Cotton is a natural fabric made of cotton: its properties, features, application

One of the most widely used natural textiles worldwide is cotton. It has been used for centuries in everything from home textiles to clothing, and it is made from the fibers of the cotton plant. Cotton’s softness, breathability, and versatility make it incredibly popular.

Because of its reputation for comfort, this fabric is a great option for everyday and casual wear. Because cotton’s natural fibers let air through, you stay cool during the hot weather. It’s a favorite for baby bedding and clothes because it’s soft on the skin as well.

Cotton is utilized in innumerable other products besides apparel. Towels, bed linens, and even medical supplies contain it. It is a go-to fabric for a variety of uses due to its strength and ease of maintenance.

What is cotton

"Cotton" is the international name for a well-known natural fabric made from plant materials. It is translated from English as "cotton." More accurately, cotton refers to a broad category of textiles that are all connected by the use of cotton as the primary raw material in their manufacture. Nearly everyone owns cotton items with the word "cotton" printed on the label, such as T-shirts, towels, bed linens, underwear, jeans, dresses, and children’s clothing.

Cotton is, in actuality, cotton. Even though the textile industry is familiar with a wide variety of them, other fibers and synthetic additives are also utilized in their production in addition to pure cotton, which serves as the primary raw material. Cotton textiles with various qualities are produced as a result. Cotton, for instance, is used to make satin, poplin, chintz, calico, cambric, flannel, and baize.

History of fabric

Long ago, people learned how to grow cotton, prepare and use its fibers in daily life, and sew clothing from it. Thousands of years ago, in the distant past. This is demonstrated by the pharaohs’ mummies that were found during excavations and wrapped in partially decomposing cotton cloth, as well as the remnants of cotton textiles found in the ancient Mayan tombs.

European cotton textiles arrived much later. The incredibly valuable fabric that Arab traders carried to Europe was literally worth its weight in gold. Cotton clothing started to replace linen and wool clothing by the fifteenth century.

Production technology

Large cotton flowers can be used to make fabric, but you have to wait until they bloom before you can cut them. A box will then form on the stem, containing the main source of wealth: fibers with seeds that can be processed to make fabric.

Hand labor is used to gather valuable varieties of ripe cotton bolls. However, harvesters of cotton are primarily used for this. The fibers become the original material after undergoing multiple cycles of production and technological processing.

Cleaning

Cotton fibers are sorted by length after being cleared of seeds and debris. Only long fibers are used to make fabric; short ones are used to make cotton wool.

Spinning

Fibers that are dispersed can be turned into threads.

Sizing

Yarn and threads are treated with a special solution to increase their strength.

Obtaining fabric

On a loom, fabric is created by interlacing threads in different ways.

Bleaching

A dirty gray finished cloth can be bleached by applying different chlorides or hydrogen peroxide to it.

Dyeing

More than 4,000 coloring pigments are used for this.

Cleaning

Ultimately, chemicals from the used adhesives are used to clean the cotton. It returns to its former state.

Mercerization

Cotton materials are submerged in a unique solution to give them valuable consumer qualities. The fabric is silkier and dyes more evenly thanks to this processing technique.

It is a challenging and time-consuming processing procedure if you go through each of these steps by hand. This is most likely the reason cotton fabric was initially pricey. The invention of spinning wheels around 1730, extensive cotton farming in warm-weathered nations (such as Uzbekistan, Brazil, America, Turkey, Mexico, and China), and advancements in manufacturing techniques all contributed to a multiplication in the output of cotton fabric. The material became inexpensive and accessible.

Description and properties

Cotton refers to a variety of cotton-based fabric types that vary in:

• Waying method: sargot, satin, satin, linen;
• using single-thread (less durable fabric) or double-thread yarn (increases wear resistance and strength);
• finishing and processing technologies;
• thread density.

The density of a material is determined by the weaving technique used for that type of fabric. Cotton textiles can be classified as light, weighing up to 100 g/m2, medium, or heavy, weighing more than 200 g/m2.

