Natural Fibres - Plant and Animal Fibres

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Fibre - Yarn - Fabric

  • A fabric is made up of yarns (loose thread) arranged together.
  • The yarn splits up into thin strands, which are  made up of still thinner strands called fibres.
  • Fabrics are made up of yarns and yarns are further made up of fibres.

Natural Fibres and Synthetic Fibres: 


  • The fibres of some fabrics such as cotton, jute, silk  and wool are obtained from plants and animals. These are called natural fibres. Cotton and jute are examples of fibres obtained from plants. 
  • Wool and silk fibres are obtained from animals. Wool is obtained from the fleece of sheep or goat. It is also obtained from the hair of rabbits, yak and camels. 
  • Silk fibre is drawn from the cocoon of silkworm.
  • Flax is also a plant that gives natural fibres.
    • Fibres are also made from chemical substances, which are not obtained from plant or animal sources. These are called synthetic fibres. Some examples of synthetic fibres are polyester, nylon and acrylic.
    Natural Fibres can be categorised in two different types:
    1. Plant Fibres.
    2. Animal Fibres

    Plant Fibres - Cotton and Jute:


    1. Cotton:


    • Cotton plants are usually grown at places having black soil and warm climate.
    • The fruits of the cotton plant (cotton bolls) are about the size of a lemon. After maturing, the bolls burst open and the seeds covered with cotton fibres can be seen.
    • From these bolls, cotton is usually picked by hand. Fibres are then separated from the seeds by combing. This process is called ginning of cotton.
    • Ginning was traditionally done by hand These days, machines are also used for ginning.
    Ginning of cotton

    2. Jute:

    • Jute fibre is obtained from the stem of the jute plant. It is cultivated during the rainy season. 
    • In India, jute is mainly grown in West Bengal, Bihar and Assam.
    • To make fabrics, all these fibres are first converted into yarns.

    Spinning Cotton Yarn:

    • The process of making yarn from fibres is called spinning. 
    • A simple device used for spinning is a hand spindle, also called takli. 
    • Another hand operated device used for spinning is charkha. Use of charkha was popularised by Mahatma Gandhi as part of the Independence movement.

    Yarn To Fabric: 

    There are many ways by which fabrics are made from yarns. The two main processes are weaving and knitting.

    Weaving:

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

    Knitting:

    • In knitting, a single yarn is used to make a piece of fabric. 
    • Socks and many other clothing items are made of knitted fabrics.
    • Knitting is done by hand and also on machines.

    Animal Fibres - Wool and Silk:

    1. Wool:

    • The hairy skin of the sheep has two types of fibres that form its fleece: 
      • the coarse beard hair, and 
      • 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 termed ‘selective breeding’.

    Different types of Wool:

    1. Yak wool is common in Tibet and Ladakh. 
    2. Angora wool is obtained from angora goats, found in hilly regions such as Jammu and Kashmir.
    3. Wool is also obtained from goat hair. The under fur of Kashmiri goat is soft. It is woven into fine shawls called Pashmina shawls.
    4. The fur (hair) on the body of camels is also used as wool.
    5. Llama and Alpaca, found in South America, also yield wool.

    Fibres To Wool: 

    Rearing and Breeding of sheep: 

    Sheep are herbivores and prefer grass and leaves. Apart from grazing sheep, rearers also feed them on a mixture of pulses, corn, jowar, oil cakes (material left after taking out oil from seeds) and minerals. In winter, sheep are kept indoors and fed on leaves, grain and dry fodder.


    Processing fibres into wool:

    Step I:  The fleece of the sheep along with a thin layer of skin is removed from its body. This process is called shearing.
    Usually, hair are removed during the hot weather. This enables sheep to survive without their protective coat of hair.
    The uppermost layer of the skin is dead. Also, the hair of sheep grow again just as your hair does.

    Step II: The sheared skin with hair is thoroughly washed in tanks to remove grease, dust and dirt. This is called scouring. 

    Step III: After scouring, sorting is done. The hairy skin is sent to a factory where hair of different textures are separated or sorted.

    Step IV: The small fluffy fibres, called burrs, are picked out from the hair. These are the same burrs which sometimes appear on your sweaters. The fibres are scoured again and dried.

    Step V: The fibres can be dyed in various colours, as the natural fleece of sheep and goats is black, brown or white.

    Step VI: The fibres are straightened, combed and rolled into yarn . The longer fibres are made into wool for sweaters and the shorter fibres are spun and woven into woollen cloth.

    Processing fibres into wool

    2. Silk:


    Silk fibres are also animal fibres. Silkworms spin the ‘silk fibres’. The rearing of silkworms for obtaining silk is called sericulture.

    Life history of silk moth:

    Life History of silk moth

    • The female silk moth lays eggs, from which hatch larvae which are called caterpillars or silkworms. 
    • They grow in size and when the caterpillar is ready to enter the next stage of its life history called pupa, it first weaves a net to hold itself. 
    • Then it swings its head from side to side in the form of the figure of eight (8). During these movements of the head, the caterpillar secretes fibre made of a protein which hardens on exposure to air and becomes silk fibre. 
    • Soon the caterpillar completely covers itself by silk fibres and turns into pupa. This covering is known as cocoon. The further development of the pupa into moth continues inside the cocoon.
    • The silk yarn (thread) is obtained from the cocoon of the silk moth.
    • The most common silk moth is the mulberry silk moth. The silk fibre from the cocoon of this moth is soft, lustrous and elastic and can be dyed in beautiful colours.
    China leads the world in silk production. India also ranks among the leading silk producing countries.

    Reeling the silk:

    A pile of cocoons is used for obtaining silk fibres. The cocoons are kept under the sun or boiled or exposed to steam. The silk fibres separate out. The process of taking out threads from the cocoon for use as silk is called reeling the silk. Reeling is done in special machines, which unwind the threads or fibres of silk from the cocoon.

    Play quiz on "Natural Fibres -Plant and Animal fibres" here: Quiz On Natural Fibres.

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