The production of a pattern on a fabric by printing it with a substance that destroys one or more of the fibre types present.

A process of printing with certain chemical printing pastes onto specially structured cloths to produce burnt-out effects or sheer areas of a fabric. Fabrics constructed from blends containing nylon and viscose, nylon and cotton, nylon and cuprammonium rayon can be printed with: 15 20% Aluminium Sulphate, 20 15% water, 5% glycerine, 60% thickening. Bake the cloth after printing for 25 seconds at 165ï‚°-180ï‚° C. Wash off in hot water and follow with neutralizing treatment in 1gm to 1 gallon sodium carbonate at 45ï‚° C for 10 minutes. Rinse well in cold water and dry.

a French term, also known as "burn out" in the U.S. One approach involves the use of a fabric woven from two kinds of thread - one is plant fiber, or cellulose, and one is animal fiber, known as a protein fiber. Cotton, rayon and linen are cellulose fibers. Wool and silk are protein fibers. Sodium bisulfate is the chemical used in the burn out process. It is thickened, applied to the fabric surface, and heated. During this process the cellulose part of the cloth is destroyed and can be washed away. The protein fiber remains. When a cloth is woven from a silk/rayon blend for example, the rayon part of the fabric is removed by the chemical. The silk backing fabric is exposed because the rayon fiber is gone, and this creates the pattern.