Page 21 - Curriculum Visions Dynamic Book

How natural fibres have
been used
Fibres have been used for many
thousands of years. First came the use of cultivated plant fibres such as hemp. Flax (for making linen), wool, silk, and cotton fabrics also date back to ancient times.
Many natural fibres begin as an unpromising collection of short threads, or staple. The challenge facing people thousands of years ago was how to turn them into something useful.
People must have noticed how natural fibres tend to get tangled, or matted, easily. Their natural curl and often scaly surfaces make it easy for them to intertwine and hold fast.
When you try to pull out matted hairs, they naturally start to pull together into a strand. That is, the scales and curl in the hairs mechanically fasten the hairs together. Pulling them tends to pull the strands in the same direction, so they fit together better. That is why a strand is formed.
Pulling out matted hair in this fashion is a crude form of spinning. In the actual spinning process the short fibres are teased out and at the same time are brought together under tension and given a twist. The tension and twist help compact the fibres and make them lock together even better. Spinning bobbins and spinning wheels are simple machines designed to produce the tension and twist.
(Right) The fibres that make up the stem of this nettle plant are clear to see if it is snapped. The fine white fibres have been extracted from a nettle plant.
(Above and below)
Hemp is made into sacking and is also used for webbing in upholstery.
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