Craft to Career: Designing with Textiles: DIY Fabric & Fiber Projects
It takes more than 6,600 silkworms to make just two pounds 0.9 kg of silk Sheep farmers usually shear their sheep in the spring to keep the sheep cool in the summer heat Acrylic is often used as a synthetic substitute for wool 6 Cotton bolls are protective coverings for cotton seeds
THE BASICS WHAT ARE FIBER ARTS Have you ever admired a stunning red carpet gown carefully crafted rug or hair raising Halloween costume You were looking at fiber arts Any art that uses textiles can be considered fiber art Textiles are cloths or woven fabrics They are made using materials such as yarn thread and rope These materials are made up of twisted fibers tiny holes to create long strands The strands are then twisted together to create thread which can be woven into fabric This process is how spandex polyester and acrylic fabrics are made Today people are finding new ways to make fibers from recycled materials Some companies melt water bottles into long strands These are woven together to make fabric Old clothes and textiles can also be recycled The textiles are shredded and then made into new thread and yarn For most of human history fibers were made from plants and animals Wool is made from sheep's hair also called wool Cotton fibers come from the seed bearing part of a cotton plant Silkworms produce long strands of silk to make cocoons These strands can be unraveled from the cocoons and woven together to make silk fabric Many modern materials come from synthetic or human made fibers These are usually made of polymers created through chemical processes Petroleum is the starting point for most synthetic fibers But different chemical reactions are used to make different polymers Usually these polymers take the form of tiny plastic pellets These are melted and pushed through 7 Plastic pellets that will be turned into polyester
In HISTORY OF FIBER ARTS Fiber arts are among the most ancient artworks humans have produced Scientists have discovered textile fibers that are more than 30,000 years old And researchers have found evidence that humans have been making clothing for protection for at least 100,000 years could not afford to purchase these items so they made their own clothing In many cultures around the world this was considered women's work Girls were taught to sew and weave by their mothers and grandmothers so they could make clothing for their families the late 1800s mechanical sewing machines became widespread This revolutionized the textile industry It allowed fabric and clothing to be mass produced inexpensively By the mid 1900s most Americans were buying clothing instead of making it at home For most of human history clothing and textiles were carefully crafted by hand This was often a time consuming process requiring training and expertise Because of the time and knowledge required to make them clothing and fabric were expensive Many families 8
TEXTILES TIMELINE 100,000 YEARS AGO Neanderthals wear animal skins and hides 10,000 YEARS AGO Ancient peoples dye fabric using natural pigments from plants and animals 1790 CE English inventor Thomas Saint invents the first sewing machine 1851 Isaac Merritt Singer develops the model for a home sewing machine It becomes the basis for the modern sewing machine 1950s The term fiber arts is used to describe textile and fiber crafts as an art form 9 40,000 YEARS AGO Humans start using tools such as needles and awls to sew fitted clothing 5,000 YEARS AGO Humans in the Middle East begin spinning cotton fibers into thread 1846 Elias Howe patents the first industrial sewing machine This leads to the mass production of textiles and clothing 1935 Nylon the first synthetic fabric is developed DU PONT nylon yarn produced at Seaford December 1939 1970s Electronic sewing machines become widely available
