Textile manufacturing is one of the oldest of man's technologies. The oldest known textiles date back to about 5000 B.C. In order to make textiles, the first requirement is a source of fibre from which a yarn can be made, primarily by spinning. The yarn is processed by knitting or weaving, which turns yarn into cloth. The machine used for weaving is the loom. For decoration, the process of colouring yarn or the finished material is dyeing. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Fiber or fibre[1] is a class of materials that are continuous filaments or are in discrete elongated pieces, similar to lengths of thread. ... This article is about yarn fiber. ... A hand-turned spinning wheel in action Cones of yarn for industrial use Spinning is the process of creating yarn (or thread, rope, cable) from various raw fiber materials. ... Knit hat, yarn, and knitting needles. ... Tweed loom, Harris, 2004 Weaving is an ancient textile art and craft that involves placing two sets of threads or yarn made of fiber called the warp and weft of the loom and turning them into cloth. ... It has been suggested that Textile be merged into this article or section. ... Wind turbines A machine is any mechanical or organic device that transmits or modifies energy to perform or assist in the performance of tasks. ... This page is about the LucasArts computer game. ... Dyeing is the process of changing the colour of a yarn or cloth by treatment with a dye. ...

Typical textile processing includes 4 stages: yarn formation, fabric formation, wet processing, and fabrication.

The three main types of fibers include natural vegetable fibers (such as cotton, linen, jute and hemp), man-made fibers (those made artificially, but from natural raw materials such as rayon, acetate, Modal, cupro, and the more recently developed Lyocell), synthetic fibers (a subset of man-made fibers, which are based on synthetic chemicals rather than arising from natural chemicals by a purely physical process) and protein based fibers (such as wool, silk, and angora). Fiber crops are field crops grown for their fibers, which are used to make paper, cloth, or rope. ... Cotton ready for harvest. ... Torn linen cloth, recovered from the Dead Sea Linen is a material made from the fibers of the flax (and historically, cannabis) plant. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Binomial name Cannabis sativa Linnaeus Cannabis sativa, also known as hemp, is a species of Cannabis. ... Cellulose is treated with alkali and carbon disulfide to yield viscose. ... Acetate, or ethanoate, is the anion of a salt or ester of acetic acid. ... Modal® is a bio-based fiber made by spinning reconstituted cellulose from beech trees. ... Lyocell is a fibre made from wood pulp cellulose. ... Synthetic fibers are the result of an extensive search by scientists to increase and improve upon the supply of naturally occurring animal and plant fibers that have been used in making cloth. ... Wool in a shearing shed Long and short hair wool at the South Central Family Farm Research Center in Boonesville, AR Wool sheep, Royal Melbourne Show Wool is the fibre derived from the fur of animals of the Caprinae family, principally sheep and goats, but the hair of other mammals... Silk weaver Silk is a natural protein fiber that can be woven into textiles. ... Angora was the name of the city of Ankara in Turkey prior to 1930. ...

Hand processing: yarn formation

Wool

This description is based on the assumption that wool is the fibre being used. For hand-spinning most of the fibre spun is wool, or a blend containing wool. Most animal hair fibre is handled with only a few modifications to the below description. Plant fibres are prepared for spinning very differently. Wool in a shearing shed Long and short hair wool at the South Central Family Farm Research Center in Boonesville, AR Wool sheep, Royal Melbourne Show Wool is the fibre derived from the fur of animals of the Caprinae family, principally sheep and goats, but the hair of other mammals...

Sheep Shearing

The first step in processing the wool is to collect it. Shearing can be done with use of hand-shears (tools that look like big scissors) or powered shears. Professional sheep shearers can shear a sheep in under a minute, without nicking the sheep once. At many state fairs there are sheep shearing contests, to see who can shear a sheep the fastest. These contests mainly include older men, with only a few youngsters. Shear is a form of structural failure. ... A sheep shearer is a worker who uses blade or machine shears to remove the wool from sheep. ...

When the fleece comes off the sheep it should be in one piece. Also, it is best if the shearer cuts close enough to the skin that a second cutting is not required. Second cuts make for very short fibres, which are more difficult and not as much fun to deal with and spin. This article is about wool, the fiber. ...

Primitive breeds, like the Scottish Soay sheep have to be plucked, not sheared, as the kemps are still longer than the soft fleece, (a process called rooing) or the fleece must be collected from the field after it falls out. Soay Sheep are a breed of sheep descended from a population of feral sheep on the Isle of Soay. ...

Skirting

Skirting basically means disposing of all wool that is unsuitable for spinning (too short, has sheep dung in it, etc.) One often could spin this wool, with much extra effort, if one wanted. (The dung can be washed out, the short fibres - though with greater difficulty than longer ones - can be spun, and other objections can be similarly dealt with.) Thus this step can be skipped if necessary. It can also be done at the same time as carding. Dung can refer to: Look up dung in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Cleaning

Before carding the wool, it must be cleaned. At this point the fleece is full of lanolin and often contains vegetable matter, such as sticks, twigs, burs and straw. One way to prevent the vegetable matter from getting into the fleece is to have the sheep wear a coat all year round. Carding Llama hair Carding is the processing of brushing raw or washed fibers to prepare them as textiles. ... Lanolin, also called wool wax, wool fat, or wool grease, a greasy yellow substance from wool-bearing animals, acts as a skin ointment, water-proofing wax, and raw material (such as in shoe polish). ... Species See text. ...

