Fibre to Fabric

From Fibre To Fabric

Where fibres like cotton and jute come from plants, wool and silk come from animals. Wool is obtained from the sheep’s hair, and silk fibre is obtained from the silk moth’s cocoons. Apart from sheep, many other animals produce wool. Some animals that provide wool include camels, goats, yaks, alpacas, and llamas. The soft under the hair of animals is useful for creating fabric from the wool fibre. The methods of fibre to fabric include removing and cleaning wool fibre and then colouring and rolling the fibre to make yarn. Silkworms produce silk, and the rearing of silkworms is referred to as Sericulture.

Wool

The hair-bearing animals like goats, yak, and sheep deliver wool fibre. There are two types of hair skin from which fibre is obtained: Coarse beard hair and fine soft under-hair. The fine hair helps to produce wool. However, some sheep possess fine under-hair. To produce more such soft fibre, their parents are specifically chosen to reproduce with more sheep with soft under-hair. The process is called selective breeding.

Animals yielding wool

The sheep breed’s names that are found in different parts of the world:

• The Lohi breed found in regions of Rajasthan and Punjab is a source of good quality wool
• The Rampur Bushair breed found in Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh offers brown fleece
• The Nali breed of Rajasthan, Haryana, and Punjab provides carpet wool
• For woollen shawls, the Bakharwal breed of Jammu and Kashmir is the most suitable choice
• The Marwari breed from Gujarat offers coarse wool
• Gujarat’s Patanwadi breed is used to create hosiery

The other animals yielding wool are:

• Tibet and Ladakh are famous for Yak Wool
• Mohair comes from angora goats found in the hills of Jammu and Kashmir
• Camel’s fur is also used to make wool fibre
• The under-fur of the Kashmiri goat produces fine shawls known as Pashmina
• Alpacas and Llama from South America also produce wool

Processing of Fibres Into Wool

The processing of converting fibre into wool is as follows: Shearing → Scouring →Sorting → Cleaning of burrs → Dyeing → Rolling

1. Sheep are raised for their wool. Their hair is shaved and spun into wool. Then, the sheep’s fleece and a thin layer of skin are taken from its body. This process is known as shearing. In tanks, sheared skin with hair is vigorously cleaned to eliminate oil, grime, and filth. This process is known as scouring. Nowadays, machines perform scouring. Sorting is completed after scouring.
2. The hairy skin is sent to a facility where different hair textures are separated or sorted. Then, the little fluffy fibres, known as burrs, are extracted from the hair.
3. The fibres are scrubbed one more time and dried. This clean fibre is the wool ready to be spun into fibres.
4. Because the original fur of sheep and goats is black, brown, or white, the fibres are also dyed in various colours. Smoothed fibres are combed and spun into yarn. The lengthier fibres are spun and woven into woollen material, while the shorter fibres are turned into wool for knitwear.

Silk

1. Silk fibre also comes from animal fibres. Silkworms do the spinning process. Moreover, the rearing of silkworms for producing silk is known as Sericulture.
2. The thread-like silk yarn is extracted from the silk moth’s cocoon. It comes in different textures coarse, shiny and smooth depending on the variety of silk moths.
3. The different types of silk obtained from various moths are Muga silk, Tussar silk, Kosa silk, Eri silk.
4. The commonly used silk is mulberry. Also, the cocoon of the particular moth is elastic, soft, and lustrous.
5. Sericulture is a common practice in India and a primary source of occupation. In addition, India is a leading silk producer, while China stands first in rank.

From Cocoon To Silk

1. A female silk moth produces hundreds of eggs at a time.Farmers maintain eggs in sanitary conditions, especially under appropriate circumstances of temperature and humidity. The caterpillars feed on the mulberry leaves and grow in size.
2. The caterpillars stop feeding after 25 to 30 days and travel to a little compartment of bamboo in the plate to build cocoons.
3. The caterpillar or silkworm constructs the cocoon within which the silk moth grows.
4. Silk fibres are extracted from a bundle of cocoons. The cocoons are either preserved in the sun, heated, or exposed to steam. The silk fibres then split.
5. Reeling the silk refers to the process of extracting strands from a cocoon for use as silk. Reeling is done in specific machinery that unwinds the silk strands or fibres from the cocoon.
6. Weavers weave silk cloth from silk threads that have been spun from silk fibres.

Conclusion

Silkworms produce silk, whereas sheep, goats, and yaks provide wool. As a result, silk and wool are animal fibres. Wool is also produced from camels’ hairs, llamas, and alpacas. In India, sheep are largely raised for their wool. Sheep hair is shaved off the body, separated, dried, coloured, spun, and woven to produce wool. The process from fibre to fabric includes shearing, scouring, sorting, cleaning of burrs, dyeing, and rolling