1.
Textile
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A textile or cloth is a flexible material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, hemp, Textiles are formed by weaving, knitting, crocheting, knotting, or felting. The words fabric and cloth are used in textile assembly trades as synonyms for textile, however, there are subtle differences in these terms in specialized usage. Textile refers to any material made of interlacing fibres, a fabric is a material made through weaving, knitting, spreading, crocheting, or bonding that may be used in production of further goods. Cloth may be used synonymously with fabric but is often a piece of fabric used for a specific purpose. The word textile is from Latin, from the adjective textilis, meaning woven, from textus, the word cloth derives from the Old English clað, meaning a cloth, woven or felted material to wrap around one, from Proto-Germanic kalithaz. The discovery of dyed flax fibres in a cave in the Republic of Georgia dated to 34,000 BCE suggests textile-like materials were made even in prehistoric times. The production of textiles is a craft whose speed and scale of production has been altered almost beyond recognition by industrialization, however, for the main types of textiles, plain weave, twill, or satin weave, there is little difference between the ancient and modern methods. Textiles have an assortment of uses, the most common of which are for clothing and for such as bags. In the household they are used in carpeting, upholstered furnishings, window shades, towels, coverings for tables, beds, and other flat surfaces, in the workplace they are used in industrial and scientific processes such as filtering. Textiles are used in traditional crafts such as sewing, quilting. Textiles for industrial purposes, and chosen for other than their appearance, are commonly referred to as technical textiles. Technical textiles include textile structures for applications, medical textiles, geotextiles, agrotextiles. In all these applications stringent performance requirements must be met, woven of threads coated with zinc oxide nanowires, laboratory fabric has been shown capable of self-powering nanosystems using vibrations created by everyday actions like wind or body movements. Fashion designers commonly rely on textile designs to set their fashion collections apart from others, armani, the late Gianni Versace, and Emilio Pucci can be easily recognized by their signature print driven designs. Textiles can be made from many materials and these materials come from four main sources, animal, plant, mineral, and synthetic. In the past, all textiles were made from natural fibres, including plant, animal, in the 20th century, these were supplemented by artificial fibres made from petroleum. Textiles are made in various strengths and degrees of durability, from the finest gossamer to the sturdiest canvas, microfibre refers to fibres made of strands thinner than one denier
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Carding
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Carding is a mechanical process that disentangles, cleans and intermixes fibres to produce a continuous web or sliver suitable for subsequent processing. This is achieved by passing the fibers between differentially moving surfaces covered with card clothing and it breaks up locks and unorganised clumps of fibre and then aligns the individual fibers to be parallel with each other. In preparing wool fibre for spinning, carding is the step that comes after teasing, the word is derived from the Latin carduus meaning thistle or teasel, as dried vegetable teasels were first used to comb the raw wool. These ordered fibres can then be passed on to other processes that are specific to the end use of the fibre, Cotton, batting, felt, woollen or worsted yarn. Carding can also be used to create blends of different fibres or different colours, when blending, the carding process combines the different fibres into a homogeneous mix. Commercial cards also have rollers and systems designed to remove some vegetable matter contaminants from the wool, common to all carders is card clothing. Card clothing is made from a flexible backing in which closely spaced wire pins are embedded. The shape, length, diameter, and spacing of these pins are dictated by the card designer. Carding machines are known as cards, fibre may be carded by hand for hand spinning. Science historian Joseph Needham ascribes the invention of bow-instruments used in technology to India. The earliest evidence for using bow-instruments for carding comes from India and these carding devices, called kaman and dhunaki, would loosen the texture of the fibre by the means of a vibrating string. At the turn of the century, wool in England was being carded using pairs of hand cards. In 1748 Lewis Paul of Birmingham, England invented two hand driven carding machines, the first used a coat of wires on a flat table moved by foot pedals. On the second, a coat of wire slips was placed around a card which was wrapped around a cylinder. Daniel Bourn obtained a patent in the same year, and probably used it in his spinning mill at Leominster. The invention was developed and improved by Richard Arkwright and Samuel Crompton. Arkwrights second patent for his machine was subsequently declared invalid because it lacked originality. From the 1780s, the machines were set up in mills in the north of England
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Wool