At this point there are two ways to go. The first is to simply pick out the vegetable matter, and move on to the next step. The lanolin is kept in the wool. People who enjoy spinning 'in the grease' (i.e. spinning with the lanolin still in the wool) prefer this method, and wait to wash the lanolin out until they finish spinning. The lanolin can be left in the wool after spinning as well, making the fabric or garment water repellent. If one doesn't want to spin in the grease, the other option is to take both the vegetable matter and the lanolin out. Spinning refers to several activities: For the fabrication of thread, see Spinning (textiles). ... Lanolin, also called wool wax, wool fat, or wool grease, a greasy yellow substance from wool-bearing animals, acts as a skin ointment, water-proofing wax, and raw material (such as in shoe polish). ... Fabric may mean: Cloth, a flexible artificial material made up of a network of natural or artificial fibres Fabric (club), a London dance club Fibre Channel fabric, a network of Fibre Channel devices enabled by a Fibre Channel switch using the FC-SW topology This is a disambiguation page, a... (See also List of types of clothing) Introduction Humans often wear articles of clothing (also known as dress, garments or attire) on the body (for the alternative, see nudity). ...

Washing the wool at this stage can be a tedious process, if you let it. Some people wash it a small handful at a time very carefully, and then set it out to dry on a table in the sun. Other people will stick the whole fleece in a tub of water and soap (dishwashing detergent works well), let it sit, swish it around, and refill the tub with new water occasionally until the fleece is clean (of soap and dirt). One carding mill puts the fleece in a washing machine (that has been slightly modified for this purpose) and melts the lanolin away by soaking the fleece in very hot water. All these methods work. The thing not to do when washing fleece is to rub it against itself too much. If the fleece gets agitated, it will become felt, and then spinning it is impossible. Felting, when done on purpose (with needles, chemicals, or simply rubbing the fibres against each other), can be used to create garments. A selection of felt cloth. ... Felting is the process by which wool fiber is matted into a fabric. ...

Carding

Before spinning it is a good idea to get the fleece into a slightly more manageable state. It is possible to spin directly from a fleece, if it is a very clean one, but it is much easier to spin a carded fleece. Carding by hand yields a rolag, a loose woollen roll of fibres. Using a drum carder yields a bat, which is a mat of fibres in a flat, rectangular shape. Most carding mills return the fleece in a roving ([1] or [2]), which is a stretched bat; it is very long and often the thickness of a wrist. (A pencil roving is a roving thinned to the width of a pencil. It is often used for knitting without any spinning, or for beginning spinners.) A hand-turned spinning wheel in action Cones of yarn for industrial use Spinning is the process of creating yarn (or thread, rope, cable) from various raw fiber materials. ... Carding Llama hair Carding is the processing of brushing raw or washed fibers to prepare them as textiles. ...

Many hand-spinners send their wool out to carding mills to be carded, as one good-sized fleece may take weeks to card with a drum-carder, or an eternity by hand. If the fleece is sent to a carding mill, it must be washed before carded. Most mills offer washing the wool as a service, with extra fees if the wool is exceptionally dirty. Other hand-spinners simply buy their fibres pre-carded.

Spinning

Hand spinning can be done many different ways, the two most common being by use of the spinning wheel or the spindle. Spinning turns the carded wool fibres into yarn which can then be directly woven, knitted (flat or circular), crocheted, or by other means turned into fabric or a garment. A hand-turned spinning wheel in action Cones of yarn for industrial use Spinning is the process of creating yarn (or thread, rope, cable) from various raw fiber materials. ... A spinning wheel is a device for making thread or yarn from fibrous material such as wool or cotton. ... The word spindle might (or might not) have several meanings: A spindle (shrub), a poisonous shrub or small tree of the genus Euonymus. ... This article is about yarn fiber. ... In computer science, weaving describes the process of combining different aspects into a complete application. ... Knit hat, yarn, and knitting needles A woman knitting at a coffee shop Knitting is one of several ways to turn thread or yarn into cloth (cf weaving, crochet). ... Circular knitting or knitting in the round, is a form of knitting that creates a seamless tube. ... Crochet Hooks The word crochet is derived from the Middle French word croc or croche, meaning It describes the process of creating fabric from a length of cord, yarn, or thread with a Crochet hook. ... Fabric may mean: Cloth, a flexible artificial material made up of a network of natural or artificial fibres Fabric (club), a London dance club Fibre Channel fabric, a network of Fibre Channel devices enabled by a Fibre Channel switch using the FC-SW topology This is a disambiguation page, a... (See also List of types of clothing) Introduction Humans often wear articles of clothing (also known as dress, garments or attire) on the body (for the alternative, see nudity). ...

