Textile Tuesday: Natural Fibers

As I was putting my swatch kit together for my textiles class, I was amazed that we would be looking at 236 different types of fabrics.  Up until that point, I basically thought in terms of natural versus synthetic or in terms of cotton, wool, linen, polyester, acetate, silk, etc.  I just really never thought about the hundreds of fabrics that are created from an unlimited number of fiber combinations.

Natural fibers have been used to make cloth for thousands of years but man-made fiber has only been commercially used since 1885.  What is interesting is that these fibers and their combination influence the end product.  Designers consider things such as aesthetics, durability, comfort (I was terribly uncomfortable in a 100% poly charmeuse blouse when it 100+ degrees the other day), how well the appearance holds up, care (does it have to be dry cleaned?), and how much it costs.  As my professor said, you can get a manufacturer to make any kind of fabric you want that will do everything you want it to do but at what price?

When choosing fibers to make into fabric, manufacturers and designers also have to take into consideration how readily available the fiber will be.  Generally speaking, cottons, wools, polyesters, etc. will be readily available.  However, spider silk (YES! They are figuring out how to make silk using the stuff spiders use to make their webs) is still in short supply.

Natural Fibers

Asbestos Fibers (Image from WikiMedia)

Natural fibers have been around since the dawn of time.  Natural fibers are those that are in fiber form as they grow or develop.  An obvious example is wool.  When you look at wool, it looks like a fiber because it is a hair.  The most common natural fibers are wool, flax, cotton and silk but natural fibers can come from any animal, plant or mineral source.  Mineral?  Yes, believe it or not, there are several different minerals that produce fibers, asbestos being the most well known.

A disadvantage of natural fibers is that they are subject to growth irregularities, infestation, drought, etc.  “Fineness” of a fiber is measured in micrometers (1/1000 millimeter).  The lower the micrometer, the finer  and better quality the fiber.  Cotton ranges from 16-20 micrometers; silk ranges from 11-12 micrometers.  They get their shape from the way the cellulose is built up as the plant grows, the shape of the hair follicle, and the shape of the orifice through which the insect extrudes the filament.

If we were to look at natural fibers through a microscope, we’d see that the surface of the fiber may be smooth, rough, serrated, or striated.  These surface contours impacts the hand (how the fabric feels), the luster (how the light reflects), how easily it can be soiled, etc.

Magnified Cotton

Finally, except for silk, natural fibers have three distinct parts: the cuticle or skin, the inner area, and a central core.  The central core may or may not be hollow.  Silk just has the skin and a core.