By composition, cotton fiber is made up of 90% vegetable cellulose, 5% water, and 0.5% other substances.

Fabric is made from more than just cotton fibers. Synthetic threads (lycra, spandex, and elastane) and viscose are added to the composition of the fabric to give it properties like resistance to wrinkles and strength enhancement.

Cotton fibers are easily dyed, allowing for the production of fabrics in a variety of patterns and hues.

Cotton fabric’s breathable and porous structure makes it an excellent moisture absorber, which is useful when sewing summer clothing. Heat is well-retained by light cotton fibers.

Made from cotton fibers, cotton is a naturally occurring fabric that is pliable, breathable, and long-lasting. Its comfort, moisture-wicking qualities, and capacity to keep you cool in warm weather make it a popular choice for apparel. Cotton is a common material in closets and homes all over the world because it is also very easy to maintain and can be used for anything from everyday clothing to towels and bedding.

Advantages and disadvantages

We have listed the benefits and drawbacks of this fabric after examining its characteristics and user feedback.

Benefits

• Easy care. Cotton items can be washed frequently, some types of fabric can even be boiled and bleached if necessary. They are easy to iron.
• Availability. Cotton products are sold in many stores, in large cities and small villages. And the price of the fabric suits many.
• Hypoallergenic. Material made from 100% natural fiber does not cause allergies and does not irritate the skin.
• Hygroscopicity. Clothes made of natural fiber that “breathes” and wicks away moisture well are easy to tolerate heat.
• Durability and wear resistance.

Cons:

• Cotton wrinkles a lot and does not stretch well – soft cotton fabric needs to be ironed after each wash.
• Shrinks when washed if the fibers are not treated with special products. That is why some people prefer cotton with added synthetic additives. For example, stretch cotton, not 100% cotton.
• The material quickly fades, loses color after washing and under the influence of ultraviolet light.

How to make sure that the fabric is natural

Color and a few outside indicators can help you understand this.

The canvas gets stained in its final form, which makes it possible for the fabric to be painted unevenly and for the pattern to not spread evenly throughout. In contrast to viscose, which Cotton is sometimes mistaken for, the canvas’s structure in the first version is perfectly flat when staining.

Contrary to viscose, which swells a lot, cotton essentially maintains its structure when wet. The wet cotton blade also gains a great deal of durability.

To verify the authenticity of the fabric, another popular method is to remove a couple of threads from the canvas and light them on fire. Unlike synthetics, natural fiber burns quickly and does not melt, turning to light ashes. In this instance, burned paper is odorous.

Types of fabric

The clothing label’s "100% cotton" mark certifies that the natural material is composed entirely of cotton. However, we can’t always tell by looking what kind of fabric it is. due to the wide range of materials that cotton can be added to.

There are materials that contain synthetics in addition to fabrics made entirely of cotton, such as calico, chintz, satin, corduroy, flannel, cambric, and poplin. Novel fabrics with novel properties can be created by varying the composition’s ratio of natural to artificial threads, the weaving technique, and the thread thickness.

Stretch cotton

Synthetic elastic fibers added to natural fabric (5% elastane, lycra, or spandex). The material’s properties are enhanced by this composition.

Stretch cotton clothing dries quickly, irons easily, and does not wrinkle, shrink, or stretch after washing. Its hygienic qualities, however, stay at the same level as those of fabrics free of synthetic materials. Women’s clothing is frequently sewed using stretch cotton since it stretches nicely.

Satin-cotton

Dense, double-sided fabric with a matte back side and a smooth, glossy front.

Satin-cotton

The fabric has a satin-like appearance due to its shiny, silky exterior and the weaving technique used. It is densely dull from the inside, much like cotton fabrics.

Memory (polished cotton)

The fabric has a glossy appearance and is composed of 70% polyester and 30% cotton. Strong fabric drapes nicely, is waterproof, essentially wrinkle-free, and air-permeable. The cloth is a member of the premium class.

