Chapter Notes and Summary
History of Clothing Material
• Earlier people used bark and big leaves of trees, skins of animals and furs to cover themselves.
• After people started agriculture, they learnt to weave grasses to form mats and baskets.
• Earlier Indians in Gangetic planes used cotton fabric.
• In Egypt, ancient people grew cotton as well as flax to make fabrics.
• When stitching was not known, people simply wrapped fabric around various parts of their body.
• Clothes that we wear are made of different types of fabrics, e.g. cotton, silk, wool and synthetic.
• Fabrics are made of yarns arranged systematically to form different patterns.
• If we take out a small yarn from fabric/cloth and try to pull it gently apart, then we see that yarn is made up of long, thin fibres.
• Natural fibres like cotton, jute are derived from plants.
• Some natural fibres like, wool and silk are derived from animals.
• Synthetic fibres like nylon, rayon, acrylic and polyester are made up of chemical substances.
Advantages of Natural Fibres
• They keep our body warm.
• In summer, sweat can pass through cotton clothes. Thus they are more suitable for summers.
Advantages of Synthetic Fibres
• They are strong.
• They are crease resistant,
• They are not attacked by moths and moulds.
• They are easy to wash and maintain.
• They dry up quickly.
Plant’s Fibres
• Cotton : Cotton plants require black soil with warm climate. fruits of these plants called cotton bolls are picked by hands and separated from seeds by process of ginning.
• Jute Fibre : These are obtained by rottening stem of jute plant by immersing them in water at flowering stage.
India, West Bengal, Bihar and Assam are major area to grow jute.
• Spinning of Cotton Yarn : process of getting yarn from fibres is called spinning,. In this process, fibres from wool are drawn out and twisted to form yarn. Hand spindle and charkha are devices used for spinning.
Yarn to Fabric
• Weaving : In this process two sets of yarn are taken together to make a fabric. Weaving of fabric is done on looms.
• Knitting : A single yarn is used to make fabric. It is done by machines as well as by hand.