Question

49 A cotton shirt, before it reaches you, completes a long journey. Elaborate this journey starting from cotton.

Answer 1

Cotton is the most important of all plant fibres, used to make clothes. The cotton shirt can be prepared by following steps:

Cotton bolls $\stackrel{\mathrm{Ginning}}{\to }$Cotton fibre $\stackrel{\mathrm{Spinning}}{\to }$Cotton yarn $\stackrel{\mathrm{Weaving}}{\to }$Cotton fabric $\stackrel{\mathrm{Sewing}}{\to }$Cotton shirt

• Picking: Cotton bolls are picked up from the plants in the field by hand.
• Ginning: Fibres are separated from the seeds by combing in this process i.e cotton bolls are converted to fibre.
• Spinning: Fibres are extracted out from the big cotton wool and are twisted. This changes the fibres into strong yarn.
• Weaving: A fabric of cotton is made after the arrangement of two sets of cotton yarns. It is done on looms. There are two types of loom

1. Handloom: The loom that is operated by hand.
2. Powerloom: The loom that works with electric power.

• Sewing or stitching: The cotton fabric is stitched into a shirt.

Conclusion: Cotton shirts before reaching the customers, have gone through picking, ginning, spinning, weaving, and sewing or stitching processes.