Textile design

Textile design, also known as textile geometry, is the creative and technical process by which thread or yarn fibers are interlaced to form a piece of cloth or fabric, which is subsequently printed upon or otherwise adorned. Textile design is further broken down into three major disciplines: printed textile design, woven textile design, and mixed media textile design. Each uses different methods to produce a fabric for variable uses and markets. Textile design as an industry is involved in other disciplines such as fashion, interior design, and fine arts.

Articles produced using textile design include clothing, carpets, drapes, and towels. Textile design requires an understanding of the technical aspects of the production process, as well as the properties of numerous fibers, yarns, and dyes.

Printed textile designs are created by using various printing techniques on fabric, cloth, and other materials. Printed textile designers are mainly involved in designing patterns for home interior products like carpets, wallpapers, and ceramics. They also work in the fashion and clothing industries, the paper industry, and in designing stationery and gift wrap.

There are numerous established printed styles and designs that can be broken down into four major categories: floral, geometric, world cultures, and conversational. Floral designs include flowers, plants, or other botanical elements. Geometric designs feature elements, both inorganic and abstract, such as tessellations. World culture designs may be traced to a specific geographic, ethnic, or anthropological source. Finally, conversational designs are designs that fit less easily into the other categories; they may be described as presenting "imagery that references popular icons of a particular period or season, or which is unique and challenges our perceptions in some way." Each category contains subcategories, which include more specific individual styles and designs.

Moreover, different fabrics, like silk and wool, require different types of dye. Other protein-based fabrics require acidic dyes, whereas synthetic fabrics require specialized dispersed dyes.

The advent of computer-aided design software, such as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, has allowed each discipline of textile design to evolve and innovate new practices and processes but has most influenced the production of printed textile designs. Digital tools have influenced the process of creating repeating patterns or motifs, or repeats. Repeats are used to create patterns both visible and invisible to the eye: geometric patterns are intended to depict clear, intentional patterns, whereas floral or organic designs are intended to create unbroken repeats that are ideally undetectable. Digital tools have also aided in making patterns by decreasing the amount of an effect known as "tracking", in which the eye is inadvertently drawn to parts of textiles that expose the discontinuity of the textile and reveal its pattern. These tools, alongside the innovation of digital inkjet printing, have allowed the textile printing process to become faster, more scalable, and more sustainable.

Woven textile design originates from the practice of weaving, which produces fabric by interlacing a vertical yarn (warp) and a horizontal yarn (weft), most often at right angles. Woven textile designs are created by various types of looms and are now predominantly produced using a mechanized or computerized jacquard loom.

Designs within the context of weaving are created using various types of yarns, using variance in texture, size, and color to construct a stylized patterned or monochromatic fabric. There is a large range of yarn types available to the designer, including but not limited to cotton, twill, linen, and synthetic fibers. To produce the woven fabric, the designer first delineates and visualizes the sequence of threading, which is traditionally drawn out on graph paper known as point paper.