Removing the yarn from the wheel

When spinning on a spinning wheel, the yarn collects on a bobbin. Once the bobbin is full, the spinner can either put on a new bobbin, form a skein, or ball the yarn. A spinning wheel is a device for making thread or yarn from fibrous material such as wool or cotton. ... This article is about yarn fiber. ... A bobbin is a spindle or cylinder, with or without flanges, on which wire, yarn, thread or film is wound. ...

If the yarn is to be plyed then the most common action is to put a new bobbin on the wheel, and leave the yarn onto the bobbin so that the spinner can ply directly from the bobbin. This makes for greatest ease when plying, but cannot be done if the spinner does not have enough bobbins. When plying from bobbins a device called a lazy kate is often used to hold the bobbins. Consider the word reply - the response, or comeback, to an utterance. ...

If the spinner has the end result (i.e. the yarn is already plied or is not going to be), then most likely they will make a skein out of the yarn. A skein is a coil of yarn twisted into a loose knot. It is either formed on a niddy-noddy or some other type of skein winder. Traditionally niddy-noddys looked like an uppercase "i", with the bottom half rotated 90 degrees [3]. Now days spinning wheel manufactures also make niddy-noddys that attach onto the spinning wheel [4] for faster skein winding. Winder is a location in Georgia. ...

Rarely is the yarn balled directly after spinning. Normally hand-spun yarn will be stored in skein form, and transferred to a ball only if needed. (For example, knitting from a skein, unless done very carefully, ends up with the yarn in knots, so it is best to ball it first.)

Ply

Plying yarn is when one takes a strand of spun yarn (one strand is often called a single) and spins it together with other strands in order to make a thicker yarn. There are several ways, the most common being regular and Navajo. Consider the word reply - the response, or comeback, to an utterance. ... This article is about yarn fiber. ... Navajo hunters outside Sam Days Trading Post in 1887 The Navajo Nation (Navajo: Naabeehó Dineé) is a sovereign Native American Tribe of Indians, traditionally known as, Diné. The Navajo Indian Reservation covers about 27,000 square miles (70,000 square kilometres) of land, occupying all of northeastern Arizona, and...

Regular plying consists of taking two or more singles and twisting them together, the opposite way. This can be done on either a spinning wheel or a spindle. The most important thing to remember though is that the twist must go the opposite direction. If in spinning the single the wheel was spinning clockwise (which is called a "Z" twist, as on any given side the fibres appear to cross diagonally in the same direction as the diagonal of a "Z"), in order to ply it the wheel must spin counter-clockwise (an "S" twist). This is because otherwise you are not balancing the twist, just twisting it more. The concept is similar to when a heavily twisted piece of yarn is folded, and it twists up on itself. It is most common for singles to be spun with a "Z" twist, and then plied with an "S" twist.

Navajo plying consists of making large loops, similar to crocheting. First make a loop about 8 inches long through the loop on the end on the leader. (A leader is the string left on the bobbin to spin off of.) Start spinning all three strands together in the opposite direction than that they were spun in. When only 2 to 3 inches remain of the loop, pull a new loop of yarn through the loop, and continue spinning. The new loop should be around 7 inches long. Repeat this process until the yarn is all plied. Only one single is necessary, and if the single is already dyed this technique allows it to be plied without ruining the colour scheme. This technique also allows the spinner to try to match up thick and thin spots in the yarn, thus making for a smoother end product. Navajo hunters outside Sam Days Trading Post in 1887 The Navajo Nation (Navajo: Naabeehó Dineé) is a sovereign Native American Tribe of Indians, traditionally known as, Diné. The Navajo Indian Reservation covers about 27,000 square miles (70,000 square kilometres) of land, occupying all of northeastern Arizona, and...

Most spinners (who use spinning wheels) ply from bobbins. This is easier than plying from balls because there is less chance for the yarn to become tangled and knotted if it is simply unwound from the bobbins. So that the bobbins can unwind freely, they are put in a device called a lazy kate, or sometimes simply kate. The simplest lazy kate consists of wooden bars with a metal rod running between them. Most hold between three and four bobbins. The bobbin sits on the metal rod. Other lazy kates are built with devices that create an adjustable amount of tension, so that if the yarn is jerked, a whole bunch of yarn is not wound off, then wound up again in the opposite direction. Some spinning wheels come with a built in lazy kate. Picture of lazy kates, with tension device. A spinning wheel is a device for making thread or yarn from fibrous material such as wool or cotton. ... A bobbin is a spindle or cylinder, with or without flanges, on which wire, yarn, thread or film is wound. ...

