Twelve Green Kurtas, a Bleeding Dye and a Six Per Cent Shrink
A home-based tailoring unit in Patna has taken an order for 12 dark-green cotton kurta sets for a school's annual function, delivery in 20 days, at ₹650 per set. The client supplied one metre of the fabric as a sample. The unit also holds 8 m of the same fabric from an earlier lot, slightly different in shade, and ₹4,000 in cash. The unit sewed one trial kurta: after one wash in the client's bucket, the green bled onto the white piping, the kurta became 4 cm shorter and the sleeve length fell by 3 cm. The measured requirement is 2.20 m of finished fabric per kurta, which already includes cutting waste but not shrinkage. The shop sells the fabric at ₹95 a metre in one-metre cuts and gives no returns. The client insists on the exact shade and says she will reject the lot if there is any bleeding.
1. Calculate how much fabric must be bought and what it will cost, and explain why the shrinkage allowance is calculated by division rather than by adding 6%.
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Step 1 - finished requirement 12 kurtas × 2.20 m = 26.4 m.
Step 2 - measure the shrink, don't guess it The trial gives 4 cm on a kurta of roughly 90 cm (≈4.4%) and 3 cm on a sleeve of roughly 55 cm (≈5.5%). Take 6% as the working figure, but confirm it by washing the client's one-metre sample and measuring before buying.
Step 3 - the allowance Shrinkage acts on the original length, so the cut length L must satisfy L × (1 − 0.06) = 26.4. Therefore L = 26.4 ÷ 0.94 = 28.09 m. Buying 28.1 m and washing it gives back 26.4 m. Why not add 6%: 26.4 + 6% = 27.98 m, which is short by about 0.1 m. The difference is small here but the method matters, because shrinkage is a percentage of the length you cut, not of the length you need. Adding a percentage always under-buys.
Step 4 - order quantity and cost Round up to 29 m to allow matching the placket and white piping: 29 × ₹95 = ₹2,755, within the ₹4,000 available, leaving about ₹1,245 for thread, piping and labour.
Step 5 - the old lot The 8 m of the earlier lot is ₹760 'saved' but it is a different shade. Mixing lots across visible panels produces a two-tone garment that the client will reject. Use it only for the trial, for hidden lining or as piping stock - never for visible panels of the delivered order.
2. Diagnose the bleeding and propose the tests and corrective steps to be completed before any bulk cutting.
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Diagnosis Bleeding onto white piping in the first wash usually means unfixed dye - either reactive dye that was not properly soaped and rinsed after dyeing (hydrolysed dye remains on the fibre), or a direct dye with poor wash fastness used because it is cheap and easy on cotton. A dark green is a shade where this happens often. The problem is a property of the fabric, not of the stitching, so no amount of careful tailoring will fix it.
Tests on the sample metre, before buying
- Wash fastness: stitch the green to a piece of white cotton, wash at about 40 °C with a little detergent, dry, and grade the staining of the white against the grey scale. A school uniform needs at least grade 4.
- Rubbing (crocking) test: rub the damp green fabric on white cotton with moderate pressure and look for transfer.
- Shrinkage test: measure a 30 cm square, wash, dry and re-measure to confirm the 6% figure in both length and width.
Corrective steps
- Ask the supplier for pre-washed or soaped fabric, or reject the lot. Since the shop gives no returns, this must be settled before payment.
- If the fabric is retained, give it a hot soap wash and repeated rinsing at the unit until the rinse water runs clear, then dry in shade - this removes loose dye but will not upgrade a genuinely poor dye.
- Pre-shrink the full 29 m by soaking and drying before cutting; cutting first and shrinking later is what produced the 4 cm loss.
- A dilute salt or vinegar soak can reduce mild bleeding but must never be offered to the client as a substitute for a fast dye.
- Do not promise the client 'wash in cold water only' as the solution - the client will wash it normally, and the rejection will still come.
3. Write the acceptance terms you would agree with the client and the care label instructions for the finished garments, giving the reason for each clause.
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Acceptance terms (in writing, before cutting)
- Sealed sample and shade card: one approved kurta and one approved fabric swatch, signed by both sides. Reason: the 8 m old lot proves that 'the same fabric' can differ in shade; the seal turns an argument into a comparison.
- Stated test: colourfastness to washing of at least grade 4 on the grey scale, tested on the approved swatch. Reason: the client's rejection condition ('any bleeding') is otherwise untestable and becomes a matter of opinion on delivery day.
- Payment: 50% advance to buy the 29 m (₹1,376) and 50% on delivery. Reason: the unit has only ₹4,000 and the fabric shop gives no returns, so the advance carries the risk of the fabric, not the labour.
- Delivery date with a stated penalty for late delivery and a stated rejection window (for example, seven days after delivery). Reason: both parties need the consequence written down before work begins.
Care label (with symbols and words)
- Machine wash cold (30 °C), mild detergent, wash separately for the first three washes - reason: residual dye release is highest when the garment is new.
- Do not bleach; do not soak.
- Dry in shade, inside out - reason: direct sun fades dark green and uneven fading looks like a defect.
- Warm iron (up to 150 °C) on the reverse; iron the piping carefully.
- Do not tumble dry - reason: heat and tumbling add shrinkage beyond the 6% already allowed for.
Judgement to state: if the swatch fails the wash-fastness test, the correct professional decision is to tell the client early and renegotiate fabric or shade - not to cut 29 m and hope.