"Understanding the journey from the fibre to fabric and processing to adapt the textile to various end uses."
A textile or cloth is a flexible material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres (thread or yarn). Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibre of wool, silk, cotton or other materials to produce long strands. Textiles can be produced by weaving, knitting, knotting, crocheting, felting etc. The words fabric or cloth are used in the textile assembly trades as synonyms for textiles. However, there are subtle differences in the terms in specialised usages. Textiles refers to the material made by interlacing fibres. A fabric is a material made through weaving, knitting, crocheting or bonding that may be used for production of further goods e.g. garments. Cloth may be used synonymously with fabric but is often a finished piece of fabric used for a specific purpose e.g. table cloth.
The Fibre
The history of fibres is as old as human civilisation. Traces of natural fibres have been located to ancient civilisations all over the globe. For many thousand years, the use of fibre was limited to natural fibre such as flax, wool, silk, cotton and other plant fibres for various applications. Fibres can be divided under two major heads:- Natural fibres and Man-made fibres.
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| Fibre Classification - Natural Fibres |
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| Fibre Classification - Man Made Fibres |
Textile fibres can be spun into yarns and made into fabrics by various methods. The essential requirements for fibres to be spun into yarns include a length of minimum 5 millimetres, flexibility, cohesiveness, and sufficient strength. Other important properties include elasticity, fineness, uniformity, durability and lustre.
The Yarn
Yarn is a fundamental unit of fabric. It contains so many characteristics and properties that it can affect the quality of the fabric. Yarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fibres, suitable for the use in construction of textiles, sewing, crocheting, knitting, weaving, embroidery and rope making. The appearance and properties of a fabric are affected by the fineness of the yarns.
Sewing threads are special types of yarns that are engineered and designed to pass through a sewing machine rapidly, to form a stitch efficiently, and to function while in a sewn product without breaking or becoming distorted for at least the useful life of the garment.
Sewing threads are special types of yarns that are engineered and designed to pass through a sewing machine rapidly, to form a stitch efficiently, and to function while in a sewn product without breaking or becoming distorted for at least the useful life of the garment.
A general classification of yarns and threads would be: spun yarn, filament yarn and textured yarns. Spun yarn is made by twisting together staple fibres together to make a cohesive thread. This process of twisting the fibres together is called spinning. Spun yarns may contain one type of fibre or a blend of fibres twisted together making the yarn. Filament yarn consists of very long continuous filament fibres either twisted together or just grouped together. Thicker mono-filaments are typically used for industrial purposes rather than fabric production or decoration. Silk is a natural filament, and synthetic filament yarns are used to produce silk-like effects. Texturized yarns are made by a process of air texturising filament yarns , which combines multiple filament yarns into a yarn with some of the characteristics of spun yarns.
Another way of classifying natural fibre yarns is combed yarn and carded yarn. Combed yarn is a yarn that has undergone a time consuming coming process, that makes its fibres straight and ensures that the fibres run parallel to each other. Combing process makes the combed yarn more compact and strong. Carded yarn is a cotton yarn that has been carded but not combed. This type of yarn contains a wide range of fibre length. As a result, carded yarn is not as uniform as combed yarns. It should be noted here that, carded yarns are considerably cheaper and are used in coarse and medium counts.
Yarns used for fabric construction can be classified as: a) simple yarns - are yarns that are even in size, have an equal twist throughout and are relatively smooth. Simple yarns could be simple singles i.e. made by twisting fibres together or simple-ply yarns that are made by twisting single yarns together or simple-cord-yarns that compose two or more ply yarns twisted together.
b) Novelty yarns - produce decorative effect by varying the amount of twist or by twisting together yarns of different diameter to give fabrics a varied textured effect. As seen in the above image, novelty yarns are made of three elements; the core - that forms the base the binder that hold the effect or fancy yarn in its place. Examples of novelty yarns include slub yarns, chenille yarns, knot or knob yarns, loop yarns, spiral yarns, ratine yarns.
c) Speciality or textured yarns - are man-made yarns. These filament yarns are given special textural effects as they leave the spinnerette and before they solidify to form a yarn.