Washing

If the lanolin was not washed out before, this is the point at which it gets washed out, unless the lanolin is to be left in the cloth as a water repellent. When washing a skein it works well to let the wool soak in soapy water overnight, and rinse the soap out in the morning. Dishwashing detergents are commonly used, and a special laundry detergent designed for washing wool is not required. The dishwashing detergent works and does not harm the wool. After washing, let the wool dry (air drying works best). Once it is dry, or just a bit damp, one can stretch it out a bit on a niddy-noddy. Putting the wool back on the niddy-noddy makes for a nicer looking finished skein. Before taking a skein and washing it, the skein must be tied up loosely in about six places. If the skein is not tied up, it will be very hard to unravel when done washing. Lanolin, also called wool wax, wool fat, or wool grease, a greasy yellow substance from wool-bearing animals, acts as a skin ointment, water-proofing wax, and raw material (such as in shoe polish). ...

Flax

The preparations for spinning is similar across most plant fibres, including Flax and Hemp. Cotton is handled differently, as with cotton it is not the stalk of the plant that is used. Flax is the fibre used to create linen. Binomial name Linum usitatissimum Linnaeus. ... This is one of several related articles about cannabis. ... Cotton ready for harvest. ... The word stalk has several basic meanings. ... Torn linen cloth, recovered from the Dead Sea Linen is a material made from the fibers of the flax (and historically, cannabis) plant. ...

Harvesting

The first step in preparing flax to be spun is harvesting it. Flax is not cut, but instead it is pulled out of the ground about a month after the initial blooming. It should be pulled when the lower part of the plant begins to turn yellow, and when, on opening the pods, the most forward of the seeds are found in a soft state, and the middle of the seeds is green. It should be pulled in handfuls, straight up. Next, one should join several handfuls together and tie them using a slip knot so that the sting can be tightened as the stalks dry. ( Note that great care should be taken to keep the root ends even.) These bundles of several handfuls of flax (also known as "beets") should be left standing up till the whole is dry, pods and all. At this point the seed will then be ripe and the flax in the best state. Binomial name Linum usitatissimum Linnaeus. ... Spinning refers to several activities: For the fabrication of thread, see Spinning (textiles). ... Hay bales after harvest in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany In agriculture, harvesting is the process of gathering mature crops from the fields. ... The running bowline, a type of slip knot For other senses, see slipknot. ...

Removing the Seedheads

At this point the seed heads are removed. Once the seed heads are removed it can be stored for many months if necessary, but they must be kept dry. An easy way to remove the seed heads is to take a board and hammer in a row of blunt nails at even intervals, like a comb. Spread a sheet out to collect the seed heads, as they can be planted to create more flax. Next pull the dry bundles of flax through the nails (also called a ripple). This will cause the seed heads to pop off. Make sure to maintain the evenness of the root ends. A comb A comb for people with hair loss. ... In physics, ripples are surface waves on a liquid with wavelengths so short that the liquids motion is governed almost entirely by surface tension forces. ...

In order to separate the seeds from the rest of the seed heads an easy method is to thresh the seed heads by use of a rolling pin. Then, on a windy day or in front of a fan, take the mixture and pour it back and forth between two containers. This action is called winnowing. The chaff will get caught in the wind and blow away, while the seeds will fall straight down into the container. A screen also works to filter out some of the chaff. Threshing is the process of beating cereal plants in order to separate the seeds or grains from the straw. ... Wind winnowing is a method developed by ancient cultures for agricultural purposes. ... Chaff is the seed casings and other inedible plant matter harvested with cereal grains such as wheat. ... The term screen has a number of meanings: A window screen is a wire mesh that covers a window opening to keep out insects even when the window is open. ... In chemistry and common usage, a filter is a device (usually a membrane or layer) that is designed to block certain objects or substances while letting others through. ...

Retting

Retting is the process of rotting away the inner stalk, leaving the outer fibres intact. A standing pool of water or a plastic trash can is needed. Actually, any type of water tight container of wood, concrete, earthenware or plastic will work. Metal will not work, as an acid is produced when retting, and it would corrode the metal. A tall plastic trash can with a spigot at the bottom works well. Place as many bundles of flax in the trash can as will fit, and fill the trash can full of warm water (80 degrees Fahrenheit is best). It is suggested that a lid of some sort be put over the trash can in order to keep the flax submerged, conserve warmth and contain the stench. After 4 hours a complete change of water is recommended, and 8 hours after that the scum should be washed off the top by the addition of some more water. From then on the scum should be washed off every 12 hours until the retting process is over. Retting Retting, n. ... For the meaning of fiber in nutrition, see dietary fiber. ... A waste container (known more commonly in British English as a dustbin and American English as a trash can) is a container, which can be made out of metal or plastic¹, used to store refuse. ... A tree trunk as found at the Veluwe, The Netherlands Wood derives from woody plants, notably trees but also shrubs. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... Earthenware is a particularly common type of ceramic material and is used extensively for tableware and decorative objects. ... Plastic covers a range of synthetic or semisynthetic polymerization products. ... For other uses, see Acid (disambiguation). ... Corrosion is the destructive reaction of a metal with another material, e. ... This article describes degree as a unit of temperature. ... Fahrenheit is a temperature scale named after the German physicist Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686–1736), who proposed it in 1724. ...

