Textile Update

The basket weave, twill weave and satin weave are three other types of basic weaves, although the basket weave is actually a plain weave too.

The Basic Weaves start with plain weaves but this is the most diverse category of weaves, despite the plain wrapper.

What sort of properties are built into fabric during weaving and how can we identify them to help us differentiate fabric?

We make fabrics using several methods, but we will focus on weaving for now. How do looms work?

Novelty yarns are just faancy!

What is up with the Venus de Milo? She isn’t Venus! But we love Goddesses of Spinning and Weaving, like Athena, just as much as the Goddess of Love. Spinning was the foundation of several ancient trade cultures.

The Olefin polymer family goes by many other names, but Acrylic is famous for just being itself, and for being our nails!

The first synthetic fiber was nylon followed by polyester, both inveted by scientists at Dupont.

The late 10th century brought an eco-friendly player to the regenerated fiber scene, the generic name for this innovated fiber is lyocell. Oh, we also talk about Acetate, a modified cellulose regenerated fiber.

The regenerated fibers are “manually” made. Manufacturing fibers from naturally concurring polymers, such as cellulose, is a major accomplishment of the 20th century.

We can modify manufactured fibers by adding compounds to the “dope”, we can change their size and cross section, we can add a crimp.

Manufacturing fibers involved either using naturally occurring polymers or synthesizing polymers in the laboratory.

The minor cellulosic fibers include Hemp, Kenaf, Coir and Abaca. Isn’t this fun?

Linen is an ancient fiber with an ancient vocabulary.

Cotton is King and with good reason

What are the good and bad properties of fibers made from cellulose?

Silk is another important protein fiber that has a totally different history and set of properties, despite also being made from polymers of amino acids.

The specialty hair fibers include mohair, cashmere and camel, just to name a few.

This double length episode of the podcast focuses completely on wool, my favorite fiber.

This double length episode of the podcast introduces our first natural fiber, protein fibers, and explains some of the great properties of these fibers, going deep on moisture and moisture regain.

We wrap up our discussion of the internal morphology of fibers, focusing on polymer properties, by considering what the arrangement of polymers into crystalline structures can do for strength, or how cross-linking agents can improve resiliency.

While the surface morphology of fibers is an important influence on properties like luster and hand, it is the internal, chemical structure of the polymers that make up the fibers that has the greatest influence on properties like strength and absorbency.

Fiber crimp deserves its own podcast because it is so cool! This 3D physical property influences lots of things like resiliency, bulk and luster.

Performance properties such as comfort as actually a dimension of performance made up of several properties, including absorbency.

We can categorize fibers using various features, including physical structures (morphology) that we can easily see under a microscope.