Fibers and Fabrics
Textile products are an integral part of our daily lives. Take a look around you. You are no doubt surrounded by textile items, the upholstery on your furniture, the carpet on your floors, the fabric in your draperies or curtains, the casing of your tea bag, the clothing you are wearing, and so on. In order to understand fabrics, you need to understand their construction.
Examine what you are wearing. Look at the labels. Labels on textile products must identify the fibre, the fine, hair-like material that forms the basis of the final textile item. The fibres are transformed or converted through various steps such as carding and combing to straighten and remove short fibres, spinning into yarns, then woven, knitted, or otherwise combined to form fabrics. Processes such as dyeing, printing, and finishing change, improve, or develop various characteristics and appearances of the final textile product.
Fibers
To be knowledgeable about textile products it is important to be knowledgeable about the actual fibres from which they are made, from the fibres that make up the yarns, to the yarns that are woven or knit together, to the endless variety of ways fabrics can be produced, dyed and finished.
A fibre is the raw material used to make yarns and fabrics. Each fibre has various properties that affect its performance, end use and care. Textile fibres can be obtained from natural sources or they can be manufactured.