If kept at 80 degrees, the retting process takes 4 or 5 days, and any colder than that takes longer. When the retting is complete the bundles should feel soft and slimy, and quite a few fibres should be standing out form the stalks. When wrapped around a finger the inner woody part should spring away from the fibres. It is better to not let the bundles sit in the water long enough than to let them sit there too long, as they always can be submerged again if found to be wanting later, but the reverse problem cannot be solved (in this case the fibres are rotted as well as the stalk, and one cannot un-rot something).

Dressing the Flax

Dressing is the broad term referring to removing the fibres from the straw and cleaning it enough to be spun. The flax is broken scutched and hackled in this step. Straw is the dry stalk of a cereal plant, after the nutrient grain or seed has been removed. ... Spinning refers to several activities: For the fabrication of thread, see Spinning (textiles). ...

Peasant woman breaking flax

Breaking Take the bundles of flax and untie them. Next, in small handfuls, put it between the beater of the breaking machine ( a set of wooden blades which mesh together when the upper jaw is lowered- it looks like a paper cutter but instead of having a big knife it has a blunt arm), and beat it till the three or four inches that have been beaten appear to be soft. Move the flax a little higher and continue to beat it till all is soft, and the wood is separated from the fibre. When half of the flax is broken, hold the beaten end and beat the rest in the same way as the other end was beaten, till the wood is separated.

Scutching In order to remove some of the straw from the fibre, it helps to swing a wooden scutching knife down the fibres while they hang vertically, thus scraping the edge of the knife along the fibres and pull away pieces of the stalk. Some of the fibre will also be scutched away, this cannot be helped and is natural.

Hackles In this process the fibre is pulled through various different sized hackles. A hackle is a bed of "nails"- sharp, long-tapered, tempered, polished steel pins driven into wooden blocks at regular spacing. A good progression is from 4 pins per square inch, to 12, to 25 to 48 to 80. The first three will remove the straw, and the last two will split and polish the fibres. Some of the finer stuff that comes off in the last hackles can be carded like wool and spun. It will produce a coarser yarn than the fibres pulled through the heckles because it will still have some straw in it.

Spinning

Flax being spun from a distaff

Depending on the preference of the spinner, flax can either be spun from a distaff, or the spinner may simply lay flax fibres in their lap. It is recommended that the spinner keep their fingers wet when spinning, to prevent forming a fuzzy thread, and that the single be spun with an "S" twist. (See Ply above for details). From this point on much of the process is the same as that for wool. Download high resolution version (800x701, 80 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Download high resolution version (800x701, 80 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Straw is the dry stalk of a cereal plant, after the nutrient grain or seed has been removed. ... Carding Llama hair Carding is the processing of brushing raw or washed fibers to prepare them as textiles. ... Spinning refers to several activities: For the fabrication of thread, see Spinning (textiles). ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2024x1742, 319 KB) File links The following pages link to this file: Distaff User:Rl/Images Textile manufacturing ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2024x1742, 319 KB) File links The following pages link to this file: Distaff User:Rl/Images Textile manufacturing ... Lady spinning Flax from a distaff As a noun, a distaff is a tool used in spinning. ...

Washing

One of the few differences in between flax and wool once the fibre is ready for spinning is the washing process. After flax is spun it should be let to sit in a pot of boiling water for a couple of hours to set the twist and reduce fuzziness.

Machine Processing: yarn formation

The machines used for different fibres vary slightly in the initial steps, but once the fibre is in a rolag (ready to spin) the process and machinery is pretty much universal. Slight changes are made depending on the coarseness of the fibre or yarn desired. Fiber or fibre[1] is a class of materials that are continuous filaments or are in discrete elongated pieces, similar to lengths of thread. ... This article is about yarn fiber. ...

Cotton

Cotton Gin

The cotton boll is white, roughly spherical and fluffy. After being harvested, the cotton is sent through a cotton gin because the seeds have to be removed before carding. A modern day cotton gin looks similar to a carding machine, in that the fibre goes through many different rollers. The teeth on the gin are different from those on a carding machine. The ginning process removes the seeds from the cotton fibre. The first cotton gin was produced by Eli Whitney. Hay bales after harvest in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany In agriculture, harvesting is the process of gathering mature crops from the fields. ... Cotton ready for harvest. ... Cotton gin The cotton gin is a machine invented by American inventor Eli Whitney in 1793 to mechanize the production of cotton fiber. ... Carding Llama hair Carding is the processing of brushing raw or washed fibers to prepare them as textiles. ... Fiber or fibre[1] is a class of materials that are continuous filaments or are in discrete elongated pieces, similar to lengths of thread. ... Eli Whitney Eli Whitney (December 8, 1765 – January 8, 1825) was an American inventor and manufacturer. ...

