Fibre to Fabric (Plants Fibres)

Fibre to Fabric (Plants Fibres)

Clothes are made from a wide range of different materials known as Fabrics. Wide fabrics are cotton, wool, silk, synthetic fibres, etc. Fibres like Cotton, Jute, etc., are obtained from plants, while fibres like wool and silk are obtained from animals. The wool comes from the hair or fleece of animals like sheep that live in the mountains or colder temperatures, while silk moths produce the silk. 

Fibre

Generally, Fabrics are made up of yarns, and yarns are further made of fibre. In simple words, the thin strands of thread that are further made up of thinner strands are called fibre.

Types of Fibres

Two types of natural fibres are available:

1. Plant Fibres
2. Animal Fibres

Cotton, jute and other plant fibres are common sources of plant fibres.

Wool comes from sheep, and silkworms produce silk, so animal fibres are derived from animals.

Examples of some Plants Fibres:

• Cotton plants are usually grown in black soil and a warm climate
• The fruits of the cotton plant are cotton balls that are about the size of a lemon
• After maturing, the balls burst open and the seeds covered with cotton fibres are visible
• Cotton is usually hand-picked from these cotton balls
• Now, the fibres are separated from the seeds by combining. This process is known as ginning of cotton
• Jute fibre is derived from the stem of the plant jute and is grown during the monsoons
• Westfibergal, Bihar, and Assam are the most favourable parts for jute plantation in India
• It is harvested when the plant flowers, and then, immersed in water for some time
• The stems rot, and then fibres are separated by hand

These fibres are then processed to make the Fabric. For example, Cotton Fibre is converted to yarn by spinning. Yarn is further processed through weaving or knitting to make fabrics.

Process of converting cotton yarn into fabric:

Spinning of  Cotton Yarn:

• Spinning is the process of obtaining yarn from fibres
• In the Spinning process, fibres are obtained from a mass of cotton wool and then are  twisted. Now, the fibres are together in the form of a yarn
• Hand-operated devices such as Takli and Charkha are used in spinning
• The spinning of yarn on a large scale is done with the help of spinning machines

Yarn to Fabric:

It involves two main processes, i.e., weaving and knitting.

            Weaving

• The process of arranging two sets of yarns together to make a fabric is called weaving
• The weaving of fabric is done on looms which are hand or power operated

Knitting

• In knitting, a single yarn is used to make a piece of fabric
• Knitting is also done by hand or on machines
• Since ancient times, fibres such as Cotton, wool, etc., have been an important and integral part of human life and have made our lives more comfortable

Fabrics

The term “fabrics” refers to any material used to make garments, whether it be woven or knitted. They’re constructed of microscopic thread-like fibres that are spun together. To create yarn, these fibres are twisted together.The properties of a fabric are influenced by the type of fibres used and the treatment they get. Different types of fabrics include cotton voile, rayon, linen, satin, and denim.

Making Fabric out of a Fibre

In order to make or produce fabric from fibre, the entire process includes:

1. Fibre extraction from plant or animal sources is one option.
2. A yarn is made by twisting together a collection of removed filament or staple fibres.
3. They are woven and knitted by passing a different amount of strands together to make Fabrics by allowing the yarns to rotate on different sorts of rollers.

Fabrics are finally created. Textile businesses use chemicals to process these textiles into a variety of garment materials, including cotton, wool, silk, and polyester. This technique includes bleaching to give the cloth a shining, white appearance, colour dying to add colour to the fabric, and screen printing to create designs.

Conclusion

Fabrics made from plant sources were the first to be developed, some 100,000 years ago. Fibres from fabric were the first to be utilised in the manufacture of various clothing materials, followed by cotton, jute, and other plant-based fibres. This is not all that is used to manufacture rope and other clothing items. Other plants such as the palm rush reed and papyrus plant are also employed.