The Fabric
A fabric can be described as any cloth or textile made from a network or framework of yarns or fibres by weaving, knitting, felting or any other fabric construction procedure. In order to use the fibres and yarns for apparel and household textiles and other end uses, there is a need to convert them into a fabric. Fabrics can be made or constructed by using a number of techniques as given below: i) Weaving ii) Knitting iii) Non-woven iv) Braided v) Nets vi) Laces.
i) Weaving
All woven fabrics are composed of at least two distinct series of threads termed "warp" and "weft"respectively. Warp yarns lie lengthwise of the fabric, parallel with the "selvages"(the edges), and weft threads, also termed as "picks", traverse at right angles to the warp. During the operation of weaving, warp yarns are withdrawn simultaneously from their source as a continuous sheet or layer of evenly distributed yarns that spread out to the required width of the fabric; whereas weft is inserted only "one yarn" or "pick" at a time, by means of a shuttle that places a continuous yarn in successive parallel lengths, , extending along the entire width of the fabric between the selvages, around which the weft returns from each successive pick.
The interlacement of warp and weft yarns is effected by dividing or separating the sheet of warp yarns into two separate and distinct layers, one above the other to form an opening or division termed a "warp shed". A shuttle carrying a supply of weft in the form of a bobbin is then projected through the warp shed, to leave a trail of weft behind between the two layers of warp yarns. These subsequently close upon the picks of weft which is "beaten up" or pushed by the reed to its ultimate place in the fabric, of which it becomes an integral part. Successive picks of weft are similarly inserted in successive warp sheds of different formation formed by separating warp yarns in different orders, and according to a prearranged scheme of interweaving warp and weft, as represented by a design.
ii) Knitting
Knitted fabric is a textile that results from knitting. Its properties are distinct from woven fabric in that it is more flexible and can be more readily constructed into smaller pieces, making it ideal for socks and hats. Its properties are distinct from non-woven fabric in that it is more durable but takes more resources to create, making it suitable for multiple uses.
There are two major varieties of knit fabric: weft-knit and warp-knit fabrics. Warp-knitted fabrics such as tricot and milanese are resistant to runs, and are commonly used in lingerie. Weft-knit fabrics are easier to make and more common. When cut, they will unravel unless repaired. Warp-knit fabrics are resistant to runs and relatively easy to sew.
In weaving, yarns are always straight, running parallel either lengthwise or crosswise. By contrast, the yarn in knitted fabrics follows a meandering path, forming symmetric loops symmetrically above and below the mean path of the yarn. These meandering loops can be easily stretched in different directions giving knit fabrics much more elasticity than woven fabrics. Depending on the yarn and knitting patter, knitted garments can stretch as much as 500%. For this reason, knitting is believed to have been developed for garments that must be elastic or stretch in response to the wearer's motions, such as socks and hosiery.
In the more common weft knitting, the wales are perpendicular to the course of the yarn. In warp knitting, the wales and courses run roughly parallel, In weft knitting, the entire fabric may be produced from a single yarn, by adding stitches to each wale in turn, moving across the fabric as in a raster scan. By contrast, in warp knitting, one yarn is required for every wale. Since a typical piece of knitted fabric may have hundreds of wales, warp knitting is typicaly done by machine, whereas weft knitting is done by both hand and machine.
Different stitches and stitch combinations affect the properties of knitted fabric. Individual stitches look differently; knit stitches loo like "V's" stacked vertically, whereas purl stitches look like a wavy horizontal line across the fabric. In the simplest knitted fabric pattern, all stitches are knit or purl; this is known as a garter stitch. Alternating rows of knit stitches and purl stitches produce what is known as a stockinette pattern/ stocking stitch. Vertical stripes (ribbing) are possible by having alternating wales of knit and purl stitches. For example, a common choice is 2X2 ribbing, in which two wales of knit stitches are followed by two wales of purl stitches. Horizontal striping (welting) is also possible by alternating rows of knit and purl stitches. Checkerboard pattern (basket weave) are also possible, the smallest of which is known as seed/ moss stitch; the stitches alternate between knit and purl in every wale and along every row.
iii) Non-woven
Non-woven fabric is a fabric-like material made from long fibres, bonded together by chemical, mechanical, heat or solvent treatment. The term is used in the textile manufacturing industry to denote fabrics, such as felt, which are neither woven not knitted. Some non-woven materials lack sufficient strength unless densified or reinforced by a backing. In recent years, non-wovens have become an alternative to polyurethane foam.