At this point, the ginned cotton is normally put into bales, and shipped to the cotton mill. Bale can refer to any of the following: Places Bâle, the French name for the city of Basel The town Bale in Croatia the Bale Province, Burkina Faso in Burkina Faso the former Bale Province, Ethiopia in Ethiopia People Christian Bale, an actor Dr. Edward Turner Bale This is... The cotton mill is a type of factory that was created to house spinning and weaving machinery. ...

Picking

When the cotton comes out of a bale, it is all packed together and still contains vegetable matter. In order to fluff up the cotton and remove the vegetable matter, the cotton is sent through a picker. A picker looks similar to the carding machine and the cotton gin, but is slightly different. The cotton is fed into the machine and gets beaten with a beater bar, to loosen it up. The cotton then collects on a screen and gets fed through various rollers, which serve to remove the vegetable matter. Carding Llama hair Carding is the processing of brushing raw or washed fibers to prepare them as textiles. ... Cotton gin The cotton gin is a machine invented by American inventor Eli Whitney in 1793 to mechanize the production of cotton fiber. ...

Carding

The cotton comes off of the picking machine in large bats, and is then taken to carding machines. The carders line up the fibres nicely to make them easier to spin. The carding machine consists mainly of one big roller with smaller ones surrounding it. All of the rollers are covered in small teeth, and as the cotton progresses further on the teeth get finer (ie. closer together). The cotton leaves the carding maching in the form of a sliver; a large rope of fibres.

Combining the Slivers

Next, several slivers are combined. Each sliver will have thin and thick spots, and by combining several slivers together a more consistent size can be reached. Since combining several slivers produces a very thick rope of cotton fibres, directly after being combined the slivers are separated into rovings. These rovings are then what are used in the spinning process. Generally speaking, for machine processing a roving is about the width of a pencil.

Spinning

A Spinning Jenny, spinning machine which initiated the Industrial Revolution.

Cotton being spun

The spinning machines stake the roving, thin it and twist it, creating yarn. The roving is pulled off a bobbin and fed through some rollers, which are feeding at several different speeds. This thins the roving at a consistent rate. If the roving was not a consistent size, then this step could cause a break in the yarn, or could jam the machine. The yarn is twisted through the spinning of the bobbin it is rolled on, exactly like a spinning wheel but just in a different configuation. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1799x2700, 758 KB) Original comment: Cotton fiber spooling at the ARS Cotton Quality Research Station in Clemson, South Carolina. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1799x2700, 758 KB) Original comment: Cotton fiber spooling at the ARS Cotton Quality Research Station in Clemson, South Carolina. ... This article is about yarn fiber. ... A bobbin is a spindle or cylinder, with or without flanges, on which wire, yarn, thread or film is wound. ... Wind turbines A machine is any mechanical or organic device that transmits or modifies energy to perform or assist in the performance of tasks. ... A spinning wheel is a device for making thread or yarn from fibrous material such as wool or cotton. ...

Plying

Plying is done by pulling yarn from two or more bobbins and twisting it together, in the opposite direction than that in which it was spun. Depending on the weight desired, cotton may or may not have been plied. This article is about yarn fiber. ... A bobbin is a spindle or cylinder, with or without flanges, on which wire, yarn, thread or film is wound. ...

Yucca

While not an especially common fibre, Yucca fibres were at one time widely used throughout Central America for many things. Currently they are mainly used to make twine. Fiber or fibre[1] is a class of materials that are continuous filaments or are in discrete elongated pieces, similar to lengths of thread. ... Species many, see text For the potato-like vegetable, see yuca. ... Map of Central America Central America is a central region of the Americas. ... Twine is modern electronic music composed by Chad Mossholder and Greg Malcolm. ...

Leaf to Rolag

After being harvested, the yucca leaves are put on a conveyor belt, and then cut to a standard size. In order to separate the fibres from the rest of the leaf, the leaves are crushed in between two large rollers. The waste, a pulpy liquid that stinks, can be used as a fertilizer. At this point the fibres are bundled up and dried. This is easily done by draping them over trelises and leaving them out in the sun to dry. Once the fibres are dry they are combined into rolags. Then several rolags are combined to produce a more consistent rolag. At this point it is ready to spin. Species many, see text For the potato-like vegetable, see yuca. ... Leaves are an Icelandic five-piece alternative rock band who came to prominence in 2002 with their debut album, Breathe, drawing comparisons to groups such as Coldplay and Doves. ...

Hand Processing- Fabric Formation

Once the fiber has been turned into yarn the process of making cloth is much the same for any type of fibre, be it animal or plant. For the meaning of fiber in nutrition, see dietary fiber. ... This article is about yarn fiber. ... It has been suggested that Textile be merged into this article or section. ... Phyla Animals are a major group of organisms, classified as the kingdom Animalia or Meta­zoa. ... Divisions Land plants (embryophytes) Non-vascular plants (bryophytes) Marchantiophyta - liverworts Anthocerotophyta - hornworts Bryophyta - mosses Vascular plants (tracheophytes) Lycopodiophyta - clubmosses Equisetophyta - horsetails Pteridophyta - true ferns Psilotophyta - whisk ferns Ophioglossophyta - adderstongues Seed plants (spermatophytes) †Pteridospermatophyta - seed ferns Pinophyta - conifers Cycadophyta - cycads Ginkgophyta - ginkgo Gnetophyta - gnetae Magnoliophyta - flowering plants Adiantum pedatum (a fern...

