FIBRE TO FABRICS || Complete Notes || NCERT Based || CTET / TET Preparation

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A fabric is made up of yarns arranged together, which splits up into thin strands. The thin strands of thread, are made up of still thinner strands called fibres. In short, Fabrics are made up of yarns and yarns are further made up of 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.

In the last hundred years or so, 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.

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.

The main top cotton producing states are: Punjab, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan.

Jute fibre is obtained from the stem of the jute plant . It is cultivated during the rainy season. The jute plant is normally harvested when it is at flowering stage. The stems of the harvested plants are immersed in water for a few days. The stems rot and fibres are separated by hand.

In India, jute is mainly grown in West Bengal, Bihar and Assam.

FIBRES TO YARNS:

To make fabrics, fibres are first converted into yarns. The process of making yarn from fibres is called spinning .

SPINNING COTTON YARN: In this process, fibres from a mass of cotton wool are drawn out and twisted. This brings the fibres together to form a yarn. 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. Sweater is prepared by Knitting. Socks and many other clothing items are made of knitted fabrics. Knitting is done by hand and also on machines.

HISTORY OF CLOTHING MATERIAL

The early Indians wore fabrics made out of cotton that grew in the regions near the river Ganga. Flax is also a plant that gives natural fibres. In ancient Egypt, cotton as well as flax were cultivated near the river Nile and were used for making fabrics.

WOOL:

Wool comes from sheep, goat, yak and some other animals. These wool-yielding animals bear hair on their body. These animals have a thick coat of hair, which trap a lot of air. Air is a poor conductor of heat. So, hair keeps these animals warm. Wool is derived from these hairy fibres.

Like Humans, 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 underhair. This process of selecting parents for obtaining special characters in their offspring, such as soft under hair in sheep, is termed ‘selective breeding’.

Several breeds of sheep are found in different parts of our country. However, the fleece of sheep is not the only source of wool, though wool commonly available in the market is sheep wool.

Yak wool is common in Tibet and Ladakh. Angora wool is obtained from angora goats, found in hilly regions such as Jammu and Kashmir. 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. Llama and Alpaca , found in South America, also yield wool.

FROM FIBRES TO WOOL:

For obtaining wool, sheep are reared. Their hair is cut and processed into wool. Let us learn about this process.

REARING AND BREEDING OF SHEEP: Sheeps are mostly reared in hills in Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim, or the plains of Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat. 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: The wool which is used for knitting sweaters or for weaving shawls is the finished product of a long process, which involves the following steps:

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 hair provide woollen fibes. Woollen fibres are then processed to obtain woollen yarn. Shearing does not hurt the sheep because The uppermost layer of the skin is dead.
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. This is the wool ready to be drawn into fibres.
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.

OCCUPATIONAL HAZARD

Wool industry is an important means of livelihood for many people in our country. But sorter’s job is risky as sometimes they get infected by a bacterium, anthrax , which causes a fatal blood disease called sorter’s disease. Such risks faced by workers in any industry are called occupational hazards.

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:

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. Silk fibres are used for weaving silk cloth. Soft silk yarn is as strong as a comparable thread of steel! The silk yarn (thread) is obtained from the cocoon of the silk moth. There is a variety of silk moths which look very different from one another and the silk yarn they yield is different in texture (coarse, smooth, shiny, etc.). Thus, tassar silk, mooga silk, kosa silk, etc., are obtained from cocoons spun by different types of moths. 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.

Silk Production:

In India, women are significantly involved in various kinds of industries related to silk production. These are rearing of silkworms, reeling of silk from cocoons and processing of raw silk into fabrics. By their enterprise, they contribute to the nation’s economy. China leads the world in silk production. India also ranks among the leading silk producing countries.

FROM COCOON TO SILK:

For obtaining silk, moths are reared and their cocoons are collected to get silk threads.

REARING SILKWORMS: A female silk moth lays hundreds of eggs at a time. The eggs are stored carefully on strips of cloth or paper and sold to silkworm farmers. The farmers keep eggs under hygienic conditions and under suitable conditions of temperature and humidity. The eggs are warmed to a suitable temperature for the larvae to hatch from eggs. This is done when mulberry trees bear a fresh crop of leaves. The larvae, called caterpillars or silkworms, eat day and night and increase enormously in size. The larvae are kept in clean bamboo trays along with freshly chopped mulberry leaves. After 25 to 30 days, the caterpillars stop eating and move to a tiny chamber of bamboo in the tray to spin cocoons. Small racks or twigs may be provided in the trays to which cocoons get attached. The caterpillar or silkworm spins the cocoon inside which develops the silk moth.

PROCESSING 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. Silk fibres are then spun into silk threads, which are woven into silk cloth by weavers.

Few Interesting facts:

Scientific name of mulberry is Morus alba.
The raw silk industry is dependent upon sericulture and sericulture is dependent on moriculture.
In terms of the number of sheep, India ranks third in the world, behind China and Australia. However, the New Zealand sheep are known to yield the best wool.
The maximum length of continuous silk that can be obtained from a cocoon is measured at 900 metres.

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