Discovering textile fabrics  (Page 2/5)

Assignment 4

Research task

Find information and read it to find out as much as you can about the process of wool production from when the fleece is shorn off the sheep to when the wool has been made into the cloth that is used to make clothes. Represent the process on a poster, by means of a flow chart. In addition, use any other animal or vegetable matter that you prefer.

Silk obtained from the silkworm (Bombyx mori) was probably first made into The earliest use of cotton was recorded in India, where it was grown and made into cloth long before the birth of Christ (LO 1). From India, knowledge of how to grow cotton was gradually spread through Persia, Egypt and Europe and then to North America.

Silk obtained from the silkworm (Bombyx mori) was probably first made into cloth in China, about 4 000 years ago. Silk is warm to wear, smooth, very light, strong and resilient, which means that it can shed creases. It is ideal for use by doctors, in the sciences and in technology.

Examples:

• Clothing for space travellers is made of silk.

• Silk is used to make tennis racket strings and fishing line.
• Wounds are stitched with thread made of silk.

Silk is still obtained from the cocoons of silkworms. A cocoon actually consists of a single thread that may be up to five kilometres in length. More than 40 000 cocoons are required for one kilogram of silk. In early times spinning was done by hand, but it is done with machines nowadays.

Background information

The fur and pelts of animals camouflage them so that their enemies can identify them less easily. A chameleon is a good example of an animal that depends on camouflage.

People have recognised the value of camouflage, especially for military purposes (battle dress and military equipment.

It has even become fashionable to wear clothing patterned with camouflage markings and printed with the markings found on animals.

Assignment 5

Collect pictures of such clothing from newspapers and old magazines and paste them on a sheet of paper or in your workbook, or draw a picture of such garments. Write labels to explain which patterns come from which animals, if they are recognisable.

[LO 3.2]

Background information

Some of the qualities of textile fabrics can only be determined under particular conditions, when you apply particular tests. These qualities are referred to as hidden qualities. They are qualities such as strength, inflammability, absorbency, and conductivity. Hidden qualities can change the nature of an object totally.

Other qualities are easier to detect simply by looking at, or feeling or smelling the object.

Assignment 6 A

INVESTIGATION A

To the Educator:

Divide the class into groups. Let each group investigate a different quality of textile fabrics.

Assignment

Provide each group with examples of nylon, polyester, cotton, silk and woolen fabric.

Sort the pieces of textile fabric (cloth) that your educator provides into two categories according to their qualities, i.e. according to whether they are natural or synthetic. Test each of the following qualities with the use of some reliable scientific method.