol.1

Popular fabrics made with the plain weave method include broadcloth, dobby, and chambray. A “twill weave” is created by passing the weft thread over two or more warp threads and then repeating that by going over one warp thread afterwards. The main characteristic of it is that it produces diagonal lines in the fabric. Denim, tweed, dungaree, and flannel are popular types of twill weave fabrics. The “satin weave” is characterized by five weft yarns or warp yarns woven over each other, and satin is the most common type of fabric woven with this method.

The differences between these types of weaves are the angles of the diagonal lines that form, which are called “twill lines”. “3/1” fabrics are generally called “twill”, and is most common in denim. The structure of a “2/2 twill” consists of two warp threads crossing every two weft threads. Herringbone refers to a type of fabric made with a combination of a 2/2 twill and a distinctive V-shaped weaving pattern.

This vital task requires the use of his knowledge and experience of developing various types of fabrics in the past to create and realize a specific image in his mind of how to express the same overall feel of the original inspiration piece. “The herringbone pants that I borrowed from his archives brought images of high society. I could envision an upper class gentleman wearing them. After years of aging the oil (in the yarn) has been completely removed, resulting in a very dry and seasoned texture. The fabric was woven with a relatively thick yarn, and the composition was soft and not too rigid, creating a delicate kind of material.”

If I was allowed to cut up the archive piece it’d be pretty easy for me to figure it out (laughs). But of course I know that he takes great care of all of his archive pieces, so I have to rely on my eyes to imagine the composition of the parts that are hidden underneath the surface of the fabric.”

What ended up being required to reproduce the increased number of colors on the newly created fabric was a four-colored warp yarn and three-colored weft yarn composition. As each color is made up of multiple colored threads, you ultimately end up with a larger number of prepared colors. “For example, I took three different types of thin yarn, made up of a spun woolen yarn made with British wool for the weft yarn, a silk nep yarn, and a linen thread to bring out the dry texture, and wove them into a single piece of yarn. The way the colors are coated differently is due to the materials they consist of, which gives off a vibrant and expressive feeling. The way it’s made is surprisingly elaborate. It’s always this way when I work with Nakamura-san, and we truly start by creating each individual piece of custom yarn.”

“This herringbone fabric already had the right feeling at the greige (unfinished woven fabric that hasn’t been bleached or dyed) stage. It felt like it was already fairly close to what we were aiming to make. When you’re trying to create a dry, almost withered texture it’s very important not to process the fabric at the end. Ideally you remove the fabric from the loom and preserve the texture and feel in its freshly woven state. In this case the fabric tension comes out randomly from piece to piece, giving it an authentic rustic feel. If you make it too perfect it loses its expression, so I try to keep the overall roughness of the finished fabric.”

“When you make fabric too perfectly, it becomes unable to move. When the finished product reaches the customer’s hand the fabric already has a vintage feel, but from there, various aspects such as the owner’s body type and lifestyle can result in various changes. Every item has a different feeling unique to its owner, and it’s satisfying to have people enjoy this process. I feel like Nakamura-san truly pays careful attention to such details.”

I’m assuming they only had that color of yarn for the material that the jacket was made from, but it had a very rich and striking appearance. The weaves are also extremely random, and of course it was made this way, because the manufacturer was not especially skilled, but that ruggedness gives it character.”

“Recreating the same expression was quite a challenge, but we twisted two types of thread for the weft yarn to make the fabric flow in the warp direction. Although this may just be my opinion, I thought that we were successfully able to produce a slightly rough texture with an almost nostalgic expression, as if a lot of time had passed since the fabric was woven. We hardly applied any finishing touches to this fabric as well, preserving its greige state.”

“I think that this one came out especially well. The texture has the perfect dry and withered look, and we really succeeded in creating an authentic vintage style feel. This is one of my favorite fabrics that we’ve made recently.”

“The difficult part is making sure that the texture doesn’t change when you’re creating different colored versions of the same product. I think most people think that the yarn structure and weave composition is kept the same and only the dyed colors are changed to produce the final product, but this method would change the textures of each colored fabric. For each color it’s necessary to adjust their expressions as well.”

“We really do make everything starting from the yarn, so it really is tough. You usually wouldn’t do something so tedious and difficult. As a fabric manufacturer we place a heavy emphasis on creating rich textures, but when you try to recreate every little detail of an old archived item it rarely results in a product that you can put on the market. The key is what methods you take to create a quality reproduction, and although this is extremely challenging, that’s also what makes it so enjoyable.”