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Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and other animals, including cashmere and mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, angora from rabbits, and other types of wool from camelids. Wool has several qualities that distinguish it from hair or fur, it is crimped, Wool is produced by follicles which are small cells located in the skin. These follicles are located in the layer of the skin called the epidermis. Follicles can be classed as primary or secondary follicles. Primary follicles produce three types of fiber, Kemp, medullated fibers and true wool fibers, secondary follicles only produce true wool fibers. Medullated fibers share nearly identical characteristics to hair and are long but lack crimp, Kemp fibers are very coarse and shed out. Wools scaling and crimp make it easier to spin the fleece by helping the individual fibers attach to each other, because of the crimp, wool fabrics have greater bulk than other textiles, and they hold air, which causes the fabric to retain heat. Wool has a specific heat coefficient, so it impedes heat transfer in general. This effect has benefited desert peoples, as Bedouins and Tuaregs use wool clothes for insulation, felting of wool occurs upon hammering or other mechanical agitation as the microscopic barbs on the surface of wool fibers hook together. The amount of crimp corresponds to the fineness of the wool fibers, a fine wool like Merino may have up to 100 crimps per inch, while coarser wool like karakul may have as few as one or two. In contrast, hair has little if any scale and no crimp, on sheep, the hair part of the fleece is called kemp. Wool fibers readily absorb moisture, but are not hollow, Wool can absorb almost one-third of its own weight in water. Wool absorbs sound like many other fabrics and it is generally a creamy white color, although some breeds of sheep produce natural colors, such as black, brown, silver, and random mixes. Wool ignites at a higher temperature than cotton and some synthetic fibers, Wool carpets are specified for high safety environments, such as trains and aircraft. Wool is usually specified for garments for firefighters, soldiers, Wool is considered by the medical profession to be allergenic. Sheep shearing is the process by which the fleece of a sheep is cut off. After shearing, the wool is separated into four categories, fleece, broken, bellies. In Australia before being auctioned, all Merino fleece wool is objectively measured for micron, yield, staple length, staple strength, the sheep is given a dip in antiseptic solution after shearing, so as to cure the wounds caused during shearing
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Worsted
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Worsted is a high-quality type of wool yarn, the fabric made from this yarn, and a yarn weight category. The name derives from Worstead, a village in the English county of Norfolk, in the same period, many weavers from Flanders moved to Norfolk. Worsted yarns/fabrics are distinct from woollens, the former is considered stronger, finer, smoother, Worsted was made from the long-staple pasture wool from sheep breeds such as Teeswaters, Old Leicester Longwool and Romney Marsh. Pasture wool was not carded, instead it was washed, gilled and combed, oiled, when woven, worsteds were scoured but not fulled. Worsted wool fabric is used in the making of tailored garments such as suits, as opposed to woollen wool. The essential feature of worsted yarn is straight, parallel fibres, originally, long, fine staple wool was spun to create worsted yarn, today, other long fibres are also used. Many spinners differentiate between worsted preparation and worsted spinning, Worsted preparation refers to the way the fibre is prepared before spinning, using ginning machines which force the fibre staples to lie parallel to each other. Once these fibres have been made into a top, they are then combed to remove the short fibres, the long fibres are combined in subsequent gilling machines to again make the fibres parallel. This produces overlapping untwisted strands called slivers, Worsted spinning refers to using a worsted technique, which produces a smooth yarn in which the fibres lie parallel. Roving and wool top are used to spin worsted yarn. Many hand spinners buy their fibre in roving or top form, top and roving are ropelike in appearance, in that they can be thick and long. While some mills put a slight twist in the rovings they make, the fibres in top and rovings all lie parallel to one another along the length, which makes top ideal for spinning worsted yarns. Worsted-spun yarns, used to create worsted fabric, are spun from fibres that have been combed, to ensure that the fibres all run the same direction, butt-end to tip, a short draw is used in spinning worsted fibres. In short draw spinning, spun from combed roving, sliver or wool top, the fibres are held fanned out in one hand while the other hand pulls a small number from the mass. The twist is kept between the hand and the wheel — there is never any twist between the two hands. Worsted cloth, archaically known as stuff, is lightweight and has a coarse texture. The weave is usually twill or plain, twilled fabrics such as whipcord, gabardine and serge are often made from worsted yarn. Worsted fabric made from wool has a recovery, meaning that it is resilient and quickly returns to its natural shape
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Cotton
