When it comes to quality control measures, fabric shrinkage is one of the top priorities of textile companies in India work with blended fabrics. The shrinkage percentage needed to add to the production pattern. Otherwise, you would not get garment of correct fit and measurement could not match the specification sheet. So, while manufacturing garments, it is essential to pre-wash fabrics and understand the shrinkage percentage before designing garments so that they stay true to the size.
Prepare the fabric for test
Cut fabric from the roll and take fabric specimen of 60 cm X 60 cm (length X width). If you have multiple lots of fabrics rolls, take a sample from each lot. Mark a square of 50 cm X 50 cm (You can only mark + at the corner of the square.). Use a fabric marker to mark the fabric. This is before wash measurement of fabric length and width.
Wash the fabric sample
Wash the specimen following dip wash or machine wash as needed. Follow washing instruction provided by your buyers. Or follow the standard washing method to find the shrinkage percentage for washing. Dry the fabric specimen as specified. Do line dry or tumble dry as specified in the test method.
Measure after washing
- After the fabric is completely dry, now measure it both lengthwise and widthwise.
- If you had taken a 50cm x 50cm fabric piece for testing and after washing and for an example after washing measurement are as
- Lengthwise measurement =48.5 cm
- Width wise measurement = 47.5 cm
Now calculate shrinkage percentage specimen fabric using the following formula
Fabric Shrinkage %= (Length before washing – length after washing)*100/Length before washing
Fabric Shrinkage
Length wise= (50 – 48.5)/50 = 0.03 that is 3%
Width wise= (50 – 47.5)/50 = 0.05 that is 5%
Fabric Growth%
In some fabrics instead of fabric shrinkage, you may get fabric growth.
Fabric growth% = (Length after washing – length before washing)*100/Length before washing
If the fabric length increases after washing and the measurement after washing is 52.5 cm. Fabric growth percentage will be
= (52.5-50)/50 = 6%
