Introduction
- The clothes that we wear are made of different materials. Some clothes are soft, some are silky etc.
- The bedsheets, blankets, curtains, tablecloths, towels etc. all are made from different kinds of fabric.
- Also, we wear different types of clothes in different seasons.
History of Clothing material
- In ancient times, people used the bark and big leaves of trees or animal skins and furs to cover themselves.
- When people began to settle, they started tieing vines, animal fleece or hair into clothes.
- The early Indians used fabrics made of cotton grown near the river ganga.
- In those days people simply draped the fabric around their body because stitching was not known.
- Now, we have large variety of clothing items and fabrics.
Fibre
- A very thin hair- like strand from which cloth is prepared is known as Fibre.
- A fabric is made of threads of yarns arranged together.
There are two types of fibres:
- Natural fibre
- Synthetic fibre
Natural Fibre
- Fibres obtained from natural sources like plants or animals are known as Natural fibre.
- Example: cotton and jute are obtained from plants.
- Wool is obtained from fleece of sheep or goat.
- Silk is obtained from cocoon of silkworms.
Synthetic Fibre
- Fibres synthesised by man form chemical substances are known as synthetic fibre.
- Example: Nylon, polyester, Rayon etc.
Cotton
- Cotton is a white coloured soft and fluffy material.
- Cotton is Usually grown at the places having black soil and warm climate.
- It is grown mostly in Punjab, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana etc.
- The fruit of a cotton plant is known as cotton bolls.
- After maturing the bolls burst open and the seeds covered by cotton fibres can been seen.
- Cotton is mostly handpicked from these balls.
- Thereafter, the fibres are separated from the seeds by the process of Ginning.
- Cotton is usually used for making different clothes, curtains, carpets etc.
Jute
- Jute fibre is obtained from the stem of a jute plant.
- Jute is majorly grown in Bihar, West Bengal and Assam.
- It is cultivated during rainy season.
- The jute plant is generally harvested at its flowering stage.
- The stems of harvested plants are immersed in water for a few days.
- The stems rot and the fibre is handpicked.
Jute bags
Fibre to Yarn: Spinning
- The process of making yarn from the fibre is known as Spinning.
- In this process, a large number of fibres of cotton wool are drawn out and twisted, so that these join together to form a yarn.
- Devices used for spinning are takli charkha and modern machines.
- The use of charkha was popularized by Mahatma Gandhi as a part of the Independence movement.
- After spinning, the fabric is made from yarns.
Yarn to Fabric
The yarn is made into fabric either by weaving or by knitting.
Weaving
- The process of arranging two sets of yarns together to make a fabric is called weaving.
- The weaving of yarn is done by using Looms.
- Looms can be hand-operated known as handloom or Machine operated known as power-loom.
Knitting
- In knitting, a single yarn is used to make a fabric.
- Knitting can be done by hands or by machines.
- It is mostly used to make woollen wear.