Non-wovens are typically manufactured by putting small fibres together in the form of a sheet or web (similar to paper on a paper machine), and then binding them either mechanically (as in the case of felt, by interlocking then with serrated needles such that the inter-fibre friction results in a stronger fabric), with an adhesive, or thermally (by adding binder {in the form of powder , paste, or polymer melt} and melting the binder onto the web by increasing temperature).
The non-woven fabric properties depends on the choice of fibre, technology which determines how the fibres are going to arranged and the bonding process and bonding agent. Fabric properties of non-wovens range from crisp to that soft-to-touch to harsh, impossible to tear to extremely weak. This leads to a wide range of end products such as nappies, filters, teabags, geo-textiles etc., some of which are durable and others decomposable.
Virtually all types of fibrous material can be used to make non-woven bonded fabrics, the choice depending upon the required profile and end use of the fabric, the cost effectiveness and the demands for further processing. The bonding agents used can be liquid binding agents or solid binding agents in forms of fibre, powder or paste. The range of chemical substances that can be used for polymer dispersion are exceptionally wide e.g. vinyl polymers, acrylic acid polymers etc. Binding fibres are usually made from thermoplastic fibres.
iv) Braided
Braiding is more significant for industrial fabrics than consumer textiles and with its increasing applications, braiding is one of the major fabrication methods for composite reinforcement structures. The limitations of the weaving, knitting and stitching processes include poor shear resistance, limited strength in the primary loading direction, and the inability to produce complex shaped parts. These shortcomings are largely overcome with the adaptation of braiding. Braiding is a simple form of narrow fabric construction. It is done by intertwining of yarns in whatever direction suited the maker's purpose. This began as a handicraft for the construction of decorative fabrics but the limitations of knitting and weaving made braiding an important method of fabric formation in textile composite manufacturing industry.
Braiding can be classified as two and three-dimensional braiding. Two-dimensional braid structure can be circular or flat braid. Three-dimensional braiding is relatively new and was developed mainly for composite structures. Two-dimensional circular or flat braid is formed by crossing a number of yarns diagonally so that each yarn passes alternately over and under one or more of the others. Flat braids are made in the form of flat strips or tape. In flat braiding, instead of following two continuous paths, the carriers turn around or reverse direction at two points called terminals and then continue on the other direction, i.e, the track does not complete a circle.
Narrow fabrics, sometimes referred to as 'small wares' are any textile fabric not exceeding 45 cm in width with 2 selvages. Different kinds of narrow fabrics such as ribbons, laces, cords, tapes, labels, webbings, wicks, elastics, ropes, straps, trims, fringes and lanyards, etc may be crafted out of different kinds of materials such as leather, cotton, satin, velvet, polyester, Teflon, rubber, jute, nylon, fibre glass and also beads. Narrow fabrics are usually decorative in nature but are often used in a large variety of home to add a decorative look to dresses and can also be attached to curtains; bed covers, etc and industrial applications.
v) Nets
Net or Netting is any textile in which the yarns are fused, looped or knotted at their intersections, resulting in a fabric with open spaces between the yarns. Net has many uses, and come in different varieties. Depending on the type of yarn or filament that is used to make up the textile, its characteristics can vary from durable to not durable.
Hand-made or machine-made net is used as the foundation fabric for many kinds of needlework including filet lace and tambour lace. Using either the lace-maker or the net-maker method to tie the netting knots, you can create several types of netting. Diamond mesh netting goes back and forth, in rows. This technique is used for bags, hammocks, headbands and scarves. Another type is square mesh netting which also goes back and forth in rows but is worked in the diagonal. Spiral netting is a type of netting that goes around and around in a similar manner to knitting or crochet. There is no beginning or ending to specific rounds since the pattern is continuous and just keeps going.
vi) Laces
Lace is an openwork fabric, patterned with open holes in the work, made by machine or by hand. The holes can be formed via removal of threads or cloth from a previously woven fabric, but more often open spaces are created as part of the lace fabric. Lace-making is an ancient craft. True lace was not made until the late 15th and early 16th centuries. A true lace is created when a thread is looped, twisted or braided to other threads independently from a backing fabric.
Originally linen, silk, gold or silver threads were used; now lace is often made with cotton thread, although linen and silk threads are still available. Manufactured lace may be made of synthetic fibre. A few modern artists make lace with a fine copper or silver wire instead of thread.
