Cotton is all around us and so widely used that it’s easy to take it for granted.
But what is it? Where does it come from? And how is it made?
What is cotton?
Cotton comes from a plant. It looks a bit like a tight cotton wool ball and grows around the seeds of the cotton plant, to help it disperse. It is a cellulose, and grows in tropical and subtropical regions around the world, including India, America and Egypt.
The fibre is most often spun into yarn or thread and used to make fabric; it is currently the most widely used natural cloth for clothing. India is the world’s largest producer of cotton; The United States has been the largest exporter for many years, whilst Egyptian cotton is often considered to be superior for many uses because it has a long staple.
How is cotton fabric made?
Spinning
The cotton is picked either by hand (in developing countries) or by a cotton picking machine.
Once it arrives at the cotton mill, its first port of call is the blowing room. The raw cotton goes through the ‘Devil’, which blows away any bits of plant, or anything which isn’t cotton.
Then it is carded. This cleans and straightens the fibres into a continuous sliver suitable for subsequent processing.
The sliver is automatically coiled into a cylindrical container, straight from the carding machine.
The slivers then go through the Doubler, which produces cotton ready to go onto a spinning mule.
This spinning machine, in use until 1978, could spin 3 miles of thread per minute.
Weaving
Weaving is a way of making threads into fabric, by taking horizontal threads over and under vertical threads. This is done on a loom. Originally, weaving was done by one individual on a hand loom. The loom is threaded with the vertical threads – the warp. The horizontal threads – the weft – go over and under the warp. On most looms, a mechanism separates the warp threads, raising some, so that a shuttle can carry the weft threads between the warp threads, rather than literally going over and under. During the Industrial Revolution, power looms were introduced and gradually improved. Modern looms can produce thousands of metres an hour.
Usage
The various types of cotton produced on the looms can then be treated in various ways, such as bleaching and dyeing, before being made into clothing, bedding, household items such as tea towels and curtains and many other items.
