Silk

Silk is a unique textile fibre which possesses a combination of beauty and strength. Silk is the only natural filament used in textile industry. Silk is associated with wealth because it is expensive and scarce. Silk as a clothing fibre was a symbol of status.

Silk is produced by the silk worm, the caterpillar of a moth, in the form of two very fine filaments coated with gum. With this twin filament the caterpillars produces a protective casing known as cocoon around itself before the chrysalis stage of its life. Inside this casing it normally changes into a moth and emerges when the change had been completed.

Silk filaments are obtained by unwinding the cocoons in groups of six to eight at a time and reeling the resultant fine thread after the silkworms have been stifled by steam. First quality silk filament can be less than 1000m.

Silk is a strong fibre slightly lesser in strength when compared with cotton. Silk is elastic and resilient like wool but not as good as it. The combination of strength and elasticity makes silk unique in textile fabrics.

Silk is also fine, highly lustrous, soft and superb drape enable silk to be converted into many beautiful types of fabrics, varying from delicate chiffons to heavy beautiful brocades. The fineness, regularity, strength and elasticity of silk make it suitable for fine screens for printing and sifting purposes and parachute fabrics. Silk has chemical sensitivity to wool and the fine delicate nature and high cost of most silk fabrics make extreme care in handling. Silk is highly expensive and limited in making.

China tops the list of silk producing countries and India second.

Types of marriages

Marriage is known to everyone in different culture and with different rituals. Though marriage generally mean to tie up a man and woman , there are various means to do that depending on which we can name it. Atharva Veda mentions eight forms of marriages and it goes like this

• Brahma marriage:- the father finds an educated man and proposes the marriage of his daughter to him

• Daiva marriage – the father gives away his daughter to a priest as sacrificial fees
• Arsha marriage – the groom gives a cow and a bull to the father of the bride and the father exchanges his daughter in marriage

• Prajapatya marriage- a couple agree to get married by exchanging some mantras
• Gandharva marriage -  the couple live together out of love by mutual consent
• Asura marriage- the groom offer a dowry to the father of the bride and he receives the bride in exchange

• Rakshasa marriage- the groom forcibly abduct the girl and marry
• Paishacha marriage – where a man forces himself on a woman when she is drunken or unconscious

Wool

Wool is the natural fibre widely available and the usage of wool is specialised and restricted than cotton. Quantity of wool produced is much smaller and more expensive.

Wool can be classified into three

Merino or botany- Wools are about 50 to 100mm long, fine, soft and crimpy. The best quality wool is obtained from Merino sheep. Merino wool is the warmest but neither strong nor durable. Merino wool is used for best quality wool fabrics desired for maximum softness and warmth.

Cross bred type- Fibre ranges from 75 to 200 mm long, thick but not soft and crimpy. As the length increases the strength and resilience of wool also increase but diminish in softness and crimpiness. Cross bred type wool are used for wool fabrics where economy strength, resilience, lustre and durability are more important than fineness and softness.

Carpet type- These are 150 to 400 mm long, coarse type wool which are strong and resilient but not really soft. They are not fit for clothing fabrics but used in carpets; they are lustrous in nature and also the resilience is utilised.

Wool fibres are much longer than cotton. They possess a feature called crimp meaning a ‘permanent wave’. Wool fibres tend to felt or mat under the influence of heat, moisture and movement. But when done deliberately to produce close compact structures they can be shaped into garments. Wool is much more sensitive to heat moisture and chemicals than cotton. Wool is less sensitive to acid but alkalis can damage the wool irreparably. Wool fibres have good dye affinity. Fine wool yarns are expensive to produce because of the physical difficulties and strength limitations.

Wool fabrics produce warmth because of the thousands of tiny air pockets trapped in the yarns. Wool fibres being a protein do not transmit heat quickly. Wool prevent body heat to escape thus keep the feel of warmth. Wool can absorb less moisture without feeling cold and clammy. Wool does not cause skin irritations. Washing of wool needs extra care. Wool fabrics are not highly flammable but not easy to ignite and do not carry flame readily.

Fine quality wool possesses comfort but not strength and durability. On the other hand lower or cross bred qualities have superior durability but not really soft.

When selecting wool fabrics depending on the purpose go for the fine and less durable or for cross bred and long durable ones. The choice is yours.. J

Australia is the leading producer of wool

Cotton

Cotton is the most versatile, widely available and used textile fibre for clothing. Different qualities of cotton are available but they can be grouped mainly into three

Long staple cotton -    This is the best quality which goes up to about 55mm in staple length. Long staple cotton is the finest, softest and strongest cotton. Most expensive type and used for finest type of fabrics and sewing threads.

Medium staple cotton – This is about 25mm long, not as fine, soft or strong as long staple but cheap and available in plenty. The large percentage of world’s available clothing cotton fabrics are made from this.

Short staple cotton- This is less than 25mm long, coarser and harsher than the above mentioned types. Short staple cotton is used in cheap fabrics and those which do not need softness. This type has fashion appeal with the Ethnic look.

Cotton fibres are short, fine and straight suitable for convenient machine handling when converted into yarns. Unique combination of length, fineness and strength possessed long staple cottons enable to exceed fine yarn, light cotton fabrics which are strong and durable the versatile strength and fineness enables to produce a wide range of fabrics in light, medium and heavy weight. In addition to the purity of fibre, cotton can be boiled or sterilised without disintegration it is resistant to damage by alkalis so that severe laundering treatments can be withstood. It has a good resistance to heat so that abnormal care in ironing, pressing drying is not necessary. The chemical stability enables to produce some specific properties like water-repellence, flame resistance, crease resistance, drip-dry resistance, and weather and rot resistance and permanent set properties. It has a good affinity for dyes and the fibre can be made available in different colours.

Having mentioned the positive aspect of cotton it is required to go through the draw backs also.

Lack of resilience – Cotton has very little elasticity and fibre does not resist deformation so they tend to crease easily and do not give much in wear.

Flammability- cotton readily burns and capable enough to carry the flame -Flannelette and Winceyette are dangerous.

To overcome the disadvantages chemical measures can be made but it is expensive and easily handling nature and softness of the fabric will be adversely affected.

Most of the available cotton fabrics do not need extra care or attention. Cotton can be washed safely and cotton fabrics do not need drying or finishing treatments after washing. Cotton also has reasonable durability in wear.

At present China is the leading producer of cotton, India stand second.

Textile fibres

Textile derived from Latin word texere which mean to weave and fibre creates the picture of a thin long hair like object. All fibres are not suitable for textile industry; it should possess sufficient length, fitness, strength and flexibility to be used for fabrics manufacturing.

Basic forms of textile fibres are filament and staple. Filament is a fibre of continuous length, example for natural filament is silk which has about 3000m of continuous twin filaments. Staple is a fibre of short length, example cotton which needs to be twisted to make them wear into continuous length of yarn.

Yarns consist of either staple fibres or filament fibres put together. Filament merely grouped in order to produce the thickness of required yarn, length is already there in the individual filament. Filament yarns are thin smooth and lustrous. Staple fibres have to be twisted to make them cohere into a continuous length of yarn. Twisting of fibre forces the fibre surfaces into contact with each other setting up friction between then which enable to resist more. Staple yarns are thicker fibrous and non lustrous.