FIBRES

Fibres are hair like structures that can be short in length (known as staple fibres) or they can be long continuous filaments.  

A single fibre such as a hair from the fleece of an animal or a single strand of cotton is not very long or very strong. 

To make them useful most staple fibres need to be twisted or spun together to make a suitable length of yarn.

Filaments can generally be used as they are but adding twists, loops or curls will produce a thicker or springier yarn.  

There are many different types of fibre but they can be grouped according to the two main sources:

·         Natural fibres – those which come from plants, animals or minerals.

·         Synthetic fibres – those which are made chemically from oil or coal

Cotton is a staple fibre made from the white hair like fibres surrounding the seed head of the cotton plant. After the the cotton plant has flowered seed pods called 'bolls' appear.

When the seed pods burst open the cotton surrounding each seed is exposed. Each seed is surrounded by between 1000 and 10000 'hairs'.

Wool fibres come mainly from from sheep but fibres from goats, camels, llamas or alpacas can also be used.

The wool is harvested by combing out or shearing (cutting off) the fleece of the animal.

Silk is made by the caterpillar of the silk moth, the caterpillar spins a cocoon which consists of  a continuous filament of silk which it winds around itself.

The silk is harvested by placing the cocoons in hot water to soften them and then by winding the silk onto a spool. A single filament of silk would be too weak to be unwound on its own so several are usually unwound together.

Linen is a staple fibre made from the stem of the Flax plant.