Spinning

Here is some basic information (in the form of a first draft) about spinning from Advisor Rob Stuart, who has been working with us since we began to develop Fabric!

 

 

Wool Spinning.

The Spinning of wool fiber to make a yarn, is the operation of drafting a roving or a sliver. This is to a required size and thickness and inserting the required number of turns per inch which holds the fibers together and gives the yarn strength.

Wool fiber from the sheep will come in various lengths and due to this are separated and spun in different systems, the Wool and Worsted.

The shorter fibers are usually spun from a roving having been carded on the woolen system. These fibers are made as a single yarn with less turns per inch giving a thicker yarn. (As the fibers in the roving don't have the length to twist together).

The longer fibers are usually spun on the worsted system from a sliver. As the fibers are longer some additional steps may be needed to clean and align the sliver. Combing is one step leaving only the finest fiber in the sliver and as in an untwisted rope form having been combed, is now called top. As the fibers are longer as the combed top, more turns per inch can be inserted. This can also make a finer yarn and as a finer yarn it can also be twisted with another to give a plied yarn.

In Spinning the twist can be in either direction and is usually called a Z-twist from a clockwise rotation or a S-twist made by an counterclockwise rotation. If a single yarn is twisted in one direction, it is usually spun in the opposite when it is being plied to another. 

 

 

28 January 2023 --- Rob Stuart (email to Ralph)