All About Looks Field Trip

www.allaboutlooks.com

          All About Looks is a fabric upholstery shop in the Depot District of Lubbock, Texas. The Depot District is most commonly known for its bars and nightclubs so it was interesting to find this hidden gem in such an unexpected location. The business is ran by a mother and her two adult daughters who each have their own specific talents that contribute to their business. The age differences seem to allow the business to keep up with the latest trends in fabric while also recognizing the classics. Another reason that “All About Looks” is successful, is the talented upholster they have working for them. The ladies explained how rare it is to find an experienced upholster these days because it has become a lost art over the years. His work was very impressive and you could tell that he had been doing it for a long time.

These women know all there is to know about fabrics. But if there is something they don’t know, they “Google it.” Of course the mother of the two daughters relies on her relationships with experts when she doesn’t know how flame retardant a certain fabric is, but the girls are trying to teach her that sometime its simply faster to find the answer on the internet. It was most enjoyable to see how these two generations are able to work together threw different cultural viewpoints to keep their business running successfully.

They have each had their own real life experiences and were able to share some of them with us. In our business of interior design and upholstery, it is more common to deal with unexpected client needs than it is to follow directions by the book.  This is why it is helpful to hear the weird stories from “the real world”.  They went on to explain many of the specific rules when choosing a fabric for a certain space. There is a lot to consider, such as: durability (number of rubs), fire resistance, availability, price, hardware, and so on.

In this economy, it is refreshing to see a small business such as theirs still running strong. It is inspiring to see a mother turn her hobby into a bonding experiencing with her daughters. Not to mention making money while doing it. 

Fiber & Biopolymer Research Institute Visit #1

Fiber cleaner

            It’s hard to know what to expect when you have never been to fiber laboratory before. In fact, I have never given much thought to how fabrics are made, only how beautiful or not beautiful they are. My very first thought when walking into the research institute was “wow those machines are large.” It was amazing to learn what each of those large machines did and what they can produce.

            The room in the tour was full of big machines that cleaned the wool. The number of cleaning steps the wool must go through to be passed into the other room depends on how dirty the wool is in the first place. We were able to see a chunk of fiber that most would be timid to touch turn into a cotton-like material that you would want to sleep on. The actual machine used to do this reminded me of the “stuffer” used at Build-A-Bear Workshop.

Spun into storage

            Once the fibers are completely cleaned, they are transported into a different room by machine. This is an even larger room with many machines that do tedious work. After turning the fibers into extremely thin soft sheets, they take it to a different machine that turns the sheets into long string-like forms and spin them up for storage.

            After these steps there are many different things that they are able to do with the fibers and each had its own process. We were able to see how the process is much longer to make cashmere than it would be to make a simple cotton jean material. We also learned fabrics such as cashmere are more expensive not only because of the process, but also because of how much waste is created to achieve the flawless finished product.

Weave template

            One thing in particular that was very interesting was how they are able to achieve different weaves with the same machine. They do this by using a template with rows of holes punched into it. These holes are able to lead the machine in the correct direction for that particular weave. Instead of moving to a different machine to do another weave, they simply switch out the template instead.

            The process of creating these fabrics is way more complex than I could ever understand, but learning a little about it helps me appreciate the differences in the clothes that I wear and the couch that I sit on. 

Fibers & Tricks for Temporary Living

Most landlords don’t trust their occupants to make permanent changes to their house, such as painting the walls a bright color. Painting is usually allowed if the color is a neutral and approved by the landlord. When on a budget, it is not always an option to go out and buy new colorful furniture to brighten up the room surrounded by tan walls. What you can do instead is fill picture frames with different fabric colors to add pops of color. If you’re not an artist, you can wrap a canvas with a fun printed fabric to brighten up the walls. (I have used this technique when trying to cover extremely dated wood paneling that the landlord would not let me paint). So go out and buy some fabric. Don’t feel like you must buy the most expensive fabric at the store. A good trick to saving money when shopping for fabrics is to buy curtains at Ross instead of fabric by the yard. You can usually get away with plenty of fabric options for under $4 per curtain panel. Don’t be afraid to cut up a curtain… just remember how cheap it was!

• Do you have an old table with a glass topper? Update it by painting it and adding a fun piece of fabric under the glass. You can even do multiple pieces for a patchwork look. This way, the second the pattern you chose goes out of style you can change it quickly…a perfect trick for temporary living.
• You can also completely change your headboard by stapling on a little padding and fabric. This is a very popular look right now. Add some crisscross ribbon or buttons and you’ve got a handmade headboard that looks like it came straight off of HGTV.

When choosing fibers to use for project such as these, it is important that you know a little bit about them first. This will help you make a well informed decision instead of finding out that a fabric is not durable enough for your project after you buy it. For starters, there are natural and man made fibers. The most common of the natural fibers are cotton, linen, wool, and silk. Cotton is absorbent, resistant to abrasion, sunlight and soil. Linen is designed to look worn. It is smooth and brittle, but extremely prone to wrinkles. Wool, on the other hand, can easily regain its shape. It is very durable, cleanable (dry clean), and soil resistant. The most common complaint about wool is that it feels itchy.

Man made fibers are all powerful and made to perform. For example polyester is considered the best all around performing fiber. It is light resistant, wrinkle resistant, dimensionally stable, available in a variety of forms, easy to clean, can be recycled, popular for upholstery (great for the headboard project), and often used for drapery. Nylon is a man made fiber that is often used for carpet because it can handle high traffic areas. It is most vulnerable to pilling, sags in humidity, and it is not flame retardant, but can be after treated to pass most fire codes. Acrylic is another man made fiber that is soft, bulky, and warm. It is unpopular for furnishings because it has low abrasion resistance and flame resistance can not be added. However, there is a fiber called modacrylic that has been developed as a flame resistant version of acrylic.