Introducing textiles

I am introducing the next category in my blog which is 'Textiles'. According to wikipedia 'Textiles is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn'. Now in my blog i am not going to go deep into the technical details about the manufacturing process of fibres, yarn or fabrics. This category 'Textiles' is all about textile designing and about various fabrics, its types, applications, properties etc. Here is a brief note about textiles and its types. 

The raw material for the textiles is fibres. Fibre is the smallest unit of fabric. Fibre can be broadly classified into two types Natural and Synthetic fibres. Fibres gotten from the natural resources are natural fibres and those that are manufactured by man artificially are called synthetic fibres. 

Natural fibres can again be from

• Plant origin examples are cotton, jute, flax, coir etc
• Animal origin examples are wool, silk etc
• Mineral origin examples asbestos, glass fibres etc

Synthetic fibres are produced by man artificially and examples are polyester, nylon, lycra, aramid, acrylic etc. 

These fibres are spun into yarns and yarns are made into fabrics. Depending on the methods used to make the yarns or fibres into fabrics, the fabrics can be classified as 

• Wovens: The sets of yarns are interlaced at right angles with each other by hand or by machine.  The lengthwise yarns are called warps and the width wise yarns are called wefts. Examples brocades, banarasi, georgette, chiffon, satin, handloom fabrics etc. 
• Knits: The yarns are interlooped with each other. The knitted fabrics have more elasticity. Examples sweaters, socks, lingeries etc. 
• Nonwovens : The fibres or yarns are bonded together by using chemicals or mechanical methods, by using heat or solvent. Example felt. Braiding is also one of the method.  

Once the fabric is formed it is called as grey fabric when a suitable finish has to be given to it to make it a finished fabric. The fabric is then dyed to the required color. Dyeing can be done at fibre stage, yarn stage or the fabric stage depending on the requirements. Patterns or designs on the fabric can also be done using dyeing process. Tie and dye, batik are examples.  If printing is required it is done using different methods like block printing, stencil printing, screen printing ,roller printing etc. After the suitable finish is given the fabric is now ready to be made into finished products like garments, home furnishings, accessories etc.