8/9/2020 Fibre to Fabric

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Fibres from Plants

Plant fibre is composed mainly of cellulose and cellulose fibres are most commonly
used to make paper and cloth.
Cellulose produces long, often highly lustrous fibres when suitably prepared.
Plants including cotton, jute, flax and hemp are used to obtain plant fibres.

Jute

Jute fibre is obtained only from the stem of the jute plants. It is soft, shiny and long
fibre with a silky texture which is grown in rainy season.
Jute mainly grows in regions having alluvial soil which is found in the delta regions of
the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers.

Jute

Basics of Fabric
Fibres

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8/9/2020 Fibre to Fabric

The finer part of the thread is referred to as fibre.

Fibre to Yarn to Fabric

Fabric consists of thin strands called yarn, which in turn consists of thinner strands called
fibres.

Cotton and Its Processing

Cotton is obtained from cotton bolls which are directly from the surface of cotton
seeds.
It is grown in black clayey soil with a warm climate.
The processing of cotton involves Ginning, Spinning, Weaving and Knitting.

Cotton ball
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Cotton ball

Wool
Fibre from Animals

Wool

The natural animal fibre obtained from sheep, goat, yak, camel, etc.
All these animals have an outer covering of hair, which is shaved off to obtain wool
fibres.

Wool

Silk
Natural protein fibre is cultivated from the cocoon of mulberry silkworm larvae.

Silk material

Wool from Animals

Wool comes from sheep, goat, yak and some other animals. These wool-yielding
animals bear hair on their body because hair keeps them warm and wool is derived
from these hairy fibres.
Wool is used to make various wool fabrics like woollen clothes, carpets, woollen
sweaters, saddle cloths etc.

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Rearing and Breeding of Sheep for Wool

Rearing: It is a process of breeding, feeding and providing medical care to sheep. These
animals are kept since they produce one or more useful products for the human beings.

Breeding: Some special breeds of sheep are specially chosen to give birth to sheep which
have only soft under hair. This process of selecting parents for obtaining special characters
in their offspring is termed as ‘selective breeding’. 

Mary Had a Little Lamb

The hairy skin of the sheep has two types of fibres that form its fleece:
(i) the coarse beard hair and
(ii) the fine soft under-hair close to the skin is known as fleece.
This fleece is the main source of fibres of wool.

The process of making fibre into wool follows a series of processes: Shearing → Scouring →
Sorting → Dyeing → Straightening, Rolling and Combing.

Occupational hazards of fibre production

Sometimes the sorters get infected by a bacterium, anthrax, which causes a fatal blood
disease called sorter’s disease.

Silk
Silk from Animals

Silk is a natural protein fibre which is obtained from silkworm and can be used as a
textile fibre.
The different types of silk are produced by different types of silkworms.
It can be differentiated on the basis of lustre and texture. Few examples are Kosa,
tassar, mooga, etc. They are produced by various types of silkmoths. One of the
common types is the mulberry silkmoth.

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Development of Silk Moth

Sericulture

Rearing of silkworm to produce raw silk is called sericulture.

Silkworm and Cocoon

Processing Silk Obtained from Cocoons

Cocoons are collected and kept under the sun, or boiled for separating out the silk
fibres.
After that reeling of silk is done, the process of unwinding silk from a cocoon.
Then, the spinning of silk fibres into threads is done.
The silk threads obtained are woven into desired clothes.

Natural Fibres vs. Synthetic Fibres

Natural Fibres

The naturally occurring fibres that humans derive from plants or animals are known as
natural fibres.
Animal fibres: These are the fibres that are obtained from animals. For example Wool,
silk etc.
Plant fibres: These are the ones that are obtained from plants. These fibres are
extracted from the plants to make fabrics.

Synthetic Fibres

Fibres that are made by humans using chemical substances are known as synthetic or
man-made fibres.
These are more durable than natural fibres.
For example:- Polyester, Nylon,  Acrylic etc.

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Synthetic Fibres

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