Chapter 36-Fibres And Fabrics Flashcards
What are continuous filaments?
Very long fibres
What are staple fibres?
Very short fibres
Whats the difference between natural fubres and manufactured fibres?
- natural fibres come from nature
- manufactured fibres are created from a mixture of raw materials
What are synthetic fibres made of?
Crude oil
What is regenerated fibres made from?
A mixture of natural substances such as wood.
What are the two types of natural fibres?
- plant
- animal
What are the two types of manufactured fibres?
- regenerated
- synthetic
What examples of plant fibres?
- cotton
- linen
What are examples of animal fibres?
- wool
- silk
What are examples of regenerated fibres?
- viscose
- acetate
What are examples of synthetic fibres?
- polyester
- acrylic
What are the stages of production of cotton?
- cotton fibres come from the part of the cotton plant called boll or seed head.
- the bolls are picked by hand or machine
- the fibres are seperated from the seeds (ginning)
- the fibres are pressed into bales
- the cotton is graded according to the lengths of the fibres
- fibres are combed and spun into yarn
What are some desirable propertie of cotton?
- absorbent
- cool
- strong
- easy to wash and dry
- easy to dye and bleach
What are some undesirable properties of cotton?
- creases
- not very stretchy
- burns easily
- shrinks
- damaged by mildew
What are some fabrics made from cotton?
- flannelette
- towelling
- poplin
- lawn
- muslin
- denim
Where does linen come from?
The flax plant
Where does flax grow?
In cool damp climates such as Ireland, Russia, France
What are the steps in the production of linen?
- flax grows to about a metre in height and the stem are pulled up by their roots
- stems are left to soak for several weeke to rot (retting)
- the fibres are seperated from the woody parts
- the fibres are combed and spun into yarn
- long fibres produce fine yarn, short fibres produce coarse yarn
What are the desirable properties of linen?
- absorbent
- cool
- strong
- hardwearing
- easily washed
What are the undesirable properties of linen?
- creases easily
- shrinks
- burns easily
- difficult to dye
What are some linen fabrics?
- damask
- canvas
- cambric
What are the stages of production of wool?
- the fleece is removed from the sheep
- it is graded according to the colour, fineness and the length of the fibres
- it is cleaned and combed (carding)
- it is then spun into yarn
What are the desirable properties of wool?
- warm
- soft
- absorbent
- stretchy
- resilient
What are the undesirable properties of wool?
- shrinks if washed or dried carelessly
- feels itchy beside he skin
- pills
- does not dry easily
What are some wool fabrics?
- flannel
- tweed
- velour
- jersey
- Gabardine
What are the stages of production of silk?
- the silk is produced from the silkworm
- the silk moth lays eggs and the new worms feed on the leaves of the mulberry tree
- the worms spin cocoons of silk
- the cocoons are heated and soaked and the threads are removed
- the threads are then wound into reels
- the threads are spun into thicker yarn
What are the desirable properties of silk?
- absorbent
- lightweight yet warm
- crease resistant
- strong
- smooth
What are the undesirable properties of silk
- damaged by careless handling
- flammable
- damaged by moths
- damaged by chemicals
What are some silk fabrics?
- wild silk
- slub silk
- chiffon
- satin
What are the steps of production of regenerated fibres?
- cellulose from trees and cotton waste is pulped and mixed with chemicals
- it is made into a thick liquid
- the liquid is forced through tiny holes in a spinneret to make yarn
- yarn is twisted and cut
What are fibres?
Fibres are fine, hair-like substances. They form the basic part of any fabric.
What are some uses of cotton?
- clothes; jeans, sweatshirts, shirts, underwear, nightwear
- household; towels, sheets, duvet covers, curtains
What are some uses of linen?
–clothes: •suits •dresses •shirts
-household: •tablecloths •napkins •sheets •tea towels
What are the uses of wool?
- clothes: •jumpers •coats •suits •dresses
- household: •blankets •carpets •rugs
Uses of silk?
Clothes: •shirts •scarves •ties
Household: •curtains •cushions •throws
What are some desirable properties of regenerated fabrics?
- absorbent
- easy to dye
- cool
What are some undesirable properties of regenerated fabrics?
- crease easily
- not durable
What are some regenrate fabrics?
- viscose
- acetate
What are some uses of regenerated fabrics?
- lightweight clothes
- tablecloths
- napkins
- curtains
What are the steps in the production of synthetic fibres?
- various chemicals from petroleum are mixed to produce a thick liquid
- the liquid is forced through tint holes in a spinneret
- long uniform fibres (continuous filaments) are twisted together to make smooth yarn
- fibres can be cut into short (staple) fibres
What are some desirable properties of synthetic fibres?
- strong
- elastic
- durable
- stretchy
- crease resistant
What are some undesirable propertie sof synthetic fibres?
- do not absorb moisture
- clingy
- cause static
- flammable
What are some synthetic fabrics?
- nylon
- polyester
- acrylic
- PVC
- elastane
Uses of nylon?
- tights
- underwear
- waterproof clothing
What are the uses of polyester?
- shirts
- trousers
- sheets
What are the uses for acrylic?
- jumpers
- blankets
- carpets
What are the uses for PVC?
- handbags
- shower curtains
- tableclothes
What are the uses of elastane?
- swimwear
- leggings
- lights
Why are fabrics blended?
Various fabrics are combined to create fabrics with many desirable properties.
What is denier?
Denier is used to describe the thickeness of manufactured fibres. The lower the number, the finer the yarn.
Define spinning.
Spinning is the process of twisting fibres into yarn.
What is the warp?
The thread that runs in the direction of the length of the fabric
What is the weft?
The weft is the thread that runs the direction of the width of the fabric
Define weaving.
Weaving is the interlacing of yarns at right angles to eachother.
What is the straight grain?
The direction of the warp threads in a fabric. The straight grain should run diwn the length of an item e.g trousers
What is the bias?
The diagonal line of a fabric. Clothes cut along the bias drape well.
What is knitting?
Knitting means linking together loops of yarn into knots called stitches.
What the advantages of knitted fabric?
- stretchy
- comfortable
- warm
- crease resistant
What are no-woven fabrics?
Non-woven or bonded fabrics are made directly from fibres without being made into yarn. The fibres are held together using adhesive, heat, pressure or stitching.
What are some advantages of non-wiven fabrics?
- do not fray
- are cheap to produce
- keep their shape well
- econonmical to use because there is no straight grain
What are some disadvantages of no-woven fabrics?
- do not wear well
- felt is damaged by water
- non-woven fabrics don’t trap air and therefore are not as warm as wool
What is a dye?
A substance added to fabric to give it colour.
What is printing?
Printing means applying colour and pattern to one side of the fabric only.
What are the different types of printing?
- block printing
- screen printing
What are some different way of applying texture to fabric?
- natural and manufactured yarns can be woven together and heat pressed
- soft fibres such as mohair produce a textured fabric
- shiny and metallic effects are produced by using synthetic fibres
- textured yarns can be used to give a textured fabric
What are fabric finishes?
A fabric finish is a chemical treatment applied to a fabric to improve its appearance or performance.
What are seven fabric finishes?
- brushing
- flameproof
- permanent pleating
- waterprood
- stain repellent
- shrink resistant
- crease resistant
What is the purpose of brushing?
Makes a fabric feel softer and warmer
What is the purpose of flameproof?
Makes fabric less flammable
What is the purpose of permanent pleating?
-pleats don’t fall out, no need to iron
What is the purpose of waterproof?
Prevents any water from getting through
What is the purpose of shrink resistant?
Prevents shrinking
What is the purpose of crease resistant?
Creases fall out more easily, less ironing required
