fibres and yarns, stalk fibres

Welcome to Yvonne's one stop resource for all your miniature-knitting needs

FIBRE FACTS

www. miniknittingstuff

overview

stem-fibres

NATURAL VEGETABLE FIBRES

STEMS

In order to produce yarns vegetable fibres can be extracted from the stalks, the leaves or the seed pods of specific plants.
Flax, Jute, Ramie and Hemp fibres are all obtained from plant stems.

The most well known stalk/stem fibre is flax, from which linen yarn is produced,
but Jute, Ramie and Hemp yarns are all popular yarns used by textile artists and crafts-people.

More recently because of it's environmentally sound cultivation process
Hemp has found favour with the Fashion and Knit Industries,
and is fast becoming recognised as an important new material.

Flax (linen)

Flax is the raw material of linen
The long fibres come from the woody stem of the flax plant, Linum usistatissimum
The plant grows to a height of about 1m (3 feet) tall, it is spicky and has blue, or sometimes white, flowers
It is the only natural vegetable fibre indigenous to Western Europe

Flax is cultivated for the production of linseed oil as well as for textile fibres
From July to mid-August, the flax is harvested by pulling up rather than cutting the stems
The seeds are extracted from the seed pods for linseed oil production, then the plant is 'retted' to decompose the adhesive that binds the fibres together
Next the plant is 'scutched' a mechanical process which seperates the textile fibres from the bark and woody matter, and removes the short fibres
After scutching, the fibre is combed, and slightly twisted to form a sliver or rove
The rove is then spun to produce yarn
There are two methods of spinning flax fibres
'Wet spinning' produces a very fine and regular linen yarn
'Dry spinning' produces a coarser slightly rough linen yarn

Jute (Hessian)

Jute is mostly grown in India, Bangladesh and Thailand
It comes from the stem of the Corchorus plant
The plant grows to 2.5-5m (8-15feet) high, but the fibres are only 15-30cms (6-12 inches) long
After flowering the plant is harvested by cutting close to the ground
The fibres are extracted by retting, then they are washed and dried
Natural Jute fibres are yellowish-brown in colour with a lustrous finish and little elasticity
Jute is the weakest of the stem fibres, but is stronger than cotton
It is a low-cost fibre used for making rugs, carpet backing and packaging

Ramie

Ramie comes from the Boehmeria nivea plant (China grass)
It is grown in China, but is also cultivated in Japan, Russia, and parts of the USA and Europe
The fibres are short, about 15cm (6inches)
After retting the ribbons of fibre are stripped from the stalk
They are then chemically treated to remove the pectin gum and seperate the fibres ready for spinning
Ramie is coarser than Flax, but more lustrous
It is silky, fine and strong and pure white in colour
It is used for making rope, twine and nets, but it can also be blended with cotton
to produce clothing, such as shirts and blouses