Polycotton

A lovely, long-lasting fabric with 65% cotton and 35% polyester content. a premium, elastic, long-lasting fabric that is rarely wrinkled; frequently used to sew bed linens and household textiles.

Microcotton

High hygroscopicity fabrics are made from uncommon cotton varieties. Sewing high-end home textiles is done with it.

Jeans-cotton

A popular thick cotton fabric in the textile industry.

To make it more elastic, elastane and other synthetic fibers are added. Different kinds of denim are produced as a result.

Soft

A blended material containing no more than 20% cotton. Soft is created by weaving thin threads together using a unique technique.

Linen-cotton

Hygroscopic, pleasantly heavy material that is both soft and comfortable to wear.

To make the fabric less likely to wrinkle, a small amount of synthetic is added to the mixture.

Supercotton

Hefty cotton fabric crafted from fine yarn. With a surface that is smooth and glossy because of mercerization technology. It makes washing clothes made of it simple. only becomes smooth at very high temperatures. Bed linens are made with it.

Viscose with added cotton fibers

The viscose material’s qualities are enhanced by this composition, which makes it denser and more resilient.

Baby (kids) cotton

It has low wear resistance, is hygienic, hypoallergenic, and soft. It’s utilized to make children’s clothing.

Weary

Natural fabric that is hypoallergenic and contains elastane is used to make elastic undergarments.

Knitwear "knitted cotton"

Most of the time, synthetic fibers are added to the product’s composition to help it keep its shape after washing, wearing, and ironing.

How cotton differs from cotton

"Cotton" is used in Russia, while "cotton" is used in other nations. Both names are accurate and identical, indicating more the composition’s features than the kind of material. In actuality, not much separates them from one another. aside from a few minor variations in technological procedures. They are comparable to one another in terms of traits and qualities.

Like cotton, cotton fibers are found in cotton, which is also a natural material. Consequently, it is hypoallergenic, breathable, strong, and cozy to wear in the summer. Its drawbacks are essentially the same as well: the fabric is inelastic, shrinks, fades quickly in the presence of UV light, and wrinkles easily.

This is common with fabrics that state on their labels that they are made entirely of cotton. pure natural—free of any contaminants or additions. However, as we’ve already seen, cotton comes in a wide variety. Not all of them are composed entirely of cotton, either. Some are made of synthetic and artificial fibers. For this reason, it is crucial to familiarize yourself with the fabric’s composition prior to purchase.

Application of fabric

Cotton derived from natural cotton fibers has such excellent consumer qualities that it is used for more than just clothing sewing. It is utilized as a filler in bedding, a dressing in medication, an appliance in the home, and a filter in the food business.

Naturally, the majority of the fabrics are still used to make home textiles, furniture covers, children’s clothing, T-shirts, dresses, pajamas, and home suits.

Properties	Details
Breathability	Cotton allows air to flow, keeping the skin cool and comfortable.
Softness	The fabric feels gentle against the skin, ideal for everyday wear.
Absorbency	Cotton quickly absorbs moisture, making it great for towels and bedding.
Durability	It holds up well to regular washing and wear, staying strong over time.
Hypoallergenic	Less likely to cause allergic reactions, suitable for sensitive skin.
Application	Used in clothing, home textiles, and baby products due to its versatility.

Since ancient times, cotton has been a mainstay in apparel due to its softness, breathability, and adaptability. This fabric is a top choice for comfort and ease of maintenance, whether it is utilized for bedding, home textiles, or casual apparel.

Cotton’s natural fibers allow it to be used for a variety of purposes, from breezy summer dresses to durable denim. Because of its capacity to both absorb moisture and regulate body temperature, it is a useful option for any season.

The advantages cotton offers to daily life are difficult to overlook, even though it needs to be properly cared for to retain its quality. Cotton continues to be a fabric that works well for everyday clothing because of its longevity and classic appeal.

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