What’s the process of textile printing (including fabric printing)?

Textile printing is the process of applying colour to fabric in definite patterns or designs. In properly printed fabrics the color is bonded with the fiber, so as to resist washing and friction. Textile printing is related to dyeing but, whereas in dyeing proper the whole fabric is uniformly covered with one color, in printing one or more colors are applied to it in certain parts only, and in sharply defined patterns. • Direct printing, in which colorants containing dyes, thickeners, and the mordants or substances necessary for fixing the color on the cloth are printed in the desired pattern. • The printing of a mordant in the desired pattern prior to dyeing cloth; the color adheres only where the mordant was printed. • Resist dyeing, in which a wax or other substance is printed onto fabric which is subsequently dyed. The waxed areas do not accept the dye, leaving uncolored patterns against a colored ground. • Discharge printing, in which a bleaching agent is printed onto previously ...  more