Natural Fabrics You Must Have to Sew, Wear, Design & Stay Healthy. Natural fabrics are not only comfortable for the skin but these are good for sewing, too!
You would have also faced the frustration when you went for shopping and returned with the wrong fabric!
The way the craze for gluten free food is increasing, same way people are looking for natural fabrics. In a sense, skin friendly fabric, which can keep you soothing, comfortable, perspiration and odor free all year through.
Natural Fabrics are organic. That means that they are not altered from their original state.
Cotton, silk, wool and cashmere are examples of natural fabrics. Their fiber is taken directly from the plant or animal and spun into a yarn.
Some other fibers like bamboo, tencel, soy, and hemp are not natural because they are processed to dissolve the original fiber to extrude it. And then, yarn is made.
This involves a very chemical-intensive and toxic process.
The original material may be natural but when made into a yarn, and consequently a fabric, it can not be considered natural.
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Some of the Natural Fabrics
Fabrics are all around us. There were times some 100,000-500,000 years ago, when humans used to have animal skins, furs, leaves, grasses, barks of trees, or even bones and shells.
Now, we have cotton, jute, silk, wool, synthetic and many many more fabrics added to the wardrobe of ancient men and women.
HOW TO Know ANY FABRIC
The simplest way to understand and know the properties of any fabric is by touching it. Each and every fabric gives a different look and feel.
COTTON
Cotton is world’s most popular plant fiber. Cotton is light but less smooth than silk or synthetic fabric.
Cotton is a soft fabric. It lets air to pass through it. That’s why it’s called a breathing fabric.
The sweat absorbed by cotton fabric evaporates and thus it cools the body. This makes cotton fabric comfortable to wear.
This is the reason why clothes made from cotton are worn in hot and humid climates.
Khadi is made by spinning cotton yarn on hand operated spinning wheels known as charkhas.
Cotton fabric is commonly used in making clothes, bed sheets, curtains, towels and quilts.
Denim is also a sturdy cotton, which we adore in our daily lives.
JUTE
Jute is becoming designers’ favorite on the ramp and people are getting attracted to jute dresses because it’s a natural fiber with a golden, silky texture and it’s biodegradable and environment friendly, too.
Jute is also called golden fiber due to it’s golden silky shine. It’s a skin of a plant stem and is the second most important plant fiber after cotton.
FLAX
Flax is a Bast fibre obtained from stem of the plant.It is one of the first fibre to be used in the textile industry.
As linen, flax fabric is valued for its exceptional coolness in hot weather.
HEMP
Hemp is another Bast fibre, which is strong and durable fibre and used in making linen-like fabrics.
Hemp is not all natural because of processing it undergoes, but it is a good fabric to have.
Hemp fibre has antibacterial properties and linen is the most hygienic textile.
Besides, we have some mixed fabrics also, which are made by mixing cotton,wool,hemp,flax or synthetics in different proportions to get a new look and texture.
There are some other fabrics also, which we’ll talk about. Till then, whenever you go fabric shopping, don’t forget to touch and rub the fabric between your fingers to train yourself to understand it better and be a wise shopper.
Now, we have cotton, jute, silk, wool, synthetic and many many more fabrics added to the wardrobe of ancient men and women.
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