Linen a natural fibre with its high moisture absorbent property is not only a preferred fabric for
international customers, but has now become a preferred choice of Indians. The growing demand
of Linen Fabrics has resulted into a sharp growth in last three years in allocation of weaving
capacities by fabric manufacturers in India. Manish Mehta, Executive Director with Texperts
India, Mumbai, a Textile Graduate with an experience of around twenty-five years in the textile
industry, shares some practical tips on selecting the right yarn for weaving of linen fabric. Texperts
represents Kingdom Holding Company, in India which is having an installed capacity of 75,000
wet spinning spindles producing 13,000 MT/annum of pure linen wet spun yarns.
The spinning unit of Kingdom Holding in China one of the biggest manufacturers of fine quality linen yarns in the world
Linen yarns have the
typical characteristic
of thick, thin, slubs and
knots which are a result
of the vast difference in the
natural length of the fibres. While
long fibre strands are processed
through various
steps to spin the
fine quality linen
yarns from
5Lea (3Nm) to
150Lea( 90Nm);
short fibres are
also processed
separately through
the same process
to spin counts like
5Lea to 46Lea. While
long fibres make the
body of the yarn, short
fibres make the slubs and knots. The imperfection of the
long and short fibre creating
knots and slubs in weaving have
been used by the designers to
give the garment a natural and
unique look.
Also, due to poor elasticity of the
flax fibres, the linen fabric made
out of it has very poor crease
resistance, but the creases
or wrinkles add to the beauty
of the linen garments due to
the increase in the reflection
surface of the garment to mirror
the natural glaze of the fabric.
In fact, linen fabrics woven or
knitted out of linen yarns have
a typical sheen, crisp and
textured feel which can range
from stiff and rough to soft and
smooth handle.
With the ability to absorb up to
20 per cent wt/wt of moisture
without giving a damp feeling,
linen has multiple end uses
ranging from fine high-end
apparels, home textiles, fine
professional painting surfaces to
ideal substrates for laminating
with different functional
membranes for various end uses.
Informed Selection
of Yarn for better
realisation at fabric
stage
To ensure loom efficiency and
better fabric presentation it
is important to keep some
critical indicators in mind when
comparing linen yarns from
different suppliers. Judging the different quality of linen yarn
having the same specifications
like count and long or short
length fibre can be done by a
simple test for checking the
breaking force of yarn per
kilometre (RKM). The higher
the RKM, the better is the yarn
quality, as even after yarn
dyeing the yarn shall have
sufficient strength for efficiently
weaving the fabric. Also higher
the elongation, better will be the
loom efficiency of the yarn; and
lower the imperfections, better
will be the fabric appearance
and colour brightness.
But even in absence of proper
quality test facilities of two
different yarns of same
specifications, some simple
steps can help to give an
idea about the comparative
performance of the yarns on
the loom. Firstly, yarns with
better shine are of better quality.
As a simple visual test wind
the yarns on different black
boards and compare; lower the
imperfections better will be the
board appearance, and the yarn
with cleaner board appearance
will give lower breakages
on loom and better fabric
appearance. Another simple test
to determine strength is to
break the yarns by hand and
Yarns by Kingdom Holding
hold the yarn end in left hand and stretch the length of about one metre by right hand. Higher the cracking sound at the time of break, better is the RKM. Similarly, higher the extension of length before break, the better is the elongation. For example a yarn of 24Nm (40 Lea) short fibre with 23 RKM and 1.8 per cent elongation
(Uster Iensorapid) shall result in
lower breakages on loom than a
corresponding yarn of 24 RKM
and 1.6 per cent elongation.
Linen yarns have a moisture
regain of 12 per cent hence the
yarns are sold on a conditioned
weight at 12 per cent even if the
moisture content in the yarn
at packing is lower. The weight
shortage in linen yarns is a
general compliant from weavers/
knitters but it is just notional.
The yarn even if conditioned
to 12 per cent before packing
tends to lose moisture in transit/
stock, but the length of the yarn
remains the same as it was at
the time of packing at 12 per cent
moisture and the yarn/fabric
again gains the moisture from
atmosphere up to its moisture
regain of 12 per cent.
Linen fabrics are expensive
textiles and only the price of
linen yarns should not be a
consideration when buying yarn as a lot of value addition goes
into yarn dyeing, weaving, and
fabric finishing and mending
before the fabric is ready
for sale. A yarn with lower
imperfections, better glaze,
higher RKM coupled with better
elongation though purchased at
5 per cent higher price than the
yarn of same specifications with
higher imperfections, poorer
glaze, lower RKM/Elongation,
etc. shall realize better value out
of fabric in absolute terms.
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