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Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus Gossypium in the family of Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, under natural conditions, the cotton bolls will tend to increase the dispersal of the seeds. The plant is a native to tropical and subtropical regions around the world, including the Americas, Africa. The greatest diversity of wild species is found in Mexico, followed by Australia. Cotton was independently domesticated in the Old and New Worlds, the fiber is most often spun into yarn or thread and used to make a soft, breathable textile. Current estimates for world production are about 25 million tonnes or 110 million bales annually, China is the worlds largest producer of cotton, but most of this is used domestically. The United States has been the largest exporter for many years, in the United States, cotton is usually measured in bales, which measure approximately 0.48 cubic meters and weigh 226.8 kilograms. Cotton cultivation in the region is dated to the Indus Valley Civilization, the Indus cotton industry was well-developed and some methods used in cotton spinning and fabrication continued to be used until the industrialization of India. Between 2000 and 1000 BC cotton became widespread across much of India, for example, it has been found at the site of Hallus in Karnataka dating from around 1000 BC. Cotton fabrics discovered in a cave near Tehuacán, Mexico have been dated to around 5800 BC, the domestication of Gossypium hirsutum in Mexico is dated between 3400 and 2300 BC. Cotton was grown upriver, made into nets, and traded with fishing villages along the coast for supplies of fish. The Spanish who came to Mexico and Peru in the early 16th century found the people growing cotton and this may be a reference to tree cotton, Gossypium arboreum, which is a native of the Indian subcontinent. According to the Columbia Encyclopedia, Cotton has been spun, woven and it clothed the people of ancient India, Egypt, and China. Hundreds of years before the Christian era, cotton textiles were woven in India with matchless skill, in Iran, the history of cotton dates back to the Achaemenid era, however, there are few sources about the planting of cotton in pre-Islamic Iran. The planting of cotton was common in Merv, Ray and Pars of Iran, in Persian poets poems, especially Ferdowsis Shahname, there are references to cotton. Marco Polo refers to the products of Persia, including cotton. John Chardin, a French traveler of the 17th century who visited the Safavid Persia, during the Han dynasty, cotton was grown by Chinese peoples in the southern Chinese province of Yunnan. Mohamed Ali Pasha accepted the proposition and granted himself the monopoly on the sale and export of cotton in Egypt, and later dictated cotton should be grown in preference to other crops
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Synthetic fiber
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Synthetic fibers is the result of extensive research by scientists to improve on naturally occurring animal and plant fibres. In general, synthetic fibers are created by extruding fiber forming materials through spinnerets into air and water, before synthetic fibres were developed, artificially manufactured fibres were made from polymers obtained from petrochemicals. These fibres are called synthetic or artificial fibres, some fibres are manufactured from plant-derived cellulose. Joseph Swan invented the first synthetic fiber in the early 1880s and his fiber was drawn from a cellulose liquid, formed by chemically modifying the fiber contained in tree bark. In 1885, he unveiled fabrics he had manufactured from his material at the International Inventions Exhibition in London. The next step was taken by Hilaire de Chardonnet, a French engineer and industrialist, who invented the first artificial silk, in the late 1870s, Chardonnet was working with Louis Pasteur on a remedy to the epidemic that was destroying French silkworms. Failure to clean up a spill in the darkroom resulted in Chardonnets discovery of nitrocellulose as a replacement for real silk. Realizing the value of such a discovery, Chardonnet began to develop his new product, unfortunately, Chardonnets material was extremely flammable, and was subsequently replaced with other, more stable materials. The first successful process was developed in 1894 by English chemist Charles Frederick Cross and they named the fiber viscose, because the reaction product of carbon disulfide and cellulose in basic conditions gave a highly viscous solution of xanthate. The first commercial viscose rayon was produced by the UK company Courtaulds Fibers in 1905, the name rayon was adopted in 1924, with viscose being used for the viscous organic liquid used to make both rayon and cellophane. A similar product known as cellulose acetate was discovered in 1865, rayon and acetate are both artificial fibers, but not truly synthetic, being made from wood. Nylon, the first synthetic fiber, was developed by Wallace Carothers and it soon made its debut in the United States as a replacement for silk, just in time for the introduction of rationing during World War II. Its novel use as a material for womens stockings overshadowed more practical uses, such as a replacement for the silk in parachutes, the first polyester fiber was introduced by John Rex Whinfield and James Tennant Dickson, British chemists working at the Calico Printers Association, in 1941. They produced and patented the first polyester fibre which they named Terylene, also known as Dacron, equal to or surpassing nylon in toughness, ICI and DuPont went on to produce their own versions of the fibre. The world production of fibers was 55.2 million tonnes in 2014. Synthetic fibers are made from synthesized polymers or small molecules, the compounds that are used to make these fibers come from raw materials such as petroleum based chemicals or petrochemicals. These materials are polymerized into a long, linear chemical that bond two adjacent carbon atoms, differing chemical compounds will be used to produce different types of fibers. Synthetic fibers account for half of all fiber usage, with applications in every field of fiber
7.
