Vol. 3 Everything you need to know about threads

To obtain a final FORMATEX product, it must go through a series of textile processes. The first of them is spinning, since before forming a fabric, threads must be generated, dyed and woven.

You may be wondering: What is a thread? Where does it come from? What type of threads are there? What are their characteristics? Where is it used?

Don't worry, we will answer your questions below.

Yarn is defined as a long strand of several short fibers, filaments or other materials that do not knot and are strong enough to be intertwined, ringed and woven to form a flexible surface better known as fabric. By filament we refer to it as a long, continuous, smooth fiber without hairiness, whereas short fibers are not continuous, they are smaller, with hairiness and more twist.

Illustration 1: Filament and short fiber

Spinning began in prehistoric times, as man used leather or animal intestines to make ropes. Later, when human beings began to develop, they discovered natural fibers such as ixtle and henequen, as well as different textile techniques such as the spindle, spun with the palm of the hand or on the leg, which favored the first industries. of the textile.

Now, there are different types of threads, these are divided into two main categories, simple and compound.

Simple ones are made of only one fiber and can have one, two or more strands in one. The sewing threads used by sewing or embroidery machines are a clear model, since they are made from the same fiber, whether cotton or polyester.

Illustration 2: Embroidery threads.

Illustration 3: Filament Bundle

On the other hand, composite yarns have various combinations of fibers and threads. For example, effect yarns such as tweed, which has multiple fibers and colors, slub with uneven strands, fantasy threads and elastics.

Illustration 4: Fancy thread

Illustration 5: Flame

To make a thread, it is necessary to position the fibers in parallel, then they are stretched to achieve fiber parallelism through sliding, in case you want to obtain a quality fiber, that is, a natural or animal fiber such as wool or henequen, it passes through the combing process to eliminate short fibers and have greater length, then to the roving to stretch and at the end go directly to twisting.

Furthermore, when buying a thread or making a fabric, it is important to take the classification into account, since they are categorized in various ways, the most common being substrate, construction and finishing.

The substrate means the origin of where the fiber comes from, it can be synthetic, artificial natural or a mixture. It all depends on what you are looking to do, be it resistance, durability, among others.

Construction refers to how the yarn is manufactured. It can be a core yarn, a combination of short fibers and filaments, there are also filament yarns (union of continuous filaments), multi-filaments (Many filaments twisted together), monofilaments (a single continuous filament), assembled yarns (two or more threads in the same bundle but not twisted) and doubled (two or more single threads twisted together).

Illustration 6: Thread construction

Also when building a thread, the twist that is given is important, that is, the number of turns to keep the fibers together. These can be in two directions, Z and S.

Z is from right to left, while S is from left to right.

The more twists, the more resistance it has.

Illustration 7: Zys Torsion

Last but not least is the finish, which is used for the purpose of improving the quality and ease of sewing through finishes such as abrasion, resistance, lubrication and also to achieve functional requirements such as anti-mildew, flame retardant. fire, water repellent or antistatic.

Author | Jimena Chavez

Image 1: Fashionary. (2020). Textilpedia.The complete fabric guide. Hong Kong: Fashionary.

Image 2: Boton.es, (s/f) “embroidery threads” recovered on April 21, 2021 at https://www.merceriabotton.es/madejas-bordar/madeja-laso-o-algodon-para-bordar- anchor-20017.html

Image3: Mercado libre, (2020) “Filament package” recovered on April 21, 2021 at https://articulo.mercadolibre.com.mx/MLM-876284046-hilo-de-coser-poliester-2800-yardas-carretes-todo -_JM?matt_tool=21623879&matt_word=&matt_source=google&matt_campaign_id=11764776668&matt_ad_group_id=115046177955&matt_match_type=&matt_network=g&matt_device=c&matt_creative=483756047184&matt_keyword= &matt_ad_position=&matt_ad_type=pla&matt_merchant_id=349413678&matt_product_id=MLM876284046&matt_product_partition_id=945076166368&matt_target_id=pla-945076166368&gclid=Cj0KCQjwvYSEBhDjARIsAJM n0lh_WzP61wza0sJ1Yoql6QDhHZmHjevgbmKWzTmiCpLxSBBbUPA2eBYaAoKQEALw_wcB

Image 4: Worldpress, (s/f) “hilos de fantasia” recovered on April 21, 2021 at https://mdehilado.wordpress.com/hilos-de-fantasia-por-sobre-alimentacion/

Image 5: Fashionary. (2020). Textilpedia.The complete fabric guide. Hong Kong: Fashionary.

Image 6: Fashionary. (2020). Textilpedia.The complete fabric guide. Hong Kong: Fashionary.

Image 7: : Fashionary. (2020). Textilpedia.The complete fabric guide. Hong Kong: Fashionary.

"This information is for reference only, to obtain precise details about the use, qualities and care of our products, it is necessary to consult directly with your seller before making a purchase or receiving recommendations."