Knitting

The front side of a plainly knitted object might look like this, under close inspection.

Knitting needles

Knitting by hand is a trend that is slowly growing throughout the United States. Commonly knitted goods are scarfs (both decorative and functional), sweaters, socks and shawls. Hand knitting can either be done "flat" or "in the round". Flat knitting is done on a set of single point knitting needles, and the knitter goes back and forth, adding rows. In Circular knitting, or "knitting in the round", the knitter knits around a circle, creating a tube. This can be done with either double pointed needles or a circular needle. Download high resolution version (1259x925, 197 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Download high resolution version (1259x925, 197 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Description: Photograph of knitting needles Source: Photograph taken by Jared C. Benedict on 03 March 2004. ... Description: Photograph of knitting needles Source: Photograph taken by Jared C. Benedict on 03 March 2004. ... Bamboo knitting needles A knitting needle is a long stick or rod used as a tool in the manufacture of hand knitted fabric. ... Knit hat, yarn, and knitting needles. ... Good (accounting) - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... A Scarf joint is a means of joining usually wood, sometimes metal, end to end. ... A jumper from Marks & Spencer A sweater, pullover, jumper or jersey is a relatively heavy garment intended to cover the torso and arms of the human body (though in some cases sweaters are made for dogs and occasionally other animals) and typically supposed to go over a shirt, blouse, t... SOCKS is an Internet protocol that allows client-server applications to transparently use the services of a network firewall. ... Hesquiat woman keeping warm with a thick shawl A shawl is an extremely simple item of clothing, loosely worn over the shoulders, upper body and arms, sometimes also over the head. ... Bamboo knitting needles A knitting needle is a long stick or rod used as a tool in the manufacture of hand knitted fabric. ... Circular knitting or knitting in the round, is a form of knitting that creates a seamless tube. ...

Since knitting in essence is pulling one row of loops of yarn through another row, a knitted object will unravel easily if the top has not been secured. Knitted objects also stretch easily in all directions, whereas woven fabric only stretches on the bias. A woven is a cloth formed by weaving. ... Fabric may mean: Cloth, a flexible artificial material made up of a network of natural or artificial fibres Fabric (club), a London dance club Fibre Channel fabric, a network of Fibre Channel devices enabled by a Fibre Channel switch using the FC-SW topology This is a disambiguation page, a... The term bias has many uses: In its most widely used form, bias is prejudice of some sort in terms of point of view, usually manifesting itself in written works as in editorial bias. ...

Crochet

Irish crocheted lace

Crocheting differs largely from knitting in that there is only one loop, not the multitude as knitting has. Also, instead of knitting needles, a crochet hook is used. Other than that it is vaguely similar, and is often mistaken for knitting. Lace is commonly crocheted, as well as a large variety of other items. Image File history File links Irish_crochet. ... Image File history File links Irish_crochet. ... Crochet Hooks The word crochet is derived from the Middle French word croc or croche, meaning It describes the process of creating fabric from a length of cord, yarn, or thread with a Crochet hook. ... Bamboo knitting needles A knitting needle is a long stick or rod used as a tool in the manufacture of hand knitted fabric. ... A crochet hook is a type of needle, usually with a hook at one end, used to draw thread through knotted loops. ... White lace is often used in collars and other fabric borders. ...

Lace

A lace fabric is lightweight openwork fabric, patterned, with open holes in the work. The holes can be formed via removal of threads or cloth from a previously woven fabric, but more often lace is built up from a single thread and the open spaces are created as part of the lace fabric. White lace is often used in collars and other fabric borders. ... Fabric may mean: Cloth, a flexible artificial material made up of a network of natural or artificial fibres Fabric (club), a London dance club Fibre Channel fabric, a network of Fibre Channel devices enabled by a Fibre Channel switch using the FC-SW topology This is a disambiguation page, a...

Weaving

The earliest weaving was done without a loom, but that is rare now. Tweed loom, Harris, 2004 Weaving is an ancient textile art and craft that involves placing two sets of threads or yarn made of fiber called the warp and weft of the loom and turning them into cloth. ... This page is about the LucasArts computer game. ...

Loom

A picture taken from the back of a loom. The metal rods with holes that have the yarn running through them are the heddels. Further back, the metal comb with wood on the top and bottom is the reed. The shed is the gap between the two sets of yarn.

In general the supporting structure of the loom is called the frame. This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons, a repository of free content hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation. ... This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons, a repository of free content hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation. ... This article is about yarn fiber. ...

