The process of fabric construction

The process of fabric construction

Textiles are of great importance to everyone to cover the body, for warmth or keeping cool, personality improvement and even to display one’s status in the society. Here, we taker a closer look at the main methods of how fabric take its shape.

Weaving

Weaving fabric or cloth is the first major step in the process of fabric construction. The process starts off with two separate sets of yarns called the warp and the filling or weft. These yarns are interwoven with each other to form the basic fabric. The yarns which run from the back and the front of the loom are called the warp and the diagonal yarns are called the filling or weft.

Cliftex Creative Mills, being the largest weaving firm in Sri Lanka and one of the best textile and apparel suppliers in the island, makes sure that their weaving process is up to international standards and thereby producing the best and highest quality fabric.

The procedures of weaving

There are four main procedures weaving factories in Sri Lanka use in weaving fabrics.

Shedding
In this step, each alternating warp yarn is raised to slot in the filling yarn into the warp to form a shed.

Picking
As the warp is raised, the filling yarn is introduced through the shed by a carrier device. Different types of looms are used for moving the filling yarn through various looms

Beating up or Battening
With every picking process, the reed beats each filling yarn against the piece of the fabric that has already been formed. Reed is a comb like device that is fastened to the looms. This gives the fabric a firm and compacted creation.

Taking up and Letting off

With every step of Shedding, Picking and Battening operations, the now fresh fabric is then wound on a cloth beam which is called ‘taking up’. Simultaneously, the warp yarns will be released from the warp beam which is called ‘letting off’.

As the shuttle moves back and forth across the width of the shed repeatedly, a self edge is woven in which is called selvage or selvedge. The process of selvage stops the fabric from jumbling up and it’s generally more dense and strong than the rest of the fabric. There are usually a number of selvages depending on the expected use of the fabric.

Knitting

Knitting, which is a huge industry today, has two main sections.

One section manufactures knitted goods for apparel production, sewing centers, consumers, etc. The other section manufactures finished knitted apparel like hosiery, sweaters, bath towels, beach towels, face towels, kitchen towels, underwear, etc.

Knitted fabric has the added advantage of being easy to stretch which provides ultimate fit and comfort as well as warmth. At the same time, knitted goods are porous and provide breathing comfort while being light in weight and wrinkle- resistant. Nevertheless, there are some specific techniques that have to be used so that the knitted goods do not shrink excessively. Also, special care should be taken in the manufacturing process that not a single loop breaks. This drawback can be easily removed by using variations in the stitches that protect the fabric from getting ruined. The kind and quality of the needle used also affects the quality of the knitted fabric.

Weft and warp knitting
There are two main varieties of knitting: weft knitting and warp knitting. In the process of weft knitting, one continuous length of yarn forms courses across the fabric. In the process of warp knitting, a succession of yarns forms wales in the lengthwise direction of the fabric.

To manufacture knit fabrics, a knitting machine is used and the machine can either be hand driven or motor powered. The knitting machines come in various domestic and industrial models with either flat or circular beds of hooked needles to produce tubalr or rectangular knitted fabrics. In general, knitted fabrics produced by a knitting machine is finer in texture than a hand-knitted knitted fabric.

Creative Textile Mill (Pvt) Ltd has earned its name as the premier knitted fabric suppliers in Sri Lanka and the leading apparel exporters in the country. The process in which they manufacture fabric is carefully monitored and is par with the standards of the top names in the apparel and textile industry.  

 

 

 

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