Vegetable flannel
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Vegetable flannel is a type of flannel using fibres from the Scots pine, or pinus sylvestris, rather than traditional woollen fibres. It is described as having a hemp like appearance, but with a tighter, softer texture, in addition to this, the term can also describe coarse linen used for underclothing. The raw fibre, called waldwolle, and the oil were separated, and then the waldwolle was spun into yarn or thread. By 1900, vegetable flannel was mainly woven at Breslau, which at the time was located in Germany, vegetable flannel was promoted as an hypoallergenic option for those who could not wear wool, and was thought to be particularly good for rheumatism and neuralgia. In the nineteenth century, this was attributed to the tannins and resins present in the fibre, and formic acid, another contemporary article claimed that vegetable flannel regulated the release of phosphorus and other elements from the invalids body. In 1900, vegetable flannel was widely used for blankets in German hospitals, prisons and barracks as it was not to harbour pests
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Scots pine
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In the north of its range, it occurs from sea level to 1,000 m, while in the south of its range it is a high altitude mountain tree, growing at 1, 200–2,600 m altitude. It is readily identified by its combination of short, blue-green leaves. The species is found on poorer, sandy soils, rocky outcrops. On fertile sites, Scots pine is out-competed by other, usually spruce or broad-leaved tree species and it is the national tree of Scotland. The bark is thick, scaly dark grey-brown on the lower trunk, the habit of the mature tree is distinctive due to its long, bare and straight trunk topped by a rounded or flat-topped mass of foliage. The lifespan is normally 150–300 years, with the oldest recorded specimens in Lapland, the shoots are light brown, with a spirally arranged scale-like pattern. On vigorous young trees the leaves can be twice as long, leaf persistence varies from two to four years in warmer climates, and up to nine years in subarctic regions. Seedlings up to one year old bear juvenile leaves, these are single, 2–3 cm long, flattened, the cone scales have a flat to pyramidal apophysis, with a small prickle on the umbo. The seeds are blackish, 3–5 mm in length with a pale brown 12–20 mm wing and are released when the open in spring 22–24 months after pollination. The pollen cones are yellow, occasionally pink, 8–12 mm long, over 100 Pinus sylvestris varieties have been described in the botanical literature, but only three or four are now accepted. They differ only minimally in morphology, but with more pronounced differences in genetic analysis, populations in westernmost Scotland are genetically distinct from those in the rest of Scotland and northern Europe, but not sufficiently to have been distinguished as a separate botanical variety. Trees in the far north of the range were formerly treated as var. lapponica. The bulk of the range, from Scotland and Spain to central Siberia, the Balkans, northern Turkey, Crimea, and the Caucasus. Foliage more consistently glaucous all year, not becoming duller in winter, mongolia and adjoining parts of southern Siberia and northwestern China. Foliage duller green, shoots grey-green, leaves occasionally up to 12 cm long, the Sierra Nevada in southern Spain and possibly other Spanish populations Kalenicz. Cones often with scales, but doubtfully distinguishable on morphology. From border regions between Russia and Ukraine, in central and southern Europe, it occurs with numerous additional species, including European black pine, mountain pine, Macedonian pine, and Swiss pine. In the eastern part of its range, it occurs with Siberian pine, the tree spread across the British Isles after the Last Glacial Maximum
9.
Nap (textile)
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Primarily, nap is the raised surface on certain kinds of cloth, such as velvet. Nap can refer additionally to other surfaces that look like the surface of a napped cloth, starting around the 14th century, the word referred originally to the roughness of woven cloth before it was sheared. When cloth, especially woollen cloth, is woven, the surface of the cloth is not smooth, generally the cloth is then sheared to create an even surface, and the nap is thus removed. A person who trimmed the surface of cloth with shears to remove any excess nap was known as a shearman, since the 15th century, the term nap generally refers to a special pile given to the cloth. The term pile refers to raised fibres that are there on purpose, in this case, the nap is woven into the cloth, often by weaving loops into the fabric, which can then be cut or left intact. Carpets, rugs, velvet, velour, and velveteen, are made by interlacing a secondary yarn through woven cloth, creating a nap or pile. In the finishing process of manufacturing textiles, after the cloth is woven, it goes through such as washing, fulling, raising the nap. After the nap is trimmed, the fabric is considered finished, the raising process, which draws out the ends of the fibres, is done on both woollen and cotton fabric. Flannelette is a fabric that goes through this process. There are ways to raise the nap, most of which involve wire brushes such as raising cards, originally, dried teasel pods were used and were still preferred for use on woollen cloth for a long time. Woollen fabrics, which must be damp when raising the nap, are dried and stretched before the nap is trimmed or sheared. Cotton cloth goes straight to the process, where the nap gets trimmed to ensure that all the raised fibres are the same length
Media related to Flannel at Wikimedia Commons
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