We are back, as promised, to take you on further into the world of Textile industry. As we said last time, “Textile industry is not only about the final product or material, it goes beyond the obvious.” Every minute thing on the final product requires special skillsets. No one section is more important than the other. They all are equally very important.
In the last edition, we focused on the different fibres, manufacturers, and spinning techniques. In this edition, we will look in details on processes like weaving, knitting, processing, and garmenting.
Weaving is about how the threads are interlocked to form the basis of a fabric or a cloth. The characteristics of the cloth are very much dependent on the ways these threads are interlocked. Weaving can be defined as the repetition of the following three actions, also known as the primary motion of the loom:
- Shedding: where the ends are separated by raising or lowering heald frames to form a clear space where the pick can pass.
- Picking: where the weft or pick is propelled across the loom by hand, an air-jet, a rapier, or a shuttle
- Beating-up or battening: where the weft is pushed up against the fell of the cloth by the reed.
The secondary motions of the loom are:
- Let off Motion: where the warp is let off the warp beam at a regulated speed to make the filling even, filling here refers to the filling between the threads, and of the required design.
- Take up Motion: Takes up the woven fabric in a regulated manner so that the density of filling is maintained.
The tertiary motions of the loom are two stop motions, wrap stop motion and weft stop motion. These motions are important to stop in the loom in the event of the thread break.
Let us know a little about the weavers. There are a variety of them.
- Handloom weavers: We all have heard of handloom material and handloom artifacts. Every time there is an handloom exhibition, we all rush to get a few handcrafted things. Previously, it was a male dominated job.
- Power loom infection: As the name suggests, machines are used in this technique to do everything. Girls and young women used to take care of these machines and operated them for weaving purpose.
Now let us move on to knitting. Knitting is about putting those yarns together to create a design. It creates multiple loops in yarns called stitches, in a line or a tube. It has multiple active stitches on the needle at a time. If you have a look at the knitted fabric, there are a multiple loops in consecutive rows. Not only loops in a row but also the rows are interlocked. Knitting can be done by hand or machines.
Hand knitting is the most conventional method of knitting. There are many hundreds of different knitting stitches used by hand knitters. A piece of hand knitting begins with the process of casting on, which involves the initial creation of the stitches on the needle.
Mega knitting is a term recently coined and relates to the use of knitting needles greater than or equal to half an inch in diameter.
Mega knitting uses the same stitches and techniques as conventional knitting, except that hooks are carved into the ends of the needles. The hooked needles greatly enhance control of the work, catching the stitches and preventing them from slipping off.
It was the development of the knitting machine that introduced hooked needles and enabled faultless, automated knitting.
Let us move on to the textile processing. Textile processing or manufacturing is based on converting yarn to fabric or fabric to yarn. These are then dyed and/or printed and fabricated into the final product. There are various types of processing techniques. These techniques differ from the base material to material.
Once all the processes discusses in these two articles, processing, spinning, weaving or knitting are done, the finishing and marketing take place. Finishing is the finishing of the final product that includes, checking the quality, damage, packaging, tagging, etc. Marketing is where the product is marketed, a need is created and the product is sold.
