Deciphering the alien symbols we see on clothing care labels

A couple weeks ago my mum sent me a link for a care label seminar organized by TCDC in Bangkok, and since i’ve been making clothes for myself and my clients I often get asked ‘how do you wash this (item)?’. The subject of how to care for your clothes has been an interesting topic for me since I dont remember actually studying it in depth during my uni years at design school. I remember studying marketing, pattern making, history, fashion design and graphic design but I dont remember learning about caring for your fabric. So I decided to go ahead and book myself a spot in the seminar (well i havent been to bangkok in like 3 months!). It was also a good opportunity for me to visit my family, hugs my grandma, eat my favorite food and also spa treatment! 

The seminar was organized by TCDC . What I have always loved most about TCDC is their huge library specializing in art & design. They also hold great exhibitions and talks. The presenter for this seminar was from the textiles testing center in Bangkok. She was extremely knowledgeable but also talked very fast! I wasn’t able to keep up with her and sadly missed lots of very useful information from her talks :(  

Below are basic symbols that often seen on care label. Can you read them? 

Without going into much detail, those symbols and the tag that said what your clothes are made of (fiber content) are actually quite important. It tells you and your dry cleaner how to keep your favorite dress looking new!  Now I regretted cutting them off first thing when I bought new clothes home as often those tags are super itchy! 

Here are a quick care instruction of your clothing, 

100% Wool  - It is most likely that it will shrink so its best to send to your dry cleaner. This was a mistake i learnt from by machine washing my husband’s cardigan (which is still 2 size smaller than when it went in) and if you decided to hand wash it, make sure it is cold water as wool does not do well in hot water.

Cotton - Is a very durable fabric and will work well in your washing machine, line dry or tumble dry using the lowest setting.  

Silk - Silk is natural fabric and with most silk you should be able to hand wash. Do not soak for more than a few minutes, use a mild detergents or soap and dry in the shade.  

Polyester - is a strong fabric so machine wash in warm water, tumble dry at lowest setting and iron at moderate setting. 

Nylon - is generally good with machine wash in warm water, can be line dry or tumble dry at lowest setting and iron at low temperature setting.  

Spandex - hand wash or machine wash in warm water, line dry or tumble dry at lowest setting 

Although most of the fabric can take warm wash, I do highly recommend using a cold wash. It saves energy and color transfer in new garments. 

Now get your husband to sit down and read this blog so he can properly wash your clothes for you :D 

xo

Subsidee

Environmentally friendly potato printing

While I was doing research for my collection for the Ecochic Design Award I was looking for a cheap and organic way of doing prints on fabric. As part of this process I decided to see what I already had available in the kitchen to see if I could make prints from anything. I was in luck. In the kitchen I found a few potatoes that we had bought for dinner and I thought to myself ‘lets make potatoes prints’!

I’m sure some of you would have done this before in primary school. It’s a cheap and very simple way to make prints on a wide variety of surfaces.

With potatoes in hand I went back to my room and began carving with my wood carving tool set. 

Using water coloring and document prints in my sketch book 

Here is what the prints look like.

Experimenting with more designs

End result

It certainly works! The only thing is that you can’t keep your potato stencils. It only lasts a day or two. I only experimented with water color this time and managed to make a few cute cards out of these lovely potatoes. My next project is to use fabric paint and try to print on fabrics. Hopefully it will work. 

Happy carving ❤