The frame provides the means of fixing the length-wise threads, called the warp, and keeping them under tension. When producing a long piece of material, the warp threads are wound on a roller called a beam, and attached to the cloth beam which will serve to hold the finished material. Because of the tension the warp threads are under, they need to be strong. WaRp. ...

The thread that is woven through the warp is called the weft. The weft is threaded through the warp using a shuttle, which carries the weft through separated warp threads. The original hand-loom was limited in width by the weaver's reach, because of the need to throw the shuttle from hand to hand. The invention of the flying shuttle with its fly cord and picking sticks enabled the weaver to pass the shuttle from a box at either side of the loom with one hand, and across a greater width. The invention of the drop box allowed a weaver to use multiple shuttles to carry different wefts. Weft or woof is the yarn which is shuttled back and forth across the warp to create a woven fabric. ... The simplest shuttle is a flat, narrow piece of wood with notches on the ends to hold the weft yarn. ... The flying shuttle was developed by John Kay in 1733, and was one of the key developments in weaving that helped fuel the Industrial Revolution. ...

After passing a weft thread through the warp, a reed comb used to beat (compact) the woven weft.

Rather than having to lift each thread individually, alternate threads can be separated by introducing a bar between the threads: the gap created is called the shed. While an inserted bar only presents one orientation, alternating sets of threads can be lifted by connecting them with string or wires called heddles to another bar, called the shaft (or heddle bar or heald). Heddles, shafts and the couper (lever to lift the assembly) are called the harness — the harness provides for mechanical operation using foot- or hand-operated treadles. (Multiple harnesses can be used, connected to different sets of warp threads in a draw-loom.)

Sleying is the process of threading the warp yarn through the reed. Usually one speaks of "sleying the reed". You set (verb) the warp at X ends per inch and then you can say that its sett (noun) is X ends per inch.

Process

The first step in weaving is to make a warp, the threads that run lengthwise perpendicular to you. By hand this is done with the help of a warping board. The length the warp is made is about a quarter to half yard more than the amount of cloth they will be able to get off the loom, because of waste at the beginning and end. Since with smaller lengths of warp means a higher percentage of wasted yarn, and since threading the loom can be tedious, most weavers put on many yards at a time. The weaver decides what length of a warp to put on the loom, then measures it out on the warping board. Warping boards come in a variety of shapes, from the two nearest door handles to a board with pegs on it, or a tall umbrella swift like device. WaRp. ... Perpendicular is a geometric term that may be used as a noun or adjective. ... Look up quarter in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... One half is the fraction resulting from dividing one by two (½), or any number by its double; multiplication by one half is equivalent to division by two. ... This article is about the unit of measure known as the yard. ... It has been suggested that Textile be merged into this article or section. ... This article is about yarn fiber. ...

Machine processing: fabric formation

Knitting

A circular knitting machine.

Close-up on the needles.

Knitting by machine is done in two different ways; warp and weft. Weft knitting is what can be seen in the pictures, and is how hand knitting is done. The cloth is made from one yarn and the stitches are all connected to each other horizontally. In a warp knit there are many pieces of yarn and there are vertical chains, zigzagged together by crossing the yarn. ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (2048x1360, 1478 KB) File links The following pages link to this file: Textile manufacturing ... ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (2048x1360, 1478 KB) File links The following pages link to this file: Textile manufacturing ... Image File history File links Rundstrickmaschine_Zungennadeln. ... Image File history File links Rundstrickmaschine_Zungennadeln. ... Knit hat, yarn, and knitting needles. ... A modern industrial knitting machine in action The knitting machine, sometimes called knitting frame, knitting loom, or hand knitting machine, is used to produce knit fabrics on a fixed bed of hooked needles. ... It has been suggested that Textile be merged into this article or section. ... This article is about yarn fiber. ...

Warp knits do not stretch as much as a weft knit, and it is run-resistant. A weft knit is not run-resistant, but stretches more and is slightly more common. The average t-shirt is a weft knit. T-Shirt A T-shirt (or tee shirt) is a shirt with short or long sleeves, a round neck, put on over the head, without pockets. ...

Lace

lace White lace is often used in collars and other fabric borders. ...

Weaving

weaving Tweed loom, Harris, 2004 Weaving is an ancient textile art and craft that involves placing two sets of threads or yarn made of fiber called the warp and weft of the loom and turning them into cloth. ...

Decoration

Dyeing

dyeing Dyeing is the process of changing the colour of a yarn or cloth by treatment with a dye. ...

Bleaching

bleach Commercial chlorine bleach To bleach something is to remove or lighten its color; a bleach is a chemical that can produce these effects, often via oxidization. ...

Embroidery

Embroidery – threads which are added to the surface of a finished textile. Gold Embroidery Cross-stitch embroidery, Hungary, mid-20th century Embroidery is the art or handicraft of decorating fabric or other materials with designs stitched in strands of thread or yarn using a needle. ...

See also

• Textile manufacturing terminology

The manufacture of textiles is one of the oldest of mans technologies. ...

External links

• Profile of the Textiles Industry: EPA Guidebook