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Production of Wool
Hair fibres come from animals such as sheep, goats, camels, llamas. Sheep are
the world's largest supplier of wool. The wool can be sheared from the live
animal or pulled from the hide after slaughter. Wool from live animals is
called fleece or clip wool. Wool from the slaughtered animal hide is called
pulled wool and is of lower quality. Grading of wool takes place while the
fibres are still in the fleece so as to set the cost. After removal, the fleeces are
shipped to the mill for processing.

Processes involved in wool production are as follows:

- Shearing

- Sorting/Grading, according to fineness or width, crimp, length, colour.

- Scouring to remove grease, dirt, and burs.

- Carding and Combing, using wire brush rollers, to disentangle the fibres.
(The disentangled fibres are now called carded slivers.)

- Gilling, to align the fibres by passing the slivers through large combs.

- Dyeing can be done at the fibre stage or left for the yarn or fabric stage.

- Drawing is additional gilling done to reduce the sliver. (Both gilling and
drawing are necessary in the production of fine worsted cloth.)

- Spinning draws out the fibres, twists them, and winds them on to reels as
yarns.

Production of Cotton
Cotton production dates back to ancient times. Records show that it was
widely produced in India around 3000 BC. Sea Island cotton and American-
Egyptian cotton are long staple varieties. Best production is achieved in a
tropical/warm climate under moist conditions.

The fleecy cotton fibres are ready for picking after the seed boll matures and
opens. Picking is done by hand, mechanical pickers, or stripping devices. After
picking, the cotton lint is separated from the seed by a process called ginning,
which removes all fibres and waste plant material from the seeds. Seeds are
used for cattle feed and cotton-seed oil. The fibres are packed into bales.

Samples are taken to determine the class of fibre, that is, the staple length, the
grade, and the character of the cotton. Character would include properties
such as fibre strength, fineness, elastic recovery, uniformity, resiliency,
pliability, and cohesiveness. Cotton fibres are composed of an outer cuticle, or
skin, and a primary wall, a secondary wall, and a central core, or lumen. The
lengthwise view shows a ribbon-like shape with twists along the length.

Production of Silk
Silk is a natural protein fibre derived from silk moths that produce larvae as
part of their normal growth cycle - egg, silkworm, pupa, moth. The larvae,
which are actually silkworms or caterpillars, spin cocoons composed of
usable silk fibre. They spin the silk round and round the body and construct
the cocoon. The fibre is produced as a continuous filament from two tiny
spinnerets in the head of the silkworm. Upon exposure to the air, the liquid
fibre solidifies into silk filaments. The fibres are coated with a gummy
substance called sericin. The cocoons are heated to kill the pupae.

To process the silk, various steps are necessary:

- Reeling. Unwinding the long delicate threads from the cocoon in hot water to
release the gum and then winding them on to a reel.

- Throwing. This is increasing the twist, or adding strands and twisting them
together to strengthen the silk.
- Boiling off and Weighting, to remove the extra sericin and add mineral salts
to replace lost weight.

- Dyeing. Either skein dyeing or piece dyeing is done.

- Weaving. Basic weaves, or Jacquard for damask and heavy evening-wear

fabrics.

Types of Silk:
- Raw silk. Yarns wound on to the reel after the cocoons have been
degummed.

- Spun silk. Fibres spun into silk yarn from burst cocoons. This breaks the
filament thread into many short ones (also called staple silk or waste silk).

- Wild silk or tussah. Silk from silkworms that feed mainly on oak leaves. It
has a natural tan or brown colour.

- Douppioni. Uneven double silk threads, obtained from two silkworms which
spun one cocoon as they nested together.

Silk, like wool, can absorb up to a third of its weight of water vapour without
feeling wet. This makes it cool to wear as it absorbs perspiration from the
skin. When wet, fibre strength is reduced slightly. Creases will hang out
relatively well, but not as quickly or completely as in wool.

Production of Linen
Linen is the term applied to the yarn spun from flax fibres and to the cloth or
fabric woven from this yarn. The flax fibre is classified as a natural, cellulose,
bast, multicellular fibre. Linen is obtained from the stem or stalk of the plant
Linum usitatissimum. It grows well in a temperate climate with adequate
moisture. After the seeds are sown, in order to obtain the fibre, the plant is
allowed to grow to a height of 2-4 feet (60-120 cm).

The steps in the processing include the following:

-Pulling and Rippling to remove seeds and unwanted material, then drying.

- Retting. Removal of the outer woody portions to obtain the fibres from the
stalk - this can be done using dew, in a pool or tank, or with a chemical
solution.

- Breaking and Scratching. Fluted rollers break the outer wooden covering
into small particles. Scrutching is a separation action used to isolate the fibres
from the outer covering.

- Hackling. This combing action separates the short fibres (tow) from the long
fibres (line).

- Spinning. Flax fibres can be spun either wet or dry. The best quality yarn for
linen is obtained from wet spinning and from the line fibres.

Flax fibre shows no twist as in cotton. The width appears to be quite irregular.
The central canal or lumen casts a shadow that makes the centre appear
slightly darker. Nodes are visible which seem like joints on bamboo.