From Fiber to Fabric: Understanding the Production Process of Yarn
Have you ever considered how yarns are made? You may not have given these basic fibres a second thought while knitting away at a new project. However, yarn production offers a unique window of opportunity for you to take a glance through the looking glass and see beyond the basics of knitting at everything the yarn industry has to offer.
In this blog, we outline the journey a yarn fiber has to take to reach its final destination of a beautiful, soft fabric made with love. Let's start unravelling this mystery!
What Is The Yarn Manufacturing Process?
Yarn manufacturing may not seem as complex as one might imagine, but this process requires a lot of manual labour and material treatment before yarn fibres are made and then ready to be spun into yarn threads or fabrics. Each step holds its own importance and should not be neglected, as it could severely affect the quality of the yarn.
1. Cotton Harvesting
Like any endeavour, you need to harvest the raw material first before you start the manufacturing process. In this case, the raw material happens to be cotton fibres. This cotton is grown and harvested in areas with warm climates, such as tropical regions like India, Uzbekistan, the US, and China. Once the cottonfield is ready to be harvested, all you need to do is get your hands on the cotton.
You can handpick your cotton, like in the olden days, or you can use specialised machines like cotton pickers. These machines have been programmed to pluck out the cotton balls and harvest them in the form of large bales.
2. Ginning
After harvesting, this is the first step of the yarn production process, where the cotton seeds are separated from the lint without damaging any fibers. In ancient times, this process was performed either by hand or by machines like the foot roller. However, with the recent advancements and industrialisation, three main types of modern gins are used, i.e., Mccarthy, Saw, and Roller.
When the freshly harvested cotton with all the debris and seeds is brought to the ginning facility, its moisture level is checked. This will determine the amount of heat required to open the fibers. Once this is done, the cotton will be sent to the dryer to get rid of excess moisture. Subsequently, the lint cleaner will be next in line to get rid of the dirt and other foreign particles.
This cotton is now cleaned and ready for separation, which will be performed at the gin stand. The separated and cleaned cotton is then treated with a hydraulic press to be compressed into 500 pounds of bales.
3. Blow Room
Once ginning is over and done with, the bales of cotton are sent to the spinning mills where their first exposure will be to the blow room. This part of the process involves the fibers being opened, cleaned, mixed, and isolated from any micro-dust.
To open the fibres, they are fed through a bale opener, which separates them into small tufts, after which they are cleaned so that any debris can easily be eliminated. Afterwards, the blending or mixing takes place. In mixing, the cotton fibres are kept together, while in blending, different fibres of the same grade are blended together. This process aids in quality maintenance and cost-reduction of the yarn.
4. Carding
This stage is called the heart of spinning because the loose, unoriented cotton fibres take the form of a textile material called slivers. The machine that performs this function is made up of a series of cylinders that are wound in wires. This is called a card, hence the name carding.
The wire has small sections which serve to transport a small number of fibres through the machine. This removes a significant amount of debris particles and generates uniform slivers called laps, which are stored temporarily for further processing.
5. Combing
This part of the process is performed by a machine called the comber. It straightens the fibres, arranges them parallelly, and removes the particular length of short fibres that you determine is not suitable for the long fibres. It discards the eliminated fibres in the trash. This process is essential as it improves the texture, strength, and quality of the yarn.
6. Drawing
In this process, the slivers of yarn are further straightened when they are passed through a series of rollers in which each rotates at a slightly increased speed than the previous one. This is the last process in which any form of debris or impurities are removed and it completely eliminates any uneven texture in the slivers, improving yarn quality.
The yarn is first doubled in this process, where a few slivers are fed into the machine to wind it into a single sliver. Then, the sliver is drafted to straighten the crimped and hooked fibres which reduces the weight of the yarn per yard of fabric.
7. Simplex
As the name suggests, at this stage, the slivers of yarn are fed to a simplex, which transforms them into roving, which is then fed to the ring framed to yield yarn. The simplex has a sliver break stop motion to immediately stop the machine from operating in case of any sliver breaks.
8. Spinning Mills
After that the slivers are drafted again to reduce size and a small twist is added in the strands before winding the yarn fibre in the spinning mills. These mills have a building system which moves the bobbin railes in the opposite direction so that they can form conical shapes at the end. They also have a package system, that wounds the twisted roving on the bobbin for further processing.
9. Cone Winding
In this last stage, bobbins of yarn are wound into large packages called cones and ready for use. So, the next time you pick up your needles or hook, take a moment to think about the journey that your yarn has been on, from cotton fields to beautiful, soft fabric.
To Wrap Up
This is how the magic of yarn production unravels and where the raw materials are transformed into something beautiful. The process may seem complex, but each step plays a significant role in the quality, maintenance, and durability of the final product. As a knitter, understanding the yarn manufacturing process can give you a deeper appreciation for the craft and the materials you work with.
If you wish to dabble in the art of knitting or are an avid knitter searching for "knitting accessories near me." Just check out the extensive collection offered by Grumpy Ginger Yarn Co. Here, you will find everything you will ever need to start your dream knitting project. Happy knitting!