While we see around us there are various fabrics surroundings us. They will be found in the form of bed sheets, blankets curtains, tablecloths, towels and dusters were made from different kinds of fabrics. Even your school bags and the gunny bags were made from some kind of fabric.
There is an end number of fabrics available in the world, but they can be classified into three categories based on the fibers . They can be weaved or knitted in so many structures as per the end-user.
Natural-Cotton, Wool, Silk, etc.
Man-made/Synthetic Polyester ,Nylon, Regenerated cellulose (Viscose),Spandex etc.
Blends of both Polyester cotton, Cotton Spandex, cotton, and wool, etc.
The thin strands of thread that we see, are made up of still thinner strands called fibers.
Fiber or fibre is a natural or man-made substance that is significantly longer than it is wide. Fibers are often used in the manufacture of other materials.
Fabrics are made up of yarns and yarns are further made up of fibers.
The fibers of some fabrics such as cotton, jute, silk and wool are obtained from plants and animals. These are called natural fibers.
Cotton and jute are examples of fibers obtained from plants.
Wool and silk fibers are obtained from animals.
Fibers those are made from chemical which are not obtained from plant or animal sources. These are called synthetic fibers. Some examples of synthetic fibres are polyester, nylon and acrylic.
Cotton is the kind of fiber. The cotton comes from the fruits of the cotton plant (cotton bolls) are there size is like a lemon. After maturing, the bolls burst open and the seeds covered with cotton fibres can be seen.
Cotton is usually picked by the hand. Cotton fibers are separated from the seeds by combing. This process is known as ginning of cotton. Ginning was traditionally done by hand.
Jute fiber is obtained from the stem of the jute plant. It's cultivated during the rainy season.
The process of making yarn from fibers is called spinning. Fibers from a mass of cotton wool are drawn out and twisted.
A simple device used for spinning is a hand spindle, also called takli. Spinning of yarn on a large scale is done with the help of spinning machines. After spinning, yarns are used for making fabrics.
There are many ways by which fabrics are made from yarns. The two main processes are weaving and knitting.
Weaving
The process of arranging two sets of yarns together to make a fabric is called weaving.
Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth.
The yarns are much thinner than our paper strips, of course! Weaving of fabric is done on looms. The looms are either hand operated or power operated.
Knitting
Other methods are knitting, crocheting, felting, and braiding or plaiting. The longitudinal threads are called the warp and the lateral threads are the weft or filling.
At our home we have seen that knitting by mom's, grand-mothers etc.
The early Indians wore fabrics made out of cotton that grew in the regions near the river Ganga. In ancient Egypt, cotton as well as flax were cultivated near the river Nile and were used for making fabrics.