The different types of laces include Needle lace, Cutwork, Bobbin lace, Tape lace, Knotted lace, Crocheted lace, Knitted lace, Machine lace or Guipure.
Another way of classifying natural fibre yarns is combed yarn and carded yarn. Combed yarn is a yarn that has undergone a time consuming coming process, that makes its fibres straight and ensures that the fibres run parallel to each other. Combing process makes the combed yarn more compact and strong. Carded yarn is a cotton yarn that has been carded but not combed. This type of yarn contains a wide range of fibre length. As a result, carded yarn is not as uniform as combed yarns. It should be noted here that, carded yarns are considerably cheaper and are used in coarse and medium counts.
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| Types of simple yarns |
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| Structure of a basic novelty yarn |
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| Textured Yarns |
c) Speciality or textured yarns - are man-made yarns. These filament yarns are given special textural effects as they leave the spinnerette and before they solidify to form a yarn.
The Fabric
A fabric can be described as any cloth or textile made from a network or framework of yarns or fibres by weaving, knitting, felting or any other fabric construction procedure. In order to use the fibres and yarns for apparel and household textiles and other end uses, there is a need to convert them into a fabric. Fabrics can be made or constructed by using a number of techniques as given below: i) Weaving ii) Knitting iii) Non-woven iv) Braided v) Nets vi) Laces.
i) Weaving
All woven fabrics are composed of at least two distinct series of threads termed "warp" and "weft"respectively. Warp yarns lie lengthwise of the fabric, parallel with the "selvages"(the edges), and weft threads, also termed as "picks", traverse at right angles to the warp. During the operation of weaving, warp yarns are withdrawn simultaneously from their source as a continuous sheet or layer of evenly distributed yarns that spread out to the required width of the fabric; whereas weft is inserted only "one yarn" or "pick" at a time, by means of a shuttle that places a continuous yarn in successive parallel lengths, , extending along the entire width of the fabric between the selvages, around which the weft returns from each successive pick.
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| Weaving loom |
ii) Knitting
Knitted fabric is a textile that results from knitting. Its properties are distinct from woven fabric in that it is more flexible and can be more readily constructed into smaller pieces, making it ideal for socks and hats. Its properties are distinct from non-woven fabric in that it is more durable but takes more resources to create, making it suitable for multiple uses.
There are two major varieties of knit fabric: weft-knit and warp-knit fabrics. Warp-knitted fabrics such as tricot and milanese are resistant to runs, and are commonly used in lingerie. Weft-knit fabrics are easier to make and more common. When cut, they will unravel unless repaired. Warp-knit fabrics are resistant to runs and relatively easy to sew.
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| Warp Knit |
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| Weft Knit |
In weaving, yarns are always straight, running parallel either lengthwise or crosswise. By contrast, the yarn in knitted fabrics follows a meandering path, forming symmetric loops symmetrically above and below the mean path of the yarn. These meandering loops can be easily stretched in different directions giving knit fabrics much more elasticity than woven fabrics. Depending on the yarn and knitting patter, knitted garments can stretch as much as 500%. For this reason, knitting is believed to have been developed for garments that must be elastic or stretch in response to the wearer's motions, such as socks and hosiery.
In the more common weft knitting, the wales are perpendicular to the course of the yarn. In warp knitting, the wales and courses run roughly parallel, In weft knitting, the entire fabric may be produced from a single yarn, by adding stitches to each wale in turn, moving across the fabric as in a raster scan. By contrast, in warp knitting, one yarn is required for every wale. Since a typical piece of knitted fabric may have hundreds of wales, warp knitting is typicaly done by machine, whereas weft knitting is done by both hand and machine.
Different stitches and stitch combinations affect the properties of knitted fabric. Individual stitches look differently; knit stitches loo like "V's" stacked vertically, whereas purl stitches look like a wavy horizontal line across the fabric. In the simplest knitted fabric pattern, all stitches are knit or purl; this is known as a garter stitch. Alternating rows of knit stitches and purl stitches produce what is known as a stockinette pattern/ stocking stitch. Vertical stripes (ribbing) are possible by having alternating wales of knit and purl stitches. For example, a common choice is 2X2 ribbing, in which two wales of knit stitches are followed by two wales of purl stitches. Horizontal striping (welting) is also possible by alternating rows of knit and purl stitches. Checkerboard pattern (basket weave) are also possible, the smallest of which is known as seed/ moss stitch; the stitches alternate between knit and purl in every wale and along every row.
iii) Non-woven
Non-woven fabric is a fabric-like material made from long fibres, bonded together by chemical, mechanical, heat or solvent treatment. The term is used in the textile manufacturing industry to denote fabrics, such as felt, which are neither woven not knitted. Some non-woven materials lack sufficient strength unless densified or reinforced by a backing. In recent years, non-wovens have become an alternative to polyurethane foam.
The non-woven fabric properties depends on the choice of fibre, technology which determines how the fibres are going to arranged and the bonding process and bonding agent. Fabric properties of non-wovens range from crisp to that soft-to-touch to harsh, impossible to tear to extremely weak. This leads to a wide range of end products such as nappies, filters, teabags, geo-textiles etc., some of which are durable and others decomposable.
Virtually all types of fibrous material can be used to make non-woven bonded fabrics, the choice depending upon the required profile and end use of the fabric, the cost effectiveness and the demands for further processing. The bonding agents used can be liquid binding agents or solid binding agents in forms of fibre, powder or paste. The range of chemical substances that can be used for polymer dispersion are exceptionally wide e.g. vinyl polymers, acrylic acid polymers etc. Binding fibres are usually made from thermoplastic fibres.
iv) Braided
Braiding is more significant for industrial fabrics than consumer textiles and with its increasing applications, braiding is one of the major fabrication methods for composite reinforcement structures. The limitations of the weaving, knitting and stitching processes include poor shear resistance, limited strength in the primary loading direction, and the inability to produce complex shaped parts. These shortcomings are largely overcome with the adaptation of braiding. Braiding is a simple form of narrow fabric construction. It is done by intertwining of yarns in whatever direction suited the maker's purpose. This began as a handicraft for the construction of decorative fabrics but the limitations of knitting and weaving made braiding an important method of fabric formation in textile composite manufacturing industry.
 |
| Circular Braiding |
Narrow fabrics, sometimes referred to as 'small wares' are any textile fabric not exceeding 45 cm in width with 2 selvages. Different kinds of narrow fabrics such as ribbons, laces, cords, tapes, labels, webbings, wicks, elastics, ropes, straps, trims, fringes and lanyards, etc may be crafted out of different kinds of materials such as leather, cotton, satin, velvet, polyester, Teflon, rubber, jute, nylon, fibre glass and also beads. Narrow fabrics are usually decorative in nature but are often used in a large variety of home to add a decorative look to dresses and can also be attached to curtains; bed covers, etc and industrial applications.
v) Nets
Net or Netting is any textile in which the yarns are fused, looped or knotted at their intersections, resulting in a fabric with open spaces between the yarns. Net has many uses, and come in different varieties. Depending on the type of yarn or filament that is used to make up the textile, its characteristics can vary from durable to not durable.
Hand-made or machine-made net is used as the foundation fabric for many kinds of needlework including filet lace and tambour lace. Using either the lace-maker or the net-maker method to tie the netting knots, you can create several types of netting. Diamond mesh netting goes back and forth, in rows. This technique is used for bags, hammocks, headbands and scarves. Another type is square mesh netting which also goes back and forth in rows but is worked in the diagonal. Spiral netting is a type of netting that goes around and around in a similar manner to knitting or crochet. There is no beginning or ending to specific rounds since the pattern is continuous and just keeps going.
vi) Laces
Lace is an openwork fabric, patterned with open holes in the work, made by machine or by hand. The holes can be formed via removal of threads or cloth from a previously woven fabric, but more often open spaces are created as part of the lace fabric. Lace-making is an ancient craft. True lace was not made until the late 15th and early 16th centuries. A true lace is created when a thread is looped, twisted or braided to other threads independently from a backing fabric.
Originally linen, silk, gold or silver threads were used; now lace is often made with cotton thread, although linen and silk threads are still available. Manufactured lace may be made of synthetic fibre. A few modern artists make lace with a fine copper or silver wire instead of thread.
The different types of laces include Needle lace, Cutwork, Bobbin lace, Tape lace, Knotted lace, Crocheted lace, Knitted lace, Machine lace or Guipure.
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