Fibre to fabric
What is fabric?
• You all know that food, clothing and
shelter are
the three
basic needs
of life. You
eat food to
survive and
Protect yourself from diseases,
you need a house to live in. Why do you
wear clothes? You wear clothes for
Natural Fibres:
• Some fibres are obtained from natural sources,
that is, from plants and animals. Fibres from such
sources are called natural fibres.
• Some examples of fibres from natural
sources are cotton, Jute, silk, wool, etc.
Animal fibres
• Wool is obtained from the fleece (hair) of sheep or
yak. Silk fibres come from cocoons of the silk moth.
Do you know which part of the sheep’s body yields
fibres? Are you aware how these fibres are
converted into the woollen yarn that we buy from
the market to knit sweaters? Do you have any idea
how silk fibres are made into silk, which is woven
into sarees?
WOOL
• Wool comes from sheep,
goat, yak and some other
animals. These wool-
yielding animals bear hair
on their body.
• Why do you think these
animals bear hair on their
body?
• 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.
• The fine hair provide the fibres for making wool.
Some breeds of sheep possess only fine under-
hair. Their parents 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, such as soft
under hair in sheep is called selective breeding.
• The fleece of sheep is not the only source of
wool.
• Wool is also obtained from goat hair. The under
fur of Kashmiri goat is soft. It is woven into fine
shawls called Pashmina shawls.
• The fur (hair) on the body of camels is also
used as wool.
Silk Formation
Steps to Commercial Fiber Processing
• Shearing – shaving the hair from the sheeps
body.
• Scouring -the removal of all impurities
from grease wool, using water, detergent,
and sometimes a mild alkali.
• Drying- The amount of water held by the wool
is reduce to below 15%.Moisture in wool is
removed by hot, dry air blown through the
wool prior to being exhausted from the dryer.
• Sorting: The hairy skin is sent to a factory
where hair of different textures are separated
or sorted.
• Carding: The woollen fibres are disentangled
and straightned into a continous form.
• Combing, spinning and weaving
PLANT FIBRES
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.
The most used plant fibres are
cotton, flax and hemp, although
sisal, jute, kenaf, bamboo and
coconut are also widely used.
COTTON PRODUCTION CYCLE
Man-made Fibres:
• The other type of fibres are obtained from
chemical substance. These are called
manmade fibres. They are rayon, polyester,
nylon, acrylic (cashmilon) etc.
Yarns
• Do you remember pulling a thread from a cloth
and opening it? Yes, you found hair like fibres.
That thread which was made of fibres is called
yarn. Yarns are made up of a number of fibres
twisted together. Fibres are thin and small and
cannot be made into a fabric directly. So they are
first converted into yarns which are longer,
thicker and stronger. We use these yarns to make
fabrics.
• A yarns is a continuous strand made up of a
number of fibres which are twisted together
YARN MAKING
• The process of making yarns from fibres is
called spinning. Here the fibres are not only
twisted but also pulled out or drawn.
• The spinning process helps to hold the fibres
together and makes the yarns strong, smooth
and fine.
• Spinning can be done by using a takli
(spindle), a